From your source: "State power plants submit weatherization plans to both the Public Utility Commission, which oversees the power industry, and ERCOT. In a conference call Monday, Dan Woodfin, ERCOT’s senior director of system operations, said generators followed best practices for winterization, but the severity of the weather went “well beyond the design parameters of an extreme Texas winter.”
CounterPoint:
https://www.govtech.com/em/safety/T...ng-to-Incredibly-Dangerous-Situation.html?AMPThe deep freeze and blackouts of 2011 were caused by almost the exact same reasons. Less than two weeks later, the Texas Legislature and Public Utility Commission held hearings, coming up with a bill on winterizing techniques for generators. But the only requirement of the bill, which was signed into law that June, was timing: Generators must file a weather preparation report with ERCOT by Dec. 1 that ERCOT sends to the PUC. There are no standards for generators to meet or any methods for sanctioning them. Even turning the report in on time has been a challenge: More than 30 generators filed theirs late this year. "These companies are ... not spending the money to make the necessary upgrades," said David Blackmon, a longtime energy industry analyst based in Mansfield. "I think the proof is we have 3 million Texans with no power, and that's an incredibly dangerous situation." Comptroller and former Republican state Sen. Glenn Hegar sponsored the winterization bill in 2011. He noted the need for more reform in a statement to the Star-Telegram. "The most immediate issue is getting power to the millions of Texans who have experienced prolonged outages that threaten their lives and property," he said. "However, once the grid is back to being fully operational again, we must address why, after 10 years have passed, are we in a worse position today than in 2011."
