2021年经济学人 黑暗冬季惨剧--“美国能源之都”瘫痪(2)

The short answer is that the Electric Reliability¹ Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the grid², did not properly forecast the demand for energy as a result of the storm. Some say that this was nearly impossible to predict, but there were warnings of the severity of the coming weather in the preceding week, and ERCOT’s projections³ were notably⁴ short. Brownouts last summer had already demonstrated the grid’s lack of excess capacity, says George O’Leary of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co (TPH), an energy investment bank.

简而言之，运营电网的得克萨斯州电力可靠性协会(ERCOT)没有正确预测暴风雪所引发的能源需求。有人说，这几乎是不可能预测的，但应该在前一周对未来天气的严重性提出预警，而得克萨斯州电力可靠性协会显然预测不足。能源投资银行TPH的乔治·奥利里表示，去年夏天的停电已经证明了电网的备用容量不足。

Many Republican politicians were quick to blame renewable energy sources, such as wind power, for the blackouts, but that is not fair. Some wind turbines did indeed freeze, but natural gas, which accounts for around half of the state’s electricity generation, was the primary reason for the shortfall. Plants broke down, as did the gas supply chain and pipelines⁵. The cold also caused a reactor⁶ at one of the state’s two nuclear plants to go offline. Transmission lines may have also iced up, says Wade⁷ Schauer of Wood Mackenzie, a research firm. In short, Texas experienced a perfect storm of equipment failure.

许多共和党政客很快将风力发电等可再生能源作为停电的罪魁祸首，但这并不公平。一些风力涡轮机确实冻结了，但占得州发电量一半左右的天然气是造成电力短缺的主要原因。发电厂倒闭，天然气供应链和管道也垮了。寒潮还导致得州两座核电站中的一个核反应堆关闭。伍德麦肯兹研究公司的韦德·肖尔表示，输电线路可能也结冰了。简而言之，得州设备接连出现故障，祸不单行。

Some of the blame falls on the unique design of the electricity market in Texas. Of America’s 48 contiguous states, it is the only one with its own stand-alone electricity grid—the Texas Interconnection. This means that when power generators⁸ fail, the state cannot import electricity from outside its borders.

还有些人认为得州电力市场的独特设计才是罪魁祸首。在美国48个毗邻的州中，得州是唯一一个拥有自己独立电网（得州电网）的州。这意味着，当发电系统发生故障时，得州不能从其他州输入电力。

1 reliability   

n.可靠性，确实性

参考例句：

• We mustn't presume too much upon the reliability of such sources.我们不应过分指望这类消息来源的可靠性。
• I can assure you of the reliability of the information.我向你保证这消息可靠。

2 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

3 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

4 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

5 pipelines   

管道( pipeline的名词复数 )； 输油管道； 在考虑（或规划、准备） 中； 在酿中

参考例句：

• The oil is carried to the oil refinery by pipelines. 石油通过输油管输送到炼油厂。
• The oil carried in pipelines. 石油用管道输送。

6 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

7 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

8 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》