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Works in theory! Practice? That's something else
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The crisis was the result of three severe winter storms sweeping across the United States on February 10–11[5] 13–17, [6] and 15–20, especially the second of the three storms.[7] More than 4.5 million homes and businesses in Texas were left without power,[8][9][10][11] some for several days.
The damages from the blackouts are currently estimated to be at least $195 billion (2021 USD), which would make the blackouts the costliest disaster in the recorded history of Texas.[3][20] According to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the Texas power grid was just “seconds or minutes” away from a catastrophic and complete failure of the Texas grid and necessitated partial grid shutdowns.[21]
Was Solar & Wind the Cause?
No.
Some government officials[12] including Texas governor Greg Abbott[13] initially blamed the outages on frozen wind turbines and solar panels, but frozen natural gas equipment and a lack of standard winterizing technology was the main cause.[14][15]
Could it have been Avoided?
Yes
Texas had intentionally isolated its power grid from the two major national grids in an effort to avoid federal oversight and deregulate their energy sector on behalf of private business, making it difficult for the state to import electricity from other states.[16] The crisis caused many experts to call into question the state's preparedness for such a storm, especially in light of its deregulated energy market.[17] Ten years previously, U.S. Federal regulators explicitly warned Texas[18] in a detailed report that its power plants would fail[19] in cold conditions that were likely to come.
The crisis was the result of three severe winter storms sweeping across the United States on February 10–11[5] 13–17, [6] and 15–20, especially the second of the three storms.[7] More than 4.5 million homes and businesses in Texas were left without power,[8][9][10][11] some for several days.
The damages from the blackouts are currently estimated to be at least $195 billion (2021 USD), which would make the blackouts the costliest disaster in the recorded history of Texas.[3][20] According to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the Texas power grid was just “seconds or minutes” away from a catastrophic and complete failure of the Texas grid and necessitated partial grid shutdowns.[21]
Was Solar & Wind the Cause?
No.
Some government officials[12] including Texas governor Greg Abbott[13] initially blamed the outages on frozen wind turbines and solar panels, but frozen natural gas equipment and a lack of standard winterizing technology was the main cause.[14][15]
Could it have been Avoided?
Yes
Texas had intentionally isolated its power grid from the two major national grids in an effort to avoid federal oversight and deregulate their energy sector on behalf of private business, making it difficult for the state to import electricity from other states.[16] The crisis caused many experts to call into question the state's preparedness for such a storm, especially in light of its deregulated energy market.[17] Ten years previously, U.S. Federal regulators explicitly warned Texas[18] in a detailed report that its power plants would fail[19] in cold conditions that were likely to come.
