An ice storm hit mid-winter, followed by 10 days of near zero nighttime temperatures and two heavy snow storms. When it hit, wind turbines were supplying 40% of Texas' electricity. The ice shut down almost all of them, so backup natural gas generators were turned on. There was insufficient power from them, so federal regulations REQUIRED rolling blackouts. The blackouts shut down some of the compressors providing gas to the generators, so some of them had to be turned off, further reducing the electricity supply. Then the snow storms and freezing weather hit. The roads were blocked by snow, and the communities had no plows to remove it. This shut off delivery trucks for replenishing gas stations and grocery stores. With the rolling blackouts, the grocery stores taped shut the cooler doors, meaning no milk, cheese, orange juice, meats, etc. could be sold. This all lasted for over a week before the snow and ice melted, the roads were opened, and the store shelves replenished.
My plans also would have failed. I have two back-up generators, one for the heat pump, the other for the refrigerator and water well pump. I keep little gasoline for them, since it goes bad in the summer heat. I had about an hour's supply. It could not be replenished, since my 4-weel drive vehicle only could bring me to the closed gasoline stations. It was too cold for my heat pump defrost cycle to keep up, so the outside unit froze into a solid block of ice. I did have sufficient cut wood to supply the fireplace, if necessary.
Fortunately for us, for whatever reason, our electricity was never off. It may have been because we were only 3 miles, or so, from a small hydro power generator. Our electricity never even flickered enough to cause the digital clocks to blink. I left our water trickling, so it never froze. The 70 degree ground water melted the ice blocks from our heat pump with about a half hour of soaking each time it shut down. I also managed to buy the last 15 lb. processed turkey roll at a store 20 miles away. We were "stuck" with barbecued turkey 'steaks' for the week.
I bring this up only to show that the arm chair bureaucrats in Washington DC and state capitols simply have no clue how to solve problems that the free market system easily eliminates.
Big Wind
and Big Sun
When winter comes
Can’t get it done
“I bring this up only to show that the arm chair bureaucrats in Washington DC and state capitols simply have no clue how to solve problems that the free market system easily eliminates.”
Well the free market failed to winterize against record cold. And why should they, if it’s record cold? Why spend a ton of money so you can get your reliability up from 99.9% to 99.99%? Stupid to do, if you own a plant, since the return is next to nothing - just shut down in those cases.
But people rely on those plants...so there is a community need for them to keep operating, but the free market isn’t going to fill that need...which is part of why we got caught short last winter.