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Austin Energy says it has plan if rotating outages happen

Austin Energy got a pop quiz when a February storm prompted statewide rotating power outages.

It didn't go well.

The loss of electricity fell disproportionately on pockets of homes and small businesses in a few neighborhoods. Power stayed off for 35 minutes, on average, and 20 percent of the utility's customers suffered multiple intervals without power.

A circuit in West Austin was without electricity for 6 hours and 19 minutes — the longest outage locally.

Austin Energy officials say that shouldn't happen again if rotating outages are ordered this summer. And the state's primary grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which would order any rotating outage, agrees.

"I think the wire companies have learned a lot from that experience," said Kent Saathoff, ERCOT's vice president for system planning and operations. "If we get there (to rotating outages), I think there would be fewer problems."

That optimism is rooted in technical and procedural changes Austin Energy has made since February, as well as the different dynamics of a summer heat wave as opposed to the winter storm.

"It's a much different situation than February," Saathoff said Friday. "It happened suddenly. We didn't really see it coming. We've seen this (heat wave) coming since before Monday."

In February, more than 8,000 megawatts of generation unexpectedly dropped offline overnight, according to ERCOT. By comparison, ERCOT assumes it initially would order utilities to shed 500 to 1,000 megawatts in a summer outage.

Ed Clark, Austin Energy's communications director, said that under that scenario, Austin's share would be 20 to 40 megawatts.

Also, unlike February's storm, which dropped temperatures below freezing for hours, the demand for electricity in summer peaks between 4 and 5 p.m. and then quickly drops off.

"You're talking about 10 to 15 minutes over an hour," Clark said of the power interruptions. "It shouldn't last very long."

Clark said Austin Energy has taken steps to lessen the pain of rotating outages while spreading it among more customers.

In February, only 44 of Austin Energy's 360 circuits could be turned off in the rotating outage. The others were exempted either because the circuit served critical functions — from public safety to medical facilities — or because it is technically difficult to shut off downtown or large industrial customers on short notice.

Texas House debates congressional map | texas, map, austin ...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas House is debating a new congressional redistricting map.

Democrats on Tuesday attacked the plan by Republican Rep. Burt Solomons, arguing it doesn't accurately reflect minority growth over the past 10 years. Some lawmakers were angry that the map splits the Austin area into multiple districts, dividing minorities and diluting their votes.

Solomons rejected multiple Democrat plans that would have created new Hispanic and African-American districts throughout the state .

Lawmakers redraw congressional districts every 10 years when new census data comes out. The map would create 36 districts and include four new congressional seats as a result of the state's population growth.

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