Predicting the Grid Failure: With Professor Ed Hirs
By Sarah F. Hill
One of the distinguished panelists in the first part of the TAMEST Natural Hazards Summit: Responding to and Mitigating the Impacts was UH Energy Fellow Ed Hirs. He is the economist who predicted that the ERCOT grid would fail during an event like Winter Storm Uri in 2013 – a storm that claimed 211 lives. His take on the energy crisis in Texas is that it was highly politicized.
Additionally, the energy enterprise in Texas has a momentous lack of investment and reinvestment. He stated: “The workers who bring the meters to the houses and remove branches from lines are not going to come out until there is a disaster – because then the federal government is responsible for the bill.” This lack of investment in infrastructure is something that needs attention in the state legislature, and it may take years still for the state government to move on.
“We know the hazards, but we have a lack of political change. No politicians want to increase taxes, or if they do, it’s a sure way to not get reelected. And this is mainly because community members don’t want to pay to shore up the infrastructure.” This frustrating paradigm is playing out with serious consequences – even loss of life as we saw firsthand when the ERCOT grid failed.
Part II of the TAMEST Natural Hazards Summit will take place on May 16, 2022, in Lubbock, Texas. The session, presented by the National Wind Institute (NWI) at Texas Tech University, will take place at Texas Tech University’s International Cultural Center (601 Indiana Avenue, Lubbock, TX 79409).