Texas winter storm: Energy emergency declared to keep ERCOT grid stable

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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Energy on Sunday issued an emergency order for the deployment of backup energy resources to mitigate blackouts in Texas.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright called on the Energy Reliability Council of Texas to require major facilities like data centers to operate their backup generators to help reduce the risk of blackouts amid increased energy demands during the winter storm.

What they're saying:

"The Trump administration is committed to unleashing all available power generation needed to keep Americans safe during Winter Storm Fern," Wright said. "The Trump administration will continue taking action to ensure that the 35 GW of untapped backup generation that exists across the country can be deployed as needed during Winter Storm Fern and in the future."

What does the emergency order do?

What we know:

The order directs ERCOT to require large energy consumers to use backup generators after using all of ERCOT's resources. The order can also be invoked if the Texas power grid falls to emergency level three.

Under section 202c of the Federal Power Act, the Department of Energy has the authority to make temporary changes to the U.S. electric system and "require by order such temporary connections of facilities and such generation, delivery, interchange, or transmission of electric energy as in its judgment will best meet the emergency and serve the public interest."

While the Federal Power Act allows for a waiver of federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, an emergency order must "'to the maximum extent practicable' ensure the order is consistent with environmental laws or regulations and ‘minimizes any adverse environmental impacts.’"

The order would not require defense, homeland security, first responder, air traffic control, hospital facilities, 911 call centers, water treatment or wastewater facilities, natural gas pipeline facilities, natural gas gathering facilities, or other similar facilities to use their backup generators.

ERCOT is required to tell the Department of Energy within one day of directing facilities to use backup generation.

What we don't know:

It is unclear if the use of backup generators will be needed during the current arctic blast.

According to the agency's dashboard, ERCOT's grid is operating under normal conditions with sufficient operating reserves for its current demand.

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Power outages in Texas

As of Sunday afternoon, findenergy.com is showing more than 83,000 Texans are without power. A majority of those impacted are in east Texas.

According to ERCOT, current power outages are likely local outages and not an issue with the grid.

What's next:

The DOE's order is in effect until Tuesday.

Read the full order below:

The Source: Information on the Department of Energy's emergency order comes from the U.S. Department of Energy. Information about ERCOT's grid and current power reserves comes from ERCOT. Information on the Federal Power Act comes from congress.gov.

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