Dive Brief:

• Millions of "Tent Caterpillars" have caused outages in the territory of east Texas' Sam Houston Electric Cooperative, covering electric equipment and disrupting the flow of power.
• Officials at the utility say the caterpillars pose another threat to maintenance and right-of-way upkeep programs.

Dive Insight:

The newest threat to Texas reliability isn't the influx of solar power or droughts, but instead is 1.5-inches long, looks like a worm and eventually learns to fly: Caterpillars.

“The caterpillars can completely cover a piece of electrical equipment,” Sam Houston Electric Cooperative line technician Virgil Cain said on the utility's blog. “They can actually disrupt the insulating ability of the equipment and cause a power outage.”

Dozens of power outages have been caused by the caterpillars in the last week, the cooperative said. They hatch by the millions, cover electric equipment and can disrupt line insulation. The tiny beasts can also permanently harm trees, putting them at risk of causing further disruptions.

The cooperative serves more than 50,000 members in 10 counties, and its crews maintain 6,000 miles of power lines. There are untold numbers of caterpillars, as well, in the utility's territory.