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Use Case 2: Texas Winter Storm and Power Crisis – Cascading Failures
In February 2021, the State of Texas suffered a major power crisis that came as the result of severe winter storms and resulted in shortages of housing, water, food, and heat.[17] It is estimated that more than 4.5 million homes and businesses were left without consistent power, many for multiple days. Studies have shown that minority populations were more likely to experience blackout than White populations.[18] The storm and subsequent power failures led to rolling blackouts and surging energy prices as the demand for energy far exceeded the available supply.
• In terms of safety and security, millions of people were left without power in the midst of a powerful winter storm. A major cascading impact from the rolling blackouts was houses and buildings becoming very cold, leading to pipes freezing and subsequently bursting.[19]
• These challenges had major adverse effects on physical and mental health, including hypothermia and carbon monoxide poisoning from the improper use of heaters, grills, and cars. • Another consequence of the power loss was supply chain breakdowns specifically regarding grocery stores and their ability to restock and properly refrigerate products. Shelves were cleared, which led to panic and shortages.
• These cascading failures exposed governance and communication issues. There was a lack of public preparation, education, and warning in the days before the storm, and communication during the storm was hamstrung by the lack of power. This led to widespread confusion about the rolling power outages as well as major safety concerns such as the use of cars inside of garages for heat.
• The winter storm put a major strain on infrastructure, including the power grid, water systems, and gas pipelines. When power was cut, it disabled some compressors that push gas through pipelines, knocking out additional gas plants due to lack of supply. Pipe bursts led to extensive and expensive damage.
• Risk and impact analyses failed to identify and/or mitigate power grid vulnerabilities and the subsequent cascading failures. Also, local and statewide responses seemingly underestimated the lack of experience and awareness many Texans had regarding extreme cold weather and proper personal safety measures.
• Ultimately, all of these challenges exposed gaps in policy/doctrine, perhaps the most obvious of which pertains to the regulation of the power grid and winterization of infrastructure.[20]
Opportunities exist to identify science and technology capabilities and innovations to avoid similar cascading events. For example, the winterization of power infrastructure could prevent widespread power outages due to extreme weather conditions. Similarly, there might be opportunities to build redundancies and interoperable capabilities into the power infrastructure to mitigate against cascading failures. Another major gap that could be addressed by resilience science and technology capabilities is in communication methods to access and educate communities to better prepare for and withstand extreme weather events and winter weather.
[17] National Weather Service, 2021. “Valentine's Week Winter Outbreak 2021: Snow, Ice, & Record Cold,” https://www.weather.gov/hgx/2021ValentineStorm
[18] Lee, CC., Maron, M. & Mostafavi, A. Community-scale big data reveals disparate impacts of the Texas winter storm of 2021 and its managed power outage. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 9, 335 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01353-8
[19] National Weather Service, 2021. “Valentine's Week Winter Outbreak 2021: Snow, Ice, & Record Cold,” https://www.weather.gov/hgx/2021ValentineStorm
[20] Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 2021. “FERC, NERC, and Regional Entity Report: The February 2021 Cold Weather Outages in Texas and the South Central United States” https://ferc.gov/media/february-2021-cold-weather-outages-texasand-south-central-united-states-ferc-nerc-and
This was originally published in March 2023 on