The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages 75 percent of the Lone Star State’s electric grid, did not conduct any on-site inspections of its power plants to evaluate their winter preparedness due to COVID-19 protocols, a report from NBC 5 in Dallas suggests.
Instead of sending inspectors to complete important examinations at state power facilities to ensure they were adequately equipped to handle winter weather and high electricity demands, ERCOT management chose to host “virtual tabletop exercises” for only a portion of their plants, keeping their in-person contact limited to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Beyond permitting only 94 of the state’s 600 facilities to participate in the virtual meeting centered on preparing for winter, ERCOT also did not require any plants to adapt their protocols for the colder months, instead just offering a list of suggested guidance for plant operators to follow voluntarily. When the recent storm hit Texas and these unprepared power plants, 40 percent
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