Looming blackouts should spur action- especially in Texas

Headlines last week warned that large parts of the Midwest and Western United States could suffer blackouts this summer, due in large part to closures of fossil fuel plants across the region. These warnings were based on predictions made by the North America Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) in its latest “reliability assessment” report to the public. Just days before the report became public, Texas experienced its own heat-induced blackout when six electric power generation facilities tripped offline, causing the state’s grid operator to ask citizens to “conserve power by setting their thermostats to 78-degrees or above and avoiding the usage of large appliances during peak hours.”

With the summer only getting hotter, this doesn’t bode well for residents of the Lone Star state who still keenly remember how cold weather took down the Texas grid, killing more than 240 people and causing nearly $100 billion in economic losses. The 2021 winter blackout in Texas highlighted the costs of that state’s leaders not prioritizing resilience in their oversight of the electric grid.  Not only has the state disproportionately promoted wind and solar at the expense of more reliable forms of power generation, such as nuclear, coal, and natural gas, but they have also consistently ignored threats that are far more severe than the hot and cold weather that currently plagues the Texas grid.  These severe threats include supply chain vulnerabilities such as imported Chinese transformers with potential “backdoors” that could be exploited by adversaries, physical sabotage, solar weather, and electromagnetic pulse.

The failure of the Texas state government to take meaningful action to protect the grid goes back more than seven years when grid-security experts formally warned lawmakers of numerous natural and manmade threats to the state’s electric infrastructure. The blame for inaction can be shared by both the legislative and executive branches of the state government.

Governor Abbott received letters from members of the Texas Congressional delegation in 2015 and 2018 warning the federal government was not moving fast enough and that the state should “help Texas lead by example by creating workable solutions to protect the electric grid from all hazards.”  Because Texas has its own electric grid, it’s leaders can take aggressive action independent of the rest of the United States. They just haven’t.

The Texas legislature has declined to adopt such “workable solutions” in the pass four sessions, despite legislation proposed by Texas state Senator Bob Hall, which would require all-hazards protection of the state’s grid. The electric power industry has lobbied heavily against the legislation since 2015, arguing that protecting the grid against all hazards is “too costly.”

Last year the state did pass the “Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act,” which stipulates that “a business entity may not enter into an agreement relating to critical infrastructure” with companies that are owned by foreign adversaries such as China, or with companies that “would be granted direct or remote access to or control of critical infrastructures in the state.” It is unclear, though, whether that law would apply to Texas utilities that had already done business with problematic companies like a Chinese transformer manufacturer who supplied at least one potentially problematic transformer to a Houston-based utility.

Texas leaders’ most recent opportunity to learn about grid threats came on Wednesday, May 18^th when Senator Hall hosted a screening of the documentary “Grid Down, Power Up” produced by Texas resident David Tice and narrated by actor Dennis Quaid. The film was debuted in the state’s Capitol building in Austin and was followed by a panel discussion with experts who have been advocating for grid resilience for decades – a discussion which revealed that there are cost effective technical solutions available now to protect the state’s grid. “Grid Down, Power Up” is one of the latest films chronicling threats to the grid, including the recently launched Episode 1 of the “Black Sky Event” documentary series.

Viewers can watch “Grid Down, Power Up” and the Panel Discussion by clicking here.

Perhaps one of the most promising aspects of the “Grid Down, Power Up” film is the “Power Up” part of it – which includes a nationwide grassroots campaign to advocate for protection of the grid. Viewers are provided access to an AlignAct campaign that enables them to easily send elected officials emails and social media messages demanding action to secure the nation’s electric grid.

Given the history of the Lone Star state’s leaders deferring to the electric utility lobby and choosing not to require grid protection, now is the time for that state’s citizens (and those of every other state) to demand action to secure the grid.