Elon – Become Austin’s Hometown Hero; Modernize, Strengthen the Power Grid
By Edward A. Sanchez — Feb. 4, 2023
Whether by cruel fate, sovereign stubbornness, or bureaucratic incompetence, the winter storms of 2023 have struck Texas, particularly the Austin area, with a vengeance. I’ve heard from friends and family members that have been affected by this storm. Mercifully (if such a thing could be said), the bigger issue this time around is downed powerlines rather than natural gas delivery disruption. Regardless, the storm of 2023 is a reminder of the fragility of the Texas power grid. Coincidentally, Austin just happens to be the new global headquarters of Tesla, Inc.
Not that Elon Musk needs any more publicity or notoriety than he already has, but it seems to me this would be the perfect demonstration of the company’s technological prowess, not to mention a way to earn some brownie points with Red State Texans who might still be a little leery about the Silicon Valley carpetbagger, or EVs in general.
Of course, if we’re talking about overhauling Austin’s power system, it would be a multi-billion-dollar, multi-year initiative, and a public/private partnership. Musk, and his various ventures are no stranger to this, with Space X, The Boring Company, and collaborations with numerous utilities providing them with its Megapack battery storage systems.
Candidly, perhaps Austin’s, and by extension Texas’s, immediate needs are simply reconnecting overhead powerlines and restoring service, rather than some high-tech distributed power grid. Fair enough. But it’s clear from the experiences in 2021 and now 2023, that the areas served by ERCOT need a significant overhaul to withstand severe weather events more reliably.
Austin Energy, the city’s municipal electric power provider, is one of several in the Central Texas area. Texas has a largely unregulated power utility market, with dozens of different power providers within the state, unlike California, which is predominantly served by three investor-owned utilities (Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric) in addition to a handful of municipal utilities.
Love him or loathe him, there’s little disputing that Elon Musk is a prescient forward-thinker. The current argy-bargy between proponents and opponents of natural gas appliances, electric vs. combustion vehicles, etc., is largely a low-level partisan discussion. Energy security needs to be looked at a much more holistic, high level. Strategic security in the event of severe weather, adversarial attacks (whether cyber, EMP, or ballistic), or sabotage all need to be considered. There’s a good likelihood the next major attack on the U.S. won’t be by missile, hijacked aircraft, or ground or maritime invasion. It will just as likely be a large-scale coordinated cyberattack targeting financial institutions and utilities, deliberate misinformation campaign possibly bolstered by emerging AI technologies such as ChatGPT, electro-magnetic pulse (EMP), or the activation of embedded “sleeper cells” of foreign agents already in the country.
I know this rhetoric may sound uncharacteristically paranoid coming from me, as I try to stay as objective and reasonable as possible. But make no mistake, there are adversaries to the stability and status quo of the United States. As modern society becomes more and more dependent on reliable electric power, it will become an increasingly critical issue from economic, societal, and security standpoints. A state-of-the-art, hardened power grid that easily weathers the next severe weather (or other) event could be a model for the rest of the nation.
(Image courtesy Tesla)
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