After a freak winter storm caused the power grid in Texas to fail due to unseasonably low temperatures, the state is now facing another power crisis because of the summer heat. On Monday, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) urged residents to conserve energy for the remainder of the week to prevent blackouts. According to ERCOT, the state is on track to have “record-breaking” power use for the month of June, which poses a risk to the weakened grid. Via Austin NPR affiliate KUT 90.5:
In a media release, ERCOT blamed the tight grid conditions on more electric generators than usual being shut down for repairs. The grid operator said 11,000 megawatts of generation capacity — about the amount of energy it takes to power 2.2 million homes on a summer day — is unavailable due to those forced outages. One megawatt of electricity can usually power about 200 homes on a summer day.
According to ERCOT, about 73% of that unavailable power comes from “thermal” generators, typically gas and coal plants, being offline.
With the state facing yet another power crisis, that can mean only one thing: Ted Cruz is about to book it out of there. OK, that hasn’t happened yet, but it it didn’t stop Twitter from dunking on Cruz as soon as word got out that his state was in trouble again.
https://twitter.com/richardhine/status/1404512167613845517
Well this didn't age well! @tedcruz @SenTedCruz #CancunCruz pic.twitter.com/B7aPzr2qMg
— Nasty Women News (@ProgressiveAnn) June 14, 2021
ERCOT warns to expect more Pigfoot sightings pic.twitter.com/ctKh5642CV
— Thomas Salzman (@ThomasSalzman) June 14, 2021
https://twitter.com/Bobbyisthatyou/status/1404526538985553924
Ted Cruz might use this #ERCOT power crisis to go down to EPCOT and demand answers, and no I did not spell ERCOT wrong that second time. (It's just that, when Texas is in trouble, Ted Cruz goes on fun family vacations.)
— Mr. Newberger (@jeremynewberger) June 14, 2021
https://twitter.com/Kelbre_Griff/status/1404508596147216385
However, Cruz wasn’t the only one being dragged for the looming energy crisis. ERCOT got its fair share of dunks as people blasted the energy commission for not being aware that Texas would be hot in the summer? Unlike a freak snow storm, it’s seems like that’s not a hard one to predict, and folks let ERCOT have it.
ERCOT in February "we shut down because it was just too cold, our grid is built to handle the Texas Summer"
ERCOT in June "ohh my bad, its also too hot"— Matt Stepp (@Matt_Stepp817) June 14, 2021
…are you FREAKING KIDDING ME, Texas?!
ERCOT: Our grid wasn't built for temperatures this cold!!!
ERCOT: uhm….it's too hot! How could we ever have anticipated this! https://t.co/vlqcXW6wUN— Joe Vargas (@AngryJoeShow) June 14, 2021
Me: Turns on coffee maker
ERCOT's power grid: pic.twitter.com/jFpPjGUDjs
— Brian Nunnery (@briannunnery) June 14, 2021
ERCOT's power machine can't handle 95 degrees but thank goodness we have a several billion dollar border wall lmao
— jayeoff (@cowgirlwtruck) June 14, 2021
(Via KUT 90.5)