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The CEO of ERCOT, the Texas energy agency that cut power on Monday amid a brutal winter storm that killed at least two dozen dead and millions without heat, said Tuesday evening that he had no idea when power would be restored to the state. .
Bill Magness told CBS Austin in an interview Tuesday night that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) actually averted a potentially more serious crisis by shutting down the power grid.
People line up to fill propane tanks Wednesday, February 17, 2021, in Houston.
(AP)
“The reason these blackouts have to exist is that the electrical system has to be run where supply and demand are in balance all the time,” Magness told the point of sale. “If you have a big imbalance between supply and demand for electricity, you can have catastrophic failures in the system.”
ERCOT manages approximately 75% of the Texas electricity grid. Magness said systems affected by power outages can potentially take a long time to repair and be “very dangerous for people.”
“The only way to balance and stay in control is to do blackouts,” Magness said. “Our number one priority is to get the power back on for as many people as possible, but we have to do it in a safe and reliable way that keeps the system intact, so that we can use it in the future.”
STAYING SAFE DURING PROLONGED POWER OUTAGES: WHAT TO DO IF HEAT, REFRIGERATION AND ELECTRICITY ARE NOT AVAILABLE
Magness was unable to say definitively when power would resume, but he was hopeful that many customers would see at least partial service restored by Wednesday or Thursday.
Magness also defended the decision to force the blackouts “to prevent an event which would have been even more catastrophic than the terrible events we have seen this week.”
More than 3 million homes and businesses were left without power for the third day of a historic winter storm hitting the state.
ERCOT said Wednesday morning it restored electricity to 600,000 homes, while 2.7 million are still not powered.
In Austin, hundreds of people braved the cold Wednesday to stock up on food, creating empty shelves and long queues, FOX 7 reported.
“There really is no respite from the misery people feel in this region,” said Bob Oravec, senior forecaster for the National Weather Service, referring to Texas.
More than 100 million people live in areas covered by some type of winter weather warning, watch or advisory, the weather service said.
People line up to shop on Monday, February 15, 2021 in Houston.
(AP)
More than two dozen people have died in the extreme weather conditions this week, some struggling to find heat in their homes. In the Houston area, a family succumbed to carbon monoxide in their garage exhaust. Another perished as they used a fireplace to warm up.
THE COLD WEATHER RUNS MORE SPORTS EVENTS IN TEXAS, OKLAHOMA
Scientists say the polar vortex, a weather pattern that generally maintains itself in the Arctic, is spreading more and more into lower latitudes and staying longer. The winter storm hit neighboring states and even Mexico. Utilities from Minnesota to Mississippi have implemented continual power outages to ease the burden on power grids trying to meet the extreme demand for heat and electricity.
Texas suffered the worst blackouts in the United States. Officials have requested 60 generators from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and have planned to prioritize hospitals and nursing homes. The state has opened 35 shelters to more than 1,000 occupants, the agency said.
The weather conditions also caused major disruptions to water systems in the Texas cities of Houston, Fort Worth, Galveston, Corpus Christi and Memphis, Tennessee, and Shreveport, Louisiana, where city fire trucks have delivered water to several hospitals and bottled water was brought in for patients and staff, KSLA News reported. In Houston, residents have been urged to boil their water – if they have the power to do so – due to a significant drop in weather-related water pressure.
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In Abilene, Texas, firefighters were hampered by low water pressure as they attempted to put out a fire in a house this week, Abilene Reporter-News reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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