Tim McLaughlin

(Reuters) – The Texas electricity grid may experience a severe shortfall of generating capacity due to a winter deep freeze. This could potentially cause outages comparable to the February ones, according to a Thursday report by an electric reliability authority.

North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s (NERC) assessment comes at a time when Texas regulators and lawmakers continue to examine ways to strengthen the grid.

Normal winter conditions are comfortable for approximately 42% of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which is the operator of about 90% of Texas’ grid.

However, severe cold weather could cause disruptions to power plants and pipeline supply, resulting in a 37% capacity gap, according to NERC.

Texas’ grid is isolated from all other U.S. ones, and has little ability to import power if it experiences a shortfall. ERCOT operates the U.S.’s only large grid without a market for capacity. It pays operators money to ensure that they are ready to provide power in severe weather.

ERCOT stated in a statement, that significant improvements had been made since last winter. It stated that the electric grid would perform much better in this winter than it did last year.