Texas power grid operators narrowly
avoid rolling blackouts
Feb 27, 2008 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News
- R.A. Dyer Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Operators of the Texas power grid scrambled Tuesday
night to keep the lights on after a sudden drop in
wind power threatened to cause rolling blackouts,
officials confirmed Wednesday.
At about 6:41 p.m., power grid operators ordered
a shutoff of power to so-called interruptible customers,
which are industrial electric users who have agreed
previously to forego power in times of crisis. The
move ensured continued stability of the grid after
electric reserves dropped to alarmingly low levels.
Dottie Roark, a spokeswoman for the power grid, said
a sudden uptick in electricity use coupled with a
sudden drop in wind power caused the unexpected dip.
As a result, grid officials immediately went to the
second stage of its emergency blackout prevention
plan.
"This situation means that there is a heightened
risk of ... regular customers being dropped through
rotating outages, but that would occur only if further
contingencies occur, and only as a last resort to
avoid the risk of a complete blackout," the State
Operations Center stated in an e-mail notice to municipalities.
Known as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas,
the quasi-governmental agency that manages the power
grid must ensure that power generation and power use
remain constantly in balance. Otherwise, the whole
grid can go dark and the result is a system-wide blackout.
According to ERCOT, those interruptible customers
who lost power Tuesday night had it restored within
a couple of hours. The interruptible customers are
generally industrial businesses that pay less for
electricity in exchange for an agreement that they
will let ERCOT cut their power during shortages.
Kent Saathoff, vice president for system operations
at ERCOT, said Tuesday's event illustrates the inherent
challenges associated with using wind power. Because
the wind sometimes stops blowing without a moment's
notice, engineers at ERCOT must remain nimble enough
to respond to instability that can result from the
resulting power dip on the grid, he said.
"There is a major workshop going on at our office
right now to discuss these very issues," said Saathoff.
Although he said the emergency event was rare, it
is not unprecedented. On April 16, 2006, for instance,
a much more serious shortage prompted rolling blackouts
across much of Texas. ERCOT officials at that time
also ordered power curtailments for the state's interruptible
customers.
That 2006 event was prompted largely by scorching
heat coupled with a shutdown of several generators
for spring maintenance. This time the shortage was
prompted largely by a near total loss of wind generation.
Although ERCOT did not yet have precise figures Wednesday
afternoon, Roark estimated that during the grid shortage
wind power plummeted from about a "couple of thousand"
megawatts to just "several hundred" megawatts. A single
megawatt represents how much electricity it takes
to power 500 to 700 homes under normal conditions.
Some critics have said that wind power, although
providing a source of clean energy, also brings with
it plenty of hidden costs and technical challenges.
Besides requiring the construction of expensive transmission
lines, the fickle nature of wind also means that the
state cannot forgo the construction of other sorts
of generators to replace that power on short notice.
"This is a warning to all those who think that renewable
energy is the sole answer (to the state's power needs),"
said Geoffrey Gay, an attorney representing Fort Worth
and other North Texas municipalities in utility issues.
"We can't put all our eggs in one basket when it comes
to any form of generation. We need to consider the
cost and the reliability issues, in addition to the
environmental impact."
R.A. Dyer reports from
the Star- Telegram's Austin bureau. 512-476-4294 rdyer@star-telegram.com
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