With such heavy projected demand, natural gas and electricity prices rose rapidly heading into the storm, settling at prices 50 times higher or more than normal.Īs the storm hit, electric demand soared and many power plants suffered outages.
Most existing electric heating systems become more inefficient in colder conditions, and the buildings and systems tend not to be well insulated or "winterized." As a result, demand for electricity in Texas grows more rapidly in winter conditions than in other states.īefore the major outages, peak demand for the state was projected to be as high as 74 GW, potentially setting a record compared to even summer demand - typically the "peak" season for demand in Texas due to cooling loads. Due to the rarity of cold winters, businesses and residential consumers in the South Central U.S. The severe cold is driving near unprecedented demand for electricity. It is also expected to produce much hotter weather, adding to the complexity of addressing concerns in Texas. In terms of severity, the current event is a once-in-several-decades occurrence.Īlthough the role of climate change in the polar vortex remains greatly debated, climate change is expected to produce more similar winter weather, fueling future reliability concerns. Texas was particularly hit hard relative to climate norms, setting new temperature low records across most of the state, with all counties under a winter storm warning.
The proximate cause of the current crisis is widespread extreme winter weather impacting much of the United States. Nevertheless, the situation as currently understood points to the need for new approaches to energy reliability, energy security, and risk during the ongoing energy transition.Įven as the post-event analysis grapples with these issues, the hard work of grid operators and utility workers to maintain what power there was is important to acknowledge. It has also highlighted the close ties between service delivery sectors - in this case, most starkly how the delivery of electricity impacts the delivery of water. As we cautioned following the comparably minor California rolling outages last summer, energy grid failures are complex and patience is warranted in diagnosing problems and prescribing solutions.
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