Texas Power Outages: What You Need to Know

There have been several Texas blackouts and power outages which are caused due to increased demand for electricity. But the blackouts occur not just during summer but even during the winter months. For example, in 2018, Texas faced a severe power outage during winter with a sudden demand for increased electricity. When experts explored the issue, they found that the heating requirement for individual households increased during winter as the temperature plunged. This led to increased demand for electricity.

Furthermore, as the electricity generation for most power plants is fixed, it led to power outages even during winter. They found that even wind energy, on which much of the renewable energy for winter depended, could not function at par as the turbines got damaged due to heavy snowfall in Texas. These unprecedented situations led to rolling power outages in Texas, even during winter. Some of the other reasons for power outages in Texas are as follows:

Power Outages In the Summer

In summer, the demand for electricity increases in Texas as the tendency to reduce the temperature of the air-conditioners increase. This often leads to overriding of the grids, which results in a power failure. Energy providers dependent on ONCOR Electric Delivery Company mention that the issue usually lies in that the electricity demand usually increases exponentially during the summer. The traditional methods of generating electricity cannot supplement this. ONCOR has been exploring various green energy resources used to support the increased demand for electricity. However, often these are not enough to meet the energy requirement during summer. This often results in power outages during summer.

Power Outages Caused By Hurricanes

Recently Texas has seen several hurricanes, which have resulted in power outages. In addition, hurricanes have resulted in severe rainfall in Texas. This has prevented the power generation centers from functioning at optimum levels. Similarly, the grids had to be closed to prevent accidents leading to rolling power outages.

Texans have experiences rolling power outages in summer and winter due to natural causes and manmade causes. Sometimes, the outages resulted from the turbines malfunctioning or freezing due to an unprecedented drop in temperature during winter. It was a grid failure during other times due to a sudden spike in demand for electricity during summer. However, there was a common trend noticed when it came to power outages in Texas. It was always related to the demand for electricity.

Experts advise that individuals can control power outages in Texas by reducing is wastage of energy. For example, one of the leading causes of power outages in Texas during summer is reducing the thermostat temperature. If you keep the temperature of the air-conditioner of your home at an optimum level so that the HVAC system in your house does not draw more power, then you can reduce the wastage of energy. Subsequently, it can help reduce the electricity demand and prevent the grid from tripping. Overriding of the grid is a reason for the rolling blackouts that you often observe. Thus, by practicing the conservation of energy, you can easily prevent power outages.