The power failures of Winter Storm Uri must never happen again, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)'s chairman said in a recent news release.
FERC Chairman Rich Glick said made the statement in a release issued Nov. 16. along with a joint FERC and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) final report on the impact of February's storm.
"The final report on Winter Storm Uri is a sobering analysis that highlights the significant work that needs to be done," Glick said. "I previously committed to take the recommendations seriously, and I plan to do exactly that. The devastating effects of extreme cold on our bulk power system's ability to operate in 2011 and now, 2021, must not be allowed to happen again. We have a duty to protect the bulk power system and public safety and we will do just that."
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Rich Glick
| ferc.gov
The same conditions that powered Winter Storm Uri are bound to reoccur, and Texas residents along with everyone in the nation are vulnerable, NERC President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Robb said in the release.
"Extreme weather events, such as the one in February 2021, are unfortunately becoming more commonplace and the electricity ecosystem needs to come together to plan for and prepare to operate under more extreme, longer duration, and wide area weather events," Robb said. "The FERC-NERC-Regional Entity Staff Report also highlights the need for substantially better coordination between the natural gas system and the electric system to ensure a reliable supply that nearly 400 million people across North America depend upon to support their way of life."
The 300-page report provides 28 formal recommendations for how to avoid a repeat of power failures and other cold-weather impacts such as those experienced during the event. It also underscored preliminary recommendations released earlier this fall.
"These recommendations include important revisions to the NERC Reliability Standards surrounding generator winterization and gas-electric coordination," FERC said.
The report encouraged further study of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)'s "reliability issues," and offered guidance to identify natural gas infrastructure that needs greater protection from rolling blackouts. The report also recommended additional ways to address natural gas fuel supply shortfalls during extreme cold-weather events.
The severe cold and other weather-related hazards caused numerous outages at electric generating plants scattered throughout the state. ERCOT ordered 20,000 megawatts of rolling blackouts to avoid a complete grid collapse, creating "the largest manually controlled load shedding event in U.S. history," the joint FERC/NERC report said.
Winter Storm Uri caused widespread power outages that ERCOT did not foresee. The state power grid came close to collapse as 4.5 million Texans were left without power, the release said. Some were without power for as long as four days, and numerous fatalities were reported.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed ERCOT and other energy-related reforms into law in June.
