Report says natural gas was primary reason for power outages, 1 died in Kerr County during storm

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A University of Texas report focused on February's winter storm describes massive natural gas failures — in both distribution and storage — as the primary cause for statewide power outages during the storm and loss of life. 

A separate Texas Department of State Health Services report said at least 200 people died from the storm, including at least one in Kerr County.


The report, produced by the University of Texas, Austin Energy Insitute and partially funded by the Public Utilities Commission, found all energy producers failed. Still, it found significant issues with the natural gas supply, including a failure to weatherize power plants and distribution systems. 


The report flies in the face of Gov. Greg Abbott's insistence that the power shortages were the fault of renewable energy. The Texas Legislature approved Senate Bill 3, which was signed into law by Abbott and aimed to prioritize power plant shutdowns and penalize energy providers for failing to meet demand and creating an alert system to let Texans know of imminent outages. 


There is also a stark comparison between 2021 and similar storms in 2011 and 1989 — loss of life. An analysis by BuzzFeed News places the death toll at more than 700. 

However, the UT report says the most significant difference between past major winter storms was that no deaths were attributable to 1989 and 2011 events. 


"But these were otherwise very different events," the report states. "The extent and duration of the outages were far greater in 2021. We are unaware of any loss of life being linked to the electrical outages in 1989 and 2011."


The UT report also found: 

  • "Natural gas production, storage, and distribution facilities failed to provide the full amount of fuel demanded by natural gas power plants. Failures included direct freezing of natural gas equipment and failing to inform their electric utilities of critical electrically-driven components. Dry gas production dropped 85% from early February to February 16, with up to 2/3 of processing plants in the Permian Basin experiencing an outage." 
  • "Days before ERCOT called for blackouts, natural gas was already being curtailed to some natural gas consumers, including power plants."


In Kerr County, thousands were without power or suffered through rolling blackouts when Kerrville Public Utility Board was offline because of natural gas shortages. Thousands more were without power and water in other parts of Kerr County.


The storm resulted in sky-high prices for natural gas and electricity. The report estimates electric providers lost billions of dollars from the storm. The state's gross domestic product finished last in the first quarter of 2021 — partially due to the storm. 


KPUB spokeswoman Allison Bueche said the utility is still assessing the financial impact of the storm. KPUB purchases power from CPS Energy, which has filed a lawsuit over natural gas prices during the storm. 


"Our primary supplier is CPS Energy, and the outcome of their litigation over the February gas bills will greatly determine how we are impacted," Bueche said. "We have our legal team engaged as well and can't comment further." 


During the winter storm, the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and natural gas, ordered homeowners to receive supply first and concerns about the integrity of pipelines with a surge in demand. 


The report does note failures in renewables — primarily due to a failure to winterize wind turbines — there is considerable discussion about natural gas disruptions. In the Permian Basin, which produced 50% of the state's natural gas, the winter storm wreaked havoc on production capacity. After winter storms in 1989 and 2011 caused problems with natural gas distribution, efforts to winterize equipment were recommended but never implemented. 


There are no policy recommendations in the report, but it does note communication failures between weather forecasters and ERCOT. 


"The internal meteorological communications reviewed appeared to describe a very difficult storm to predict," the report said. "The storm intensity wasn't fully realized until just before it happened." 

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