State has managed to avoid rolling blackouts amid three-digit temperatures thanks to its supply of solar power, experts say
As a deadly, record-breaking heatwave puts Texas’s grid to the test, renewable power sources are helping the state maintain energy reliability, contrary to some of the state’s lawmakers claims that clean energy is less reliable.
Texas has for more than two weeks been blanketed by an oppressive heat dome, and federal forecasters say there is “no end in sight”. The sweltering temperatures have forced people to stay in their homes with their air conditioners cranked, causing energy demand to soar to record levels.
An atypically large number of the state’s ageing, run-down coal and gas-fired power plants have failed amid the spikes. That’s especially troubling because as the only state in the continental US with its own grid – a decision made to avoid federal regulation – Texas can access very little power from other states.
Battery storage helped keep the lights and AC units by providing immediately available backup power when a major coal-fired power plant failed last week, and when a nuclear plant went offline days earlier, said Lewin. Texas is second only to California in battery capacity.
Investment in Texas’s grid is all the more crucial amid the climate crisis. An analysis of data from the science communications group Climate Central shows climate change made Texas’s current heatwave at least five times more likely.
And as the crisis progresses, extreme heat within the state will only become more likely. The number of 100F days in Texas is expected to nearly double by 2036, a 2021 state report found, meaning without urgent action, stress on the grid will only increase.
Good to see an “all of the above” energy approach working like many on the right suggest.
Except windmills, I hear they cause cancer. And forget about solar, those panels just give more money to the Chinese. And batteries used for storage require more dirty mining than mining coal.Good to see an “all of the above” energy approach working like many on the right suggest.
You should read the article. It explains how right wing politicians oppose solar, claimed it would make black and brown outs more likely in a heat wave, and even recently passed laws to oppose it. You know, the opposite of what you're claiming.Good to see an “all of the above” energy approach working like many on the right suggest.
This could be a possibility.And batteries used for storage require more dirty mining than mining coal.
:movegoalpost: :movegoalpost: :movegoalpost:You should read the article. It explains how right wing politicians oppose solar, claimed it would make black and brown outs more likely in a heat wave, and even recently passed laws to oppose it. You know, the opposite of what you're claiming.
Classic Archy, be wrong and then try to pretend that you aren't. The fact that there's been solar installed in Texas despite the political climate there does not at all mean that the right supported it. Much like the GOP who voted against rural broadband and now are trying to ride the coattails of it getting installed in their state.:movegoalpost: :movegoalpost: :movegoalpost:
Just an fyi….There isn’t a single named person in the article saying what you are trying to portray. Which is people opposed to an all of the above energy approach
You are also tryin to tell the world with a straight face that the State of Texas is opposed to any renewable energy sources, when the State is controlled politically by the Right, yet is investing State resources in renewables?!?!
Amid a heatwave last summer, Texas Republicans again said renewables caused power outage risks due to peaking demand – something independent analysts contested.
This legislative session, Republican officials proposed a spate of anti-renewable policies, and successfully passed a measure to impose new costs on wind and solar energy providers.
Despite officials’ anti-renewables rhetoric, Texas has done very little to boost the reliability of its ageing fossil fuel-powered plants, said Hirs.
Proposals considered damaging to Texas’ wind and solar sectors, many of which had been introduced in standalone bills earlier in the session but failed to win enough support to become law, have now been resurrected and added as amendments to a make-or-break piece of legislation to continue the operation of the state’s Public Utility Commission.