We went through the exact same thing in 2011 with a deep freeze and extended blackouts. And they never ensured that the infrastructure we needed to meet the demands of 200,000 people a year moving to north Texas got built.
Instead, they built expensive windmills that freeze up when it is freezing and have extensive conservation ad campaigns ... while refusing to expand the nuclear plant in east Texas or build more natural gas plants though we produce natural gas in DFW.
A Texas heat wave in August 2019 provides a good example of how renewables can distort electricity grid operations. In the prior ten years, wind capacity had grown from 10% to 26% of capacity in the Texas power market (ERCOT).[x] The low marginal cost of subsidized wind power depressed market prices for electricity to the point where over 5,000 MW of conventional generation chose to retire in 2018 rather than continue losing money. With electricity demand reaching record levels, these retirements combined with an unpredicted drop in wind generation to force ERCOT to enact emergency procedures to avoid blackouts. Although blackouts were avoided, electricity prices that were under $20 per MWh in the morning of August 13, 2019 rose to $9,000 per MWh in the afternoon.[xi]
It’s Time to End Subsidies for Renewable Energy
https://www.americaspower.org/its-time-to-end-subsidies-for-renewable-energy/
The minimal amounts necessary for cold weather prep has nothing to do with wind power. And the tax treatment of wind or any other energy source isn’t a consideration to an energy distribution system.
South Dakota, Kansas, and Iowa all get 20% or more of their energy.
All solid red states with frigid winters and zero blackouts.
A search on annual production of coal fired electricity to me to a pdf from NARUC (National Assoc. Regulatory Utility commission?) about coal flexibility white paper.
Starts off with something like “The huge changes seen in the electrical generation industry between 2008 and 2018....” The title is about coal, the photo on the cover is some windmills.
I haven’t waded through the paper, but I’m guessing there will be stuff in there about how the lack of coal (and its flexibility) may affect responses to changes in demand due to weather and other circumstances.