What We Can Learn From The Texas Winter Storm of 2021

ERCOT, founded in 1970², has supplied most of Texas with electricity since inception, and previously serviced as Independent Service Operator since 1966 as “broker between competitive wholesale power buyers and sellers.”₂ With over 50 years of work of providing steady electricity and electrical services to the state of Texas, most Texans, before February 2021, had not heard of ERCOT, let alone even realized that most of Texas was on a separate grid than most of the United States. Regionally, residents may know their local suppliers, such as CenterPoint Energy around Harris County and most of the Greater Houston area, or Austin Energy for Travis County which encompasses Austin, TX. But, outside of these household names, ERCOT was just letters put together as an acronym until temperatures began to drop on February 10th.

As a native Texan, especially in the Gulf Coast area, when you’re given a weather forecast, it’s typically taken with a grain of salt; it may rain one minute, completely sunny the next, with a humidity of 70% and temperature of 96 degrees Fahrenheit at 2:00 PM with the temperature at 60 degrees Fahrenheit at 4:00 PM. So, when the forecast is for snow and ice with temperature in the teens, one may not think it will last for long and be as harsh as it came that week of February 2021. February 14th was the day where I went to bed under warm blankets and the heater turned to 70 degrees, just for 3:00 AM to come and be awakened with the clicking of the power shutting off as well as the heat. CenterPoint Energy sent the usual email stating that the power would be back in a few hours and was just a “disruption,” and little did I know that it meant that the warm home would become an expensive box hovering at a temperature around 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

What caused the blackout? Why was it so sudden of a blackout for many Texans? Why did some have power return earlier than others? For a deep breakdown, The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute put together a full report about the February 2021 blackouts which can be read here. But, for a quick breakdown, it is stated that the “As generation could not sufficiently increase to meet demand, the frequency of the grid began to decline.”³ The report also states that each day would compound reasons of continued failure where it would be “weather-related” with frozen lines, “equipment issues” with damaged equipment or wear and tear issues, or even “fuel limitations” due to lack of supply.³ Many Texans, and loved ones of Texas residents that could not get in contact with those residents, were upset and felt deceived as there was very little mention of potential grid failure. Emails from local suppliers about “conservation” were sent prior to temperatures dropping, as is done for every record temperature moment, but as usual, Texans took to social media to joke about the <70 degree Fahrenheit suggestions and how the triple digit electricity bills warrant the use of electricity however bill-payers want. However, these jokes ended up being something that we look back on as a “moment in time,” as now many heed these emails as the possibility of extreme heat or cold in homes around the state with grid failures.

Although we cannot go back in time and use the knowledge of the future on the past, we can use this event to avert events in the future. Not only is the “Texas Blackout” a learning experience for ERCOT, the State of Texas, local governments, and Texas residents, but a learning experience for those watching and reading about the situations unfolding. Let’s look at some factors and how they effected or changed how we interact with or think of affiliated details.

When looking at this event as a native Texan, ERCOT, instead of a neutral acronym that rarely, if ever, crossed minds, has become something that causes some anxiety and possibly anger or sadness. Why? ERCOT is now associated with blackouts, being unprepared, greed, loss of life, and additional negative terms from one incident. For most organizations, one incident is not typically at this scale, but there are lessons that scale down to everyday work. Such as this negative connotation with the 5 letters in the specified order of “E-R-C-O-T.” A little-known name or brand can be posted to headlines and social media accounts within minutes, if not seconds, after an incident. Can these be avoided? In many contexts, yes, there are precautions that typically can help aid in avoidance such as inspections and inventory management. But there are some instances where instances are inevitable as there are many factors that are outside of the control and scope of the organization. However, although inevitable, there are two ways to approach these instances: unprepared and unaware or have your “I’s dotted and T’s crossed.” Even with preparedness, there’s varying levels of how prepared you will be and how grand the event but it’s always better to have a plan than no plan. For some organizations preparedness and planning is a part of the culture since inception of the brand while others, it’s supplemented by management systems such as ISO 9001 or ISO 45001, to ensure that processes are put in the day-to-day management rather than an immediate push once the signs of upcoming issues appear.

It does seem that ERCOT did start to consider “contingency plans such as calling on reserves and shedding load, and at low enough frequencies, automated load shed can occur”³ on “February 14th”³. But by this point, demand was higher than expected while supply was seen to be “overestimated.”³ Blackouts occurred to “shed load to avoid a catastrophic failure,”³ of which “catastrophic failure” are not two words you would not like to see when speaking about a necessary government provided infrastructure. As we look back, we can analyze and think of some ways how we would approach the situation. For example, having a contingency plan that notified Texans of potential blackouts and having a proposed scheduling of blackouts if the situation calls for it. Although residents would still need to undergo blackouts, they can be planned for, and residents can set up their homes to prepare for their scheduled times. And ERCOT may have these plans, or have set items in motion for new protocols or additions to their infrastructure whether it’s building more wind turbines or solar power panels to better supplement the natural gas and coal powered systems, which could be outlined using an ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System. Or maybe it’s more closely monitoring systems and outputs to see where inefficiencies are and better innovate, which can be aided by the use of ISO 50001 standards.

Following the Texas Winter Storm 2021, the report “Never Again: How to Prevent Another Major Texas Electricity Failure” was published by the PUC (Public Utility Commissioners) of Texas Commissioners outlining recommendations to help support electrical infrastructure and prevent some future issues. The report also “notes the state’s failure to make many of these changes, as recommended at the time by others, after widespread winter electric outages in 2011”⁴ If process and infrastructure are not being changed or updated based on investigation and research, how does that effect trust and reliability? Ross Ramsey continues in his analysis “The Texas electric grid and the improvements that didn’t come”:

“It’s not like voters had high expectations. In an April University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll, only 17% of Texas voters said they were either “extremely” or “very” confident that lawmakers would “enact effective laws to prevent future disruptions in utility services” like those in February.”⁴

Again, let’s use this for education and how it can be applied to other organizations. Trust can be either regained or continue to drop due to how an incident is responded to or resolved. With the pointing of fingers by officials⁵ and calls for resignations,⁵ it can make Texas residents feel weary of the agencies that are meant to oversee organizations, such as the State of Texas with ERCOT. We may never really know the reason why recommendations were not followed through on, or why updates to the grid have not yet been implemented, but it can give us the opportunity to reflect on what our organizations may have been holding off on implementing or reviewing that may decrease risks in the future.

For a quick update to what is seen as a Texas resident and experienced, it seems as more emails regarding “conservation” of electricity are pushed whenever temperatures fall outside of the average expectation for the season, whether hot or cold. For 2024, residents were wary of what to come and how ERCOT and the State of Texas will respond. Peter Warren, in the article “Texans rush to the stores to get prepared ahead of freezing temperatures” reported:

 “Panic buying ahead of winter storms is nothing new for Texans. It is almost to be expected at this point, which in turn adds to the mayhem around the situation.”⁶

I did not visit stores prior to the drop in temperatures, but I did monitor the ERCOT website to ensure that I would be able to prepare for a blackout if the grid’s load largely increased. However, since Texas Winter Storm 2021, “Texas utilities have been on a renewable-energy building spree, adding giant batteries, windmills and solar panels”⁸ which has aided in keeping actual load under the expected daily since the beginning of drop in temperatures. Nicolás Rivero mentions in his Washington Post article “Winter storm tests Texas green grid upgrades” how much Texas has added to their arsenal of preparedness:

“Over the past three years, Texas built more than 5 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity, which is enough to power roughly 3.75 million homes for one hour — about a third of the households on the Texas grid. Texas is now the state with the most battery storage after California.”⁷

With this additional focus of green energy with windmills and solar panels, as well as additional methods of storing energy, Texas may be able to better handle the increasing occurrence of record temperatures. These renewable sources of energy will one day be standard in our lives and preparing now for that future would be wise to ease into worldwide dependability on those resources. If your business or organization is looking to become more sustainable in these regards, and more, looking into standards such as ISO 14001 and taking a stance with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and undergoing ESG Audits or External Verification can aid in this process. Will these updates to the grid be enough to regain trust in ERCOT and the electrical grid it oversees? Only time can ultimately tell and if the continued investment in the infrastructure shows it’s worth.

Let’s look back and see what we can really learn overall from the Texas Winter Storm 2021:

• Trust can be easily lost whether from incidents or due to responses/remediation to the incidents.
• Incidents will occur, but being prepared as much as possible can help prepare those who may be affected or quicken the rebuilding process.
• Having reliable processes can aid in creating public trust and a resilience to continue to provide services.
• With systems and processes in place, there can be a process to take criticisms, recommendations, investigations, etc. and evaluate what is a value-add, critical, or can put aside as a future endeavor.
• Consistent tracking and overviews of current systems help with being able to innovate where possible, whether it’s simplifying overcomplicated systems or bringing in new technology to better support a growing organization.
• Sustainability measures, whether with renewable energy or recycling measures, can aid with innovation and preparing for future risks that may exist now, or can come with the change of our climate and natural resources.

If you’re looking to better support your business and prepare for unintended risks, management system certification can help lay the groundwork for finding what works best for your business. Whether it’s digital and information security risks, which can be addressed with ISO 27001:2022, or just general safety of employees, addressed with ISO 45001, starting with the ISO brand of standards can lead you towards meeting your goals. You can also add on a Business Continuity Management System built with ISO 22301, which can help prepare your business for the unexpected such as natural disasters or network failures, to your already implemented management system. And if sustainability and “green” resources are more what you are looking for, ESG can help with going in the right direction (learn more about the ESG FastFoward Self-Assessment tool here) and going through Verifications can dissect what you are currently doing and where there are areas of improvement. If you want to learn more about these standards and more offerings from DQS, you can speak with our Sales Team at sales.us@dqs.de or use the button below. If you’re looking to go a bit deeper into what standards are, whether it’s a basic overview with an ISO 14001 Executive Overview course or wanting more in depth understanding for internal auditing with an ISO 45001 Internal Auditor, DQS Academy provides training courses to help you with your certification goals. Learn more and register for upcoming courses by visiting our Training & Courses page.

¹ Ercot. ercot.com. https://www.ercot.com/files/docs/2022/02/08/ERCOT_Fact_Sheet.pdf

² Ercot. ercot.com. https://www.ercot.com/news/mediakit/backgrounder

³ The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute. “The Timeline and Events of the February 2021 Texas Electric Grid Blackouts.” 2021 July. utexas.edu. https://energy.utexas.edu/sites/default/files/UTAustin%20%282021%29%20EventsFebruary2021TexasBlackout%2020210714.pdf

⁴ Montgomery, David. Rojas, Rick. McDonnell Nieto del Rio, Giulia. “Texans Needed Food and Comfort After a Brutal Storm. As Usual, They Found It at H-E-B.” New York Times. 22 February 2021. nytimes.com. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/us/texas-heb-winter-storm.html

⁵ Ramsey, Ross. “Analysis: The Texas electric grid and the improvements that didn’t come.” The Texas Tribune. 07 June 2021. Texastribune.com. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/06/07/texas-ercot-power-grid-legislature/

⁶ Ramsey, Ross. “Analysis: Working political angles instead of solving problems.” The Texas Tribune. 17 February 2021. Texastribune.com.https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/17/texas-power-outage-analysis/

⁷ Warren, Peter. “Texans rush to the stores to get prepared ahead of freezing temperatures.” Houston Chronicle.  2024 Jan 13. Houstonchronicle.com. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/trending/article/tiktok-video-cold-front-winter-storm-texas-heb-18606566.php

⁸ Rivero, Nicolás. “Winter storm tests Texas green grid upgrades.” Washington Post. 14 Jan 2024. Washingtonpost.com. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/01/14/texas-grid-winter-storm-power-outage/