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Editorial comment

For the last week, the eyes of the world have been on Texas, as the state was hit by unprecedented winter storms that left millions of residents without access to power. The freezing weather spared no part of the energy infrastructure; wind turbines froze, refineries were halted and natural gas pipeline operators, including Kinder Morgan and Enbridge, were forced to put restrictions in place.

Amongst the chaos, a fierce debate has started, with the renewable and fossil fuel sectors both accusing the other of playing the major role in the outage. Key figures including Texas Governor Greg Abbott and GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw stated that frozen wind turbines were largely to blame, citing their failure in the storm as evidence that ‘intermittent renewable energy like wind isn’t there when you need it’.¹

The events have caused many to question President Biden’s green energy agenda, with a focus on transitioning to renewable sources. The storms came only weeks after he revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, a move that caused many in the oil and gas industry to renew their warnings that the country would need to rely on fossil fuels for several years to come.

However, as Michael Webber (Energy Resources Professor at the University of Austin, Texas) stated, the outages were ‘really a bigger failure of the natural gas system’, which ‘struggled to keep up’ in the extreme temperatures. In fact, his assessment was that ‘a lack of winterisation’ across the board, including both natural gas and renewable infrastructure, was responsible for the huge impact on power supplies.²

What has been made clear is that no part of the multi-faceted Texas energy system was prepared for the extreme weather seen over the last couple of weeks. Rather than seeking to blame one sector for the shut-down, it seems prudent to use the events as an opportunity to evaluate policy and try to prevent them reoccurring in the future.

These extreme climate events have only become more frequent all around the world in recent times, and incorporating an awareness of this into facility and infrastructure planning could make the grid more resilient. However, to achieve this energy companies need incentives to invest in making facilities more robust, in preparation for future extreme weather, and industries need to collaborate to come up with joint solutions that ensure the continuous supply of power.

In that vein, this month’s issue of World Pipelines includes a range of content about innovative new technologies and methods designed to ensure the safe and optimal operation of pipelines. Make sure to check out articles on: proactive pipeline maintenance using ultrasonic transducers (p. 49); hot tap isolation (p. 19); decarbonisation of the steel and pipeline manufacturing industry (p. 45); and our annual Heavy Equipment Review, showcasing the latest and best in pipeline construction equipment.

Editorial comment

Aimee Knight - Editorial Assistant