US Declares Texas Grid Emergency in Arctic Blast

(Bloomberg) -- The US Energy Department declared a power emergency in Texas, citing a shortage of electricity as an Arctic winter blast causes power plants to fail. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, whose service area includes 90% of electric customers in Texas, requested the emergency order Friday, warning it may need to resort to blackouts. It will require the grid operators to provide detailed reporting to the Energy Department and completion of a post-incident special environmental analysis, a department spokeswoman added in an email. Demand on the Texas power grid reached an all-time winter peak in excess of 74,000 megawatts on Friday morning, according to the Energy Department. Texas officials have been assuring residents the power grid is up to the challenge and that there’s no danger of a repeat of the February 2021 catastrophe that killed more than 200 people.