Texas’ Grid Resiliency in a Changing Climate

Introduction

In February 2021, Texas experienced a wave of power outages in the wake of a severe winter storm, leaving over 4 million Texans with no heat and no electricity, and causing hundreds of fatalities across the state. The outages caused by Winter Storm Uri brought energy resilience to the forefront of Americans’ minds as we witnessed firsthand the consequences of poor infrastructure in the midst of unmitigated climate change. As extreme weather events like Uri increase in frequency, we can expect this will continue to be a hot-button issue in the lead up to the 2022 midterm elections. Democrats are leveraging the situation as a means for highlighting the failures of the Republican Party and are pushing forward an agenda laden with infrastructure investments and climate regulations. Republicans, on the other hand, are on the defensive, repeatedly assuring that the electrical grid is now secure and resilient to winter weather, ignoring the attacks leveraged against them and instead focusing on the legislation they’ve passed to winterize the grid. 

Regardless of politics, one thing is certain: When the power went out during some of the lowest temperatures ever recorded in Texas, people suffered. Statewide food and water shortages ensued, pipes burst, and those desperately seeking warmth instead found themselves facing house fires or suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning or hypothermia. Across the state of Texas, over $80 billion in damages and more than 200 deaths (according to the official death count, although this number may be closer to 700) have been attributed to the storm in an across-the-board collapse of food, water, and energy infrastructure. It’s challenging to know the toll that this storm took on vulnerable populations — including the elderly, under-resourced and homeless communities, as well as those who are chronically ill — who typically bear the brunt of natural disasters. Even those who were fortunate enough to not lose power during the storms found themselves being charged exorbitant rates for their electricity bills.

The Texas power outages are a result of governance failures, corporate greed, and an unwillingness to recognize the ever-pressing need to climatize — not weatherize — our energy infrastructure. Our global climate systems are constantly changing, and in response, we must build and prepare for the climate of the future, not the weather of the present. Before exploring the need to tackle these issues head on, it’s important to understand the circumstances leading to this devastating infrastructural collapse in Texas.