Despite Greg Abbott's Lies, FERC Concludes NG, No Utility Planning At The Heart Of The Deadly 2021 TX Blackout

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No one type of energy was to blame for the tragic blackouts in Texas. All types of electricity generation facilities experienced failure, according to an analysis of the event by the University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute. “Natural gas, coal, and nuclear were expected to serve as the firm baseload power that could be relied upon,” the report concluded. “However, that proved not to be the case, particularly for gas-powered electricity, though all fuel sources faced some challenges from the winter weather.”

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, similarly concluded that natural gas power plants were responsible for the majority of Texas’ power outages. The other major take-away from the FERC report? Many of the power generation facilities in Texas had not followed recommendations to prepare for severe winter storms with equipment winterization plans.

All types of equipment have temperature limits above or below which they can’t operate efficiently, or at all. Wind farms can operate in frigid temperatures if equipped with de-icing equipment. Gas infrastructure can be enclosed or fitted with heating cables to prevent some cold weather shutdowns. As climate change continues to cause more extreme weather – heat waves, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and perhaps even winter storms associated with polar vortexes – facility operators need to be prepared to keep the lights on. That’s a challenge another state, California, has been working to address.

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Texas’ blackouts were not caused by clean energy or climate policies, but largely by a lack of preparation for the increasingly extreme weather that climate change brings. As renowned climate scientist Lonnie Thompson wrote in 2010, “Sooner or later, we will all deal with global warming. The only question is how much we will mitigate, adapt, and suffer.” This characterization holds true for the stability of the power grid as well. We can begin to solve the problem by implementing clean energy and climate policies to reduce climate pollution and minimize future extreme weather events. And we can try to adapt by winterizing infrastructure and deploying grid-stabilizing solutions like battery storage and inter-regional transmission connections.

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https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/09/how-mismanagement-not-wind-and-solar-energy-causes-blackouts/