Energy secretary: Tighten Texas grid regulations
Granholm says storm won’t be a one-off
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm urged the Texas Legislature on Wednesday to tighten regulations on the state’s power grid to prevent a repeat of this month’s blackouts that left millions without power for days on end.
She pointed to a 2011 report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recommending that Texas power plants and transmission companies better weatherize their equipment against cold weather, following a rolling blackout the previous winter.
“Everybody knows that now and it’s out there,” said Granholm, speaking at CERAWEEK by IHS Markit. “I hope the Legislature in Texas provides the ability to be prepared and sustain (the power grid) for the kinds of storms we saw because it will not be a oneoff.”
Gov. Greg Abbott has already called on the Legislature to focus on power grid reform this session, with Republicans and Democrats alike looking at possible changes to force power companies to be better prepared for inclement weather — something climate scientists warn is likely to be a larger problem in decades ahead.
“The Texas House will do its part to ensure this disaster never happens again,” Enrique Marquez, spokesman for House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Republican, said in an email.
Granholm urged power regulators across the country to take steps to improve the resiliency of their power grids, “even in warm places.”
And she also said Texas should think about expanding interconnections with neighboring power grids, to not only help them in a crisis but also to be able to send electricity to Oklahoma or Louisiana should their grids fall into trouble.
“I understand the go-it-alone ethos, but there’s also an ethos of helping your neighbor,” Granholm said. “Texas is generating a lot of clean energy, and there’s a market out there eager to accept it.”
CERAWEEK, held every year in Houston by Cambridge Energy Research Associates, an IHS Markit company, is being held virtually this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic led to the cancellation of last year’s event.