Most Texas Power Grids Failing the Summer Heat Also Failed Winter Storms
On 7/9/21 at 12:04 AM EDT
The sweltering Texas heat is putting extreme strain on the same power grids that failed during February s deadly winter storms.
Newly released data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas shows that there have been a total of 1,280 summer power outages across the state. In addition, between June 14-18, 97 power plants had a total of 224 unplanned outages. Of those 97 plants, two-thirds went down during February s storms, according to KHOU.
Plants running off natural gas suffered the most, being responsible for 49 percent of all reduction in output, according to KHOU s investigation. Natural gas plants had a reduction of 8,894 megawatts during the June 14-18 span. Comparatively, 4,271 megawatts were unavailable from wind power and 2,098 megawatts were reduced from solar power, the station found.
ERCOT CEO Terminated After Deadly Winter Storm
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One of the biggest disasters was the lack of communication from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and its residents. Texans were kept entirely in the dark about the disaster that was happening right under their noses.
While temperatures began to fall below freezing and power began to trip off, Texans had no idea why and when they would get their electricity turned back on. Never in a million years would they have expected to be without a basic necessity like electricity more than a few hours, let alone days!
Fired ERCOT CEO Bill Magness says he will not seek, accept severance pay fox26houston.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fox26houston.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Fired ERCOT CEO Bill Magness says he will not seek, accept severance pay
By FOX 7 Austin Digital Team
Published
AUSTIN, Texas - ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness has told the ERCOT Board of Directors that he will not seek or accept severance pay, according to the agency.
In accordance with his employment agreement, his severance pay would have been equivalent to one year of his current base salary, which is more than $800,000.
Earlier this week, the ERCOT board of directors voted to fire Magness, effective in 60 days. According to a statement from the board, Magness will continue to serve in the role and work on potential reforms to ERCOT while the board searches for a new president and CEO.