{"id":33548,"date":"2014-01-06T10:46:39","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T16:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=33548"},"modified":"2014-01-06T14:53:09","modified_gmt":"2014-01-06T20:53:09","slug":"ercot-investigating-generation-challenges-in-this-mornings-blackout-scare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/01\/06\/ercot-investigating-generation-challenges-in-this-mornings-blackout-scare\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Texas Power Plants Went Offline This Morning, Adding to Energy Emergency"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"ERCOT<\/a>

Photo by ERCOT<\/p>

ERCOT controls the power grid for about 23 million customers in Texas.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

At the heart of the energy emergency that brought Texas to the brink of rolling blackouts this morning\u00a0was the failure of power plants to\u00a0provide electricity when the state needed it, says the state grid operator.\u00a0That included two\u00a0plants in North Central Texas that suffered equipment failure caused by freezing weather.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In fact, the state saw higher electric demand during a cold spell last month, without going into an “energy emergency,”\u00a0ERCOT Spokesperson\u00a0Robbie Searcy said in a\u00a0telephone news\u00a0conference\u00a0today.<\/p>\n

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The difference this time was that there was less power available.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“We lost about 3,700 megawatts of generation,”\u00a0said\u00a0Dan Woodfin, ERCOT\u2019s\u00a0Director of System Operations. “About half of that was weather-related and the remainder were due to non-weather-related issues.”<\/p>\n

Woodfin\u00a0said about 1,800 megawatts of lost power came from two large plants that were forced offline after some of their monitoring equipment froze.<\/p>\n

“Probably if we had lost another unit it would have put us into an Energy Emergency Alert Three,” Woodfin\u00a0said, referring to the level that would have prompted rolling blackouts.<\/p>\n

\"\"

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