Extreme Weather Could Still Threaten Grid
The state’s power grid could still be at risk under extreme winter conditions, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, but should operate fine under normal conditions.
The Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy, issued Friday, said the grid can meet normal and even moderately challenging weather conditions but could break down if the state faces winter storms such as occurred last February.
During Winter Storm Uri, much of the state experienced prolonged blackouts.
“We expect there’s a 10% chance that demand will exceed what ERCOT considers to be their extreme peak load scenario,” Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M who has been researching the grid, told KUT.org. “In my opinion that’s not a great worst-case scenario. One in 10 things happen all the time.”
The assessment from ERCOT came just days after a similar assessment from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which said Texas is under “extreme weather risk” if winter weather conditions exceed projections, spawning rolling blackouts as experienced last winter.
KUT reported recently that natural gas producers and suppliers can opt out of any mandates to winterize their production facilities, while power plants must do so under a bill passed by the Texas Legislature during the regular session.
Election Audit Division Funds Allocated
Gov. Greg Abbott and GOP legislative leaders announced Friday that $4 million has been shifted from the state prison system to the secretary of state’s office to pay for county election audits as required under the state’s new elections law.
The Dallas Morning News reported the secretary of state’s office, which is under the governor’s control, would create an Election Audit Division that could conduct random county audits of elections under the new law.
“Ensuring the integrity of our elections is critical to our democracy, and the Texas Secretary of State’s office deserves the resources and support needed to thoroughly complete this ongoing task,” Abbott said.
Abbott said the audit of Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Collin counties is “the largest forensic audit in the country.” Former President Trump called for a statewide review of the 2020 presidential election despite winning the state by more than 600,000 votes.