How can the Southern power grid handle months of blistering heat with everyone blasting air conditioners, but can’t handle two days below freezing?
In: 1150
It depends what you mean by the South. The bulk electric system in the US has certain standards that they have to meet to be connected. Texas specifically didn’t want to have to follow these regulations because it would cost them money. So instead they have mostly a few DC lines connecting to the rest of the grid. So they are largely on their own. Like 10-20 years ago Texas got wrecked by an ice/snow storm and West Texas decided to make some improvements which is why with the recent winter storm they mostly had power back within a couple days to a week. Eastern Texas decided that “what are the odds it happens again soon” and did not. Which resulted in the situation we saw. Their generators are built to not melt down in high temps but they didn’t spend the money to insure against cold because they figured the cost of upgrading equipment to be fine in cold was worth more than potential profit loss of those generators going offline due to cold weather. So basically, it came down to money and good luck to the people who lose power. I can’t speak for the other southern states that are in a main BES region but I imagine it is similar in that their equipment just isn’t rated for deep cold for a long period.
Latest Answers