[EA7] Anatomy of the Texas power outage: Where do the facts lead so far?

Hans De Keulenaer

June 23, 2021 16:18 Updated

In February 2021, an energy crisis in the U.S. state of Texas dominated the news around the globe. Citizens in homes unequipped for freezing temperatures struggled without power for days. The world watched in dismay as the situation grew more disastrous by the hour. Only in the wake of the event have the enormous financial costs of the failures in both the electricity and fossil gas sectors become clear.

Nearly four months later, debates rage on about the causes of the event and the best ways to prevent similar tragedies for consumers and other power system stakeholders. On 23 June 2021, the Electrification Academy welcomed power system reliability expert Michael Hogan of the Regulatory Assistance Project to peel back the layers of speculation and disinformation about the fateful event. He shed light on little-known facts and shared the best of the learnings so far.