Temperatures in the 20’s and a 20 mph wind create a mirage effect on a wind turbine and power generation facility pictured along US 84 near Slaton, Texas, January 20, 2022.Those of us who saw the power go out during the winter storm in 2021, or who worried through rolling blackouts in the record-breaking heat of the summer, are all too aware that Texas has an energy problem.
We are concerned about the direction things are headed, because they could risk the energy future this state has been building since Gov. Rick Perry helped set the stage for the state to become an international leader in wind power. But it is true, as the report correctly notes, that wind power did play a role, as did the lack of supply of natural gas. Turbine blades iced up and natural gas wellheads froze. Supply cratered and there wasn’t enough redundancy in the system to provide the power necessary to keep homes heated.
The report goes into this problem in some depth, noting that the increase in wind power has reduced the overall reliability of the Texas grid. An energy supply fleet “with large amounts of wind and solar is more difficult for ERCOT to maintain from an operational reliability standpoint, as demand and supply swing unpredictably.”
If Texas legislators decided that wind producers must back up their power generation with the purchase or production of dispatchable power, it would upend the economics of wind production.That wouldn’t just be a thumb in the eye of environmentalists that some legislators might delight in. It would be a grave harm to the state’s ability to produce the power it needs to grow and prosper.
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