Why are millions of Americans in the energy-rich state of the country without energy and heat for days amid extreme winter weather? “The people who have fallen short in terms of energy are private power generation companies,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott explained. Oh yeah, blame the private electric companies. . . regulated by the government.
The Republican sounds like California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who boasted of private utilities for shutting down during a heat wave last summer. Power grids should be able to withstand extreme weather. But in both these bellwether states, state and federal energy policies have created market distortions and reduced grid reliability.
Abbott blamed the extensive power cuts in his state on generators that froze Monday morning, noting that “this includes natural gas and coal generators.” But icy temperatures and icy conditions have dropped in most of the country. Why couldn’t Texas handle them while other states did?
The problem is Texas ’over-reliance on wind power which has left the grid more vulnerable to bad weather. Half of the wind turbines froze last week and caused the share of wind electricity to plummet to 8%, from 42%. Energy prices in the wholesale market rose and network regulators warned on Friday that there were blackouts. Natural gas and coal generators increased to cover the supply gap, but were unable to meet the growing demand for electricity – on which half of households depend on heating – even as many families fed the ovens. of gas. Then some gas wells and pipes were frozen.
In short, there was not enough coal and nuclear base load energy to support the grid. Basic charge energy is needed to stabilize the frequency of the grid amid changes in demand and supply. When there is not enough base load power, the grid becomes unbalanced and power sources can fail. The more the grid relies on intermittent renewable energies such as wind and solar, the more basic charge energy is needed to support them.