Ice Storms
The late January 2023 ice storm that hit Austin and central Texas was another eye-opener regarding how we might spend our future winters if we continue to rely on our existing infrastructure. Some people suffered more this year than during the winter storm of 2021, as they were without electricity for a longer period. But why?
Our electric grid was not designed for the types of winter storms that we now experience. The January 2023 storm could have been much worse, but temperatures only went down to 32 F, not zero, as they did during 2021. Imagine the combined effects if we had had freezing rain for two days, followed by near zero temps for two days after.
As a Canadian, I have seen what winter ice storms can do. The collapse of the Quebec electrical grid in 1998 (see the section - Impact) demonstrated the power of ice and nature. My friends who owned dairy farms waited several weeks to get grid-supplied electricity back online. In the meantime, they suffered through milking their cows twice a day using portable generators. When I was a kid, we had 3-day snowstorms and power outages more than once. Fortunately, we had a whole farm generator that we could connect to our 100-hp tractor (the power take-off shaft turned the generator on the back of the tractor. The shaft can be extended from the tractor to the generator. This would then generate electricity that could be sent up the wires into the farm’s electrical system. In order to do this, we would have to shovel a path through the snow and ice to get it hooked up at the electrical pole/connection. At least we were one of the fortunate families in the area - as long as our supply of winter diesel fuel didn’t run out.
Climate change means we will all need better grid infrastructure. Microgrids answer the extended supply chains of transmission towers and big power plants. Having a microgrid technical team on-site to adapt to the new challenge, and steward the limitations of fuels, space heating, etc., is what makes the microgrid tools successful.
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