Feb. 2021 Electricity Blackouts and Natural Gas Shortages in Texas

Technical Report · Fri Jul 30 04:00:00 EDT 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1822217· OSTI ID:1822217

Mann, W. Neal ^[1]; Biegel, Katie ^[1]; Stauff, Nicolas E. ^[1]; Dixon, Brent ^[2]

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1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
2. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

An extreme winter storm and extended cold weather event hit Texas and the central United States February 8–19, 2021. This led to both exceptional energy demands and issues with electricity and natural gas supplies over several days. Residential space heating drove the increases in demand, with over 60% of Texas homes using electric heat pumps and 35% using natural gas furnaces. Supply issues were caused by freezing equipment and supply lines, impacting both natural gas supplies and most forms of electricity generation. [1] Natural gas supplies were especially important because natural gas also supplied about 50% of the electricity generating capacity in ERCOT, the primary grid operator in Texas. [2] Due to the supply shortages, wholesale electricity prices were forced to the ERCOT maximum of $$\$$9,000$ /MWh for over three days (recent range $$\$$20$–40/MWh), [3] and natural gas prices for physical delivery exceeded $$\$$400$ /MMBtu in some areas (recent range $$\$$3$$–4/MMBtu). [4]

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1822217
• Report Number(s): ANL-21/29; 169454
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION