Rolling Blackouts Sweep Across Texas Amid Cold Weather

Rolling Blackouts: Robert Garza, 10, walks through snow and ice while visiting an NFL Super Bowl XLV display Feb. 1 in Dallas, Texas. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas imposed rolling blackouts on Feb. 2 to prevent its generators from shutting down. Tom Pennington/Getty Images

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s power grid operator, declared a power emergency and imposed rare rolling blackouts on Wednesday as extreme weather swept across the nation’s second most populous state.

After the cold forced 50 power plants with 7,000 megawatts of capacity to shut down, ERCOT is rotating power outages to conserve energy, according to Reuters.

“Because of winter weather conditions that have created an unprecedented demand on the state’s energy grid, many Texans across our state are experiencing power outages today,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in a press release.

Rolling blackouts, also known as rotating outages, are controlled and temporary interruptions of electricity to prevent its generators from becoming overloaded and shutting down. The blackouts, typically lasting 10 to 45 minutes in each neighborhood, will not affect critical-need customers such as hospitals and nursing homes, ERCOT announced.

ERCOT said it is unknown at this time how long the rolling blackouts need to be used.

While coping with the rolling blackouts, ERCOT urges its customers to minimize power surges by turning off appliances, lights, and other equipment whenever possible.