The leader of the Texas energy grid has joined a group of U.S. energy and utilities leaders sounding the alarm about the increased risk of blackouts during the approaching winter months.
According to the Houston Chronicle’s James Osborne, Pablo Vegas, the Electric Relability Council of Texas’ CEO, said at an event hosted by the trade group U.S. Energy Association that investors aren’t putting enough capital into developing natural gas pipelines, transmission lines and other power grid infrastructure.
“The reality is risk is increasing. We’re all seeing it,” Vegas said, per the Chronicle’s Osborne.”If we do smart things with investments in resources, we can bring that risk down. But we need to make smart decisions,” he continued.
The warning comes just ahead of the three-year anniversary of Winter Storm Uri, which left hundreds of Texans dead and killed power for millions more in February 2021.
The Texas Legislature has taken some steps to fortify the grid since the catastrophic storm. Per the Chronicle’s Osborne, legislators this year signed off on a $7.2 billion appropriation of public funding for building new natural gas-fired power plants. However, some doubt whether those plants will ever be built, according to a report from KUT’s Mose Buchele.
Per the Chronicle’s Osborne, Vegas proposed harnessing home battery systems and electric vehicles to meet electricity needs during times of peak demand. ERCOT has launched a pilot study focused on this approach, which is still underway.
“That could be game-changing for the industry and start to address elements of reliability economically,” Vegas said, according to the Chronicle’s Osborne. “But we need a strong backbone of transmission.”
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