Part of Texas’ problem was the major push by ERCOT to build lots and lots of windmills, though I don’t know to what degree you can blame T. Boone Pickens for this. So we get hundreds of thousands of new people moving in PLUS population growth from a high birth rate, and most of the new power generation is unreliable wind. Then you get the shut-downs of a few coal fire plants and a continual hold-up on the nuclear plant expansions in Commanche Peak (east Texas) and South Texas Project (near Houston), and we see reliable power stalled while unreliable power expands.
Then last winter, they learned that their new wind turbines could FREEZE at low temperatures and high winds, triggering winter blackouts.
Texas has had a population explosion between the illegals from the south and the loony toons from the north. The last census showed us at an extra 25% and we got 4 more electoral votes this time. There’s no way the electric companies can keep up. Yes, we had one of those winter brownouts where they “forgot” to turn ours back on and after a lot of phone calls they managed to flip the switch which caused their old equipment to blow.
Don’t attempt to confuse the Dallas Observer with trivial things like reality and facts.
They had a good line to write about Texas having the worst power distribution (even though California and the NE have been having rolling brown-outs for DECADES)!
There are many parts of the country for which that is true.
I suspect it is going to get interesting when the older coal plants start coming offline due to all the Lisa Jackson EPA nonsense, especially in the NE. I’m hoping we’re a little more insulated from it here in the SE, as we haven’t had as much “Green” Energy Hopium consumption.
My fear overall is that no one is in this for the long haul right reasons. Too much FedGov money for “Green” Energy, and regulated utilities that can use an EPA forced plant shutdown to go build other generation facilities and make money on it, when really it would have been better overall to keep the old coal plant running. I don’t see any serious pushback to the EPA absurdities, but then I don’t follow what is really going on closely enough. Maybe it’s there and I don’t see it.
The bright spot that may cover us on all of this is Marcellus shale natural gas. Natural gas conversions of coal plants are relatively cheap.