Texas Grid Holds Up to Freezing Temperatures

After a 2021 winter storm knocked out power across Texas and led to some 240 deaths, residents were relieved to see the lights stay on as temperatures dropped last week. Writing in the New York Times, Dionne Searcey describes how a mix of fuels and energy sources, as well as infrastructure improvements, kept the lights on.

In 2021, despite rumors that frozen wind turbines were to blame for the outages, “it was frozen natural gas plants that were the main problem.” Now, efforts to weatherize pipes and equipment for natural gas and other energy sources have yielded positive results as the grid held up to demand. “In Texas, winds die down in winter and aren’t expected to contribute as much to the energy mix as in the summer, energy experts say. On Monday, for instance, wind at its highest-performing level of the day was about 28 percent of the energy mix, compared with gas at about 48 percent.”

For now, natural gas still serves as a backup for wind and solar in Texas. But renewables play their own role in reducing overall energy consumption and the need for natural gas. “Last summer, for instance, wind and solar energy propped up Texas during an intense heat wave,” when natural gas plants don’t perform as well.