The state’s deregulated, just-in-time energy marketplace is also a factor, as it leans on production versus storage – a risk when natural gas lines freeze up – and it allows for massive price spikes during weather outages. grids, a decades-old bid to avoid interstate regulation but one that reduces the Texas grid’s flexibility. Most of the Lone Star State is on a power grid that’s separate from the western and eastern U.S. In addition, the South Texas Nuclear Plant was thrown out of service Monday as a result of frozen pipes, which cut even further into the Houston area’s electricity supply.Īlso feeding the crisis were several factors unique to Texas. The vast bulk of those thermal plants are powered by natural gas. The main cause of the massive disruption, by far, were the frozen components leading to the outage of thermal plants that heat water and convert the steam to electricity. While the deep freeze did knock some turbines offline, practically every mode of energy supply was hobbled by the intense cold, snow, and ice. Many – including some prominent climate change contrarians – were quick to pin the “electric emergency” on the massive turbines that make Texas the leading U.S. Frozen wind turbines played only small role in Texas outages
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