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It looks like we’re almost through the worst of this winter storm, and the ERCOT power grid seems to have held up. Other than an emergency order from the U.S. Department of Energy and some localized outages, there haven’t really been any major issues.
In short, it seems like we can all let out a sigh of relief—because this won’t be a repeat of the 2021 Winter Storm Uri. Jason Isaacs, CEO of the American Energy Institute, recapped the grid improvements that have prevented a major outage: “ERCOT’s done a good job of managing the grid and making sure we have generation on backup. Unfortunately, that costs a lot more.”
Essentially, the reliability has come at a premium, and Texans are going to be paying a lot more for far more reliable energy. The good news is the Department of Energy’s emergency order will help level off some of those costs for this winter storm.
According to Isaacs, this specific emergency order has already been used on a number of power plants around the nation and will help keep more energy producers online and maintain a steady supply.