Obviously, I wasn't in Texas for the big freeze and the power failure. I'm sure it sucked, but I'm not sure why some people freaked out about it or think some major changes are needed. It was the worst winter conditions in about 120 years. I'm not saying no improvements should be made, but a little perspective is in order. California, which routinely has power outages, would kill to have a grid that only failed under conditions that bad.
The masses keep ignoring, as does Beta and the MSM, that one of the issues with Icepocalypse was that the weatherization inspections were not hands-on, and were instead done virtually due to the alleged concerns over 'rona.
ERCOT has to own the blame for that failure by having allowed it and most of their Board resigned...I still wish criminal investigations would have ensued because I believe it was something on par with the issues from the early aughts that saw ERCOT execs doing TDCJ time. However, with proper inspections, there is nothing to suggest that the outages would have been anywhere close to the level that existed.
Sadly, too many ALSO failed to accept lessons related to personal accountability. Society has become so soft that they don't know how to cope and instead look to blame someone for their own inability to plan. The photos of people throwing out processed cheese and butter and eggs because the power went out were appalling...I guess they were too stupid to think about putting them in the garage or on the porch, given that it was refrigerator/freezer types of temps outside. Too many refused to use a fireplace when available- even decorative gas logs put out SOME heat. Too many refused to wear coats inside or get under the covers of the bed. Was it comfortable? No. It was definitely an inconvenience. And my home got into the 40's inside by the time everything was said and done...I took a picture of the thermostat (battery backup, so room temps were live) in the master bedroom and it was 45 degrees on the last day of the outage.
And, as to summer...plenty of Texans who have been in the State for more than a decade or two have gone through hurricanes that left us without power for up to a week at a time. That is often August or September...you know, the hot months. And, in many cases, there was work to be done cleaning up. But even those are not grid failures...that is a localized issue related to downed lines, and many companies have gotten good at getting power lines back up and running.
There is no question that the grid needs additional capacity, but it is not temperature related. It is a device-related need, especially as more and more insist on EV's and other huge resource sucks. But that increased capacity is NOT going to come by relying upon wind and solar. Even hydroelectric is not the solution. Those three things should be complements to coal, gas/oil, and nuclear.
