Fixing The Texas Power Grid Requires New Oversight — Don’t Hold Your Breath

Fixing The Texas Power Grid Requires New Oversight — Don’t Hold Your Breath

HOUSTON, TEXAS - JUNE 15: Transmission towers are shown on June 15, 2021 in Houston, Texas. The ... [+] Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which controls approximately 90% of the power in Texas, has requested Texas residents to conserve power through Friday as temperatures surge in the state. An increase in forced generation outages early into the Summer season has prompted this urgent request. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) In the vast expanse of West Texas' Permian Basin, hundreds of miles from the nearest power plant, lies a clue to why the February power outage was so catastrophic. You see them at wellsite after wellsite — electric motors. A decade ago, the drilling equipment powering Texas' most prolific oil and gas field ran on diesel fuel. Today, most are powered by electricity. But as the February freeze settled in, power plants froze and electricity slowed to a trickle at many natural gas well sites. Then, as one industry insider explained it to me, a vicious cycle began. Without electricity to run the wells, gas production slowed. Without gas, power plants couldn't generate enough electricity to power the wells. And even when more electricity did become available, it was selling