As extreme temperatures become a common trend across the globe, power companies and other utility services are preparing for an increase in the demand for new infrastructure and solutions.
According to NASA, climate change has been growing in severity in recent years, with recent studies from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicating that Texas has warmed between one-half and one degree Fahrenheit in the past century. This has brought unpredictable and unprecedented weather events like flash floods and freezes, which affects communities and jeopardizes the safety of the electrical grid. Matt Mitchell, a public information representative for Austin Energy, explained the City of Austin’s role in energy infrastructure.
“We know climate change is real,” Mitchell said. “We know that we’re seeing those impacts already, and we’re working diligently with the City of Austin to develop and continue to develop our response to that so that we can offset those changes as much as possible.”
The need for a response became especially apparent in February 2021, when Texas’ power grid infrastructure faced a large amount of failures. Due to a lack of preparation against the severe Winter Storm Uri, many were left without necessities such as water, heat, and electricity. A report from the same year published by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electrical Reliability Corporation (NERC) stated that there were an estimated 4,124 power outages where “more than 4.5 million people in Texas lost power during the event, and some went without power for as long as four days, while exposed to below-freezing temperatures for over six days.”
Texas has another unique challenge: unlike every other state, it’s not connected to the rest of the nation’s power grid system, and instead relies on the Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which controls the power supply. According to Vox, this means Texas can’t borrow power from other states when its own infrastructure fails. Due to the isolationist practices of Texas, the grid is very decentralized, meaning it is controlled by many local authorities rather than just one, which makes it challenging to fully control during times of crisis. As concerns over these practices have grown in recent years, initiatives have been introduced in hopes to connect ERCOT nationally.
“There’s been talk among regulatory bodies on what [centralizing the grid] would potentially look like,” Mitchell said. “We’ve not seen that come to fruition yet. Until it does, it’s not something that we can that we can comment on. Right now, it’s an idea.”
Texans might feel powerless against recent outages and weather disasters, but community efforts can help make outages less frequent and not last as long. According to Mitchell, it starts by listening to the power companies when they call for a reduction in power usage.
“Anything that we can do as a utility to communicate with our community about the challenges that we face climate change-related and otherwise, and get their buy-in on conserving energy and knowing how best to use energy efficiently, that reduces stress on the grid,” Mitchell said. “It helps reduce power outages and helps keep us out of a situation where we may be in an emergency as far as power throughout the state.”
Fossil fuels are a main cause of these climate shifts, according to NASA, and Texas is notorious for their reliance on them. Texas’ role as the supplier for 42% of crude oil and 27% of marketed natural gas makes them the top state for oil in the US, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). However, Austin Energy is trying to pioneer the mitigation and reversal of the effects of climate change by leaning towards sustainable energy sources.
“We have power-sharing agreements with wind, solar, biomass, and nuclear,” Mitchell said. “So we have a very diverse energy portfolio. 70%of that is carbon-free. We’ve long been a leader in going green before it was even fashionable because it reflected the values and continues to reflect the values of our community.”
Austin Energy is not the only energy company in Texas focusing on renewable sources. Adam Renz, the Director of Business Development at Pattern Energy, works with his company by reducing the use of fossil fuels and introducing sustainable energy options.
“Texas leads the nation in wind energy, generating over 30 percent of the U.S. total,” Renz said. “The state also ranks second nationally in solar energy and [is] continuing to expand rapidly. Companies are also taking advantage of the infrastructure and training established by oil and gas companies and expanding.”
Since 2021, ERCOT has been rolling out improvements to make the grid more reliable, according to a public statement by the company. This includes more weatherization and inspections to hopefully protect Texas against harsh weather conditions. Renz explained that sustainable sources can provide new advantages to mitigate these events.
“Renewable energy projects can enhance grid resilience by diversifying energy sources,” Renz said. “Distributed generation from renewables, especially when paired with energy storage solutions, can improve the grid’s ability to withstand and recover from disruptions caused by extreme weather events.”
ERCOT’s statement also predicted that electric grid growth demand will become necessary in the next few years, prompting a need for an adaptable grid plan. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) added to this, stating that Texas will only get more populated and experience more unprecedented weather events year-round over the next decade. Mitchell expressed that what matters now is how Texas rises to the occasion and adapts to survive in these conditions.
“We expect the demand and power to only increase,” Mitchell said. “We are seeing more people move here, more businesses requiring energy infrastructure, so we need to seriously think about how we generate and transmit power from different parts of the state to where it’s needed. Our challenge as a utility is to make sure that we have the infrastructure and the equipment in place and the team’s ready to service that and to provide power because we have an obligation to serve.”
