A Texas Electric Reliability Council official said on Tuesday afternoon that 16 gigawatts of renewable energy generation, mostly wind, were offline. Almost twice that, 30 gigawatts, were lost in thermal sources, which include gas, coal and nuclear power.
“Texas is a gaseous state,” said Michael Webber, professor of energy resources at the University of Texas at Austin.
While Webber said that all Texas energy sources share the blame for the energy crisis, the natural gas industry is producing significantly less energy than normal.
“The gas is failing in the most spectacular way right now,” said Webber.
Dan Woodfin, senior director at ERCOT, echoed that sentiment on Tuesday.
“It appears that much of the generation that went offline today was mainly due to problems with the natural gas system,” he said during a call with reporters on Tuesday.
Still, some have focused their blame on wind energy.
“This is what happens when you force the grid to rely in part on the wind as a source of energy,” US Representative Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “When weather conditions get worse like this week, intermittent renewable energy, like wind, is not available when you need it.”
He continued to watch the shutdown of a nuclear reactor in Bay City because of the cold, and finally arrived at what energy experts say is the biggest culprit, “Low supply of natural gas: ERCOT planned to consume 67 GW of natural gas / coal, but was only able to obtain 43 GW online. We did not run out of natural gas, but we were unable to obtain natural gas. Pipelines in Texas do not use cold insulation – so things were freezing. “
Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, known for his right-wing Facebook posts that have spread misinformation and amplified conspiracy theories in the past, also posted a raw view of wind energy on Facebook: “We should never build another wind turbine in Texas . “
In another post, Miller was even more direct, but also misleading, “Insult added to the injury: These horrible wind turbines are among the main reasons why we are experiencing electricity blackouts. Isn’t it ironic? … So much for Monuments of Ugly and unproductive Obama, who steal energy. At least they show us where idiots live. “
While wind energy skeptics argue that the week’s freeze means that wind power cannot be trusted, wind turbines – like natural gas plants – can be “winterized” or modified to operate during very low temperatures. Experts say that many of Texas’ power generators have failed to make the necessary investments to avoid equipment interruptions, as the state does not regularly face extreme winter storms.
It is estimated that of the total network capacity in winter, about 80% of it, or 67 gigawatts, can be generated by natural gas, coal and some nuclear power. Only 7% of ERCOT’s predicted winter capacity, or six gigawatts, was expected to come from various sources of wind power across the state.
Natural gas production in the state has declined due to freezing conditions, making it difficult for plants to obtain the fuel needed to operate them. Natural gas plants generally do not have much fuel storage on site, experts said. Instead, mills depend on the constant flow of natural gas from pipelines that run through the state, from areas like the Permian basin, an oil and natural gas producer in western Texas, to major demand centers like Houston and Dallas.
Governor Greg Abbott specified that fossil fuel sources were contributing to problems with the network when describing the situation on Monday afternoon.
“The ability of some companies to generate energy has been frozen. This includes natural gas and coal generators,” he wrote in a tweet.
Heather Zichal, CEO of the American Clean Power Association industry group, said that opponents of renewable energy are trying to distract themselves from failures elsewhere in the system and delay the “transition to a clean energy future”.
“It is shameful to see the old antagonists of clean energy – who attack it if it is raining, snowing or the sun is shining – getting involved in a politically opportunistic charade that deceives Americans to promote an agenda that has nothing to do with restoring energy in Texas communities, “she said.
The Texas Tribune is a non-profit, non-partisan media organization that informs Texans – and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and state issues.