In the wake of Winter Storm Uri, the dominating question remains: how could the power outages that impacted much of Texas have been prevented? One simple answer – keep power to the natural gas generators. While natural gas is considered a critical infrastructure element in Texas, many gas production facilities have not, and were not at the time of Uri, identified as critical infrastructure. Being designated "critical" with ERCOT can prevent gas producers from being subject to power outages in emergency situations.
How does a facility designate itself "critical?" ERCOT has an application for Critical Load Serving Electric Generation and Cogeneration. Individual meters that provide electricity to natural gas production, saltwater disposal wells, processing, storage or transportation such as a natural gas compressor station or other pipeline transportation infrastructure can request the designation. ERCOT reviews Critical Load Designations each year on April 1 for summer peak and October 1 for winter peak loads.
While designation of a critical load does not guarantee an uninterrupted supply of electricity, filing the form is the first step to ensure power to natural gas production throughout the state during emergency situations. State Speaker Dade Phelan commented on March 24 at Texas Energy Day that the state legislature would be reviewing whether new procedures could be put into place to ensure critical load designation can be automatic for natural gas producers.
In the meantime, ERCOT posted the form on its website on March 18 to facilitate accessibility of the designation to operators of premises that supply natural gas to generation units. The form can be found on ERCOT's website here.
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