By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-950331.mp3
Dallas, TX – The state's public utility commission chairman yesterday apologized to Texans who were inconvenienced by planned energy outages on Wednesday. ERCOT, the agency that operates the state's electric grid says it should have done a better job informing the public about the rolling blackouts.
But both agencies say the employees operating the grid averted a major blackout by quickly implementing the brief, rolling outages.
KERA's Shelley Kofler reports the agencies are now launching an investigation into what happened, and tougher standards for power plants may be on the way.
The agency that manages the state's electric grid says the rolling black outs were prompted by operating failures at more than 50 power plants. In a media briefing Thursday Trip Doggett, chairman of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, said the forced outages were needed to ensure demand for power didn't exceed a diminished supply.
Doggett: In most cases what we observed was the extremely cold ambient temperatures along with windy conditions combined to cause problems with control systems.
Doggett blamed the unusually long and brutal cold snap for plant failures, but he also raised a question other industry experts and state officials are asking: why weren't the electric providers better prepared? Doggett: It's really the responsibility of the owners of the power plants to keep the plants in shape and available. I will say we will be looking at whether tighter restrictions should be applied on those plants.
Public utility commissioner Ken Anderson of Dallas says power plant operators had plenty of warning severe weather was on the way. At a meeting with fellow commissioners Anderson said their investigation should focus on why plants weren't ready.
Anderson: It does get cold here and the generation fleet had plenty of notice so I think that's where I'm interested in spending a lot of time.
There are industry standards for operating power plants but a public utility commission spokesman says the commission has little authority over plant maintenance or winterization.
That may change if state lawmakers decide to act. They're hearing from frustrated Texans whose electricity was shut off during the deepest cold snap in 20 years.