While millions of people in Texas lost heat and electricity during a historic cold wave earlier this week, the future of renewable energy in the large and growing state and elsewhere has drawn new scrutiny, aided by images of ice-covered wind turbines.
But blaming renewable energies at a time when they need more, not less, of the country’s energy system to modernize is lack of vision, especially as the most extreme climate due to climate change is likely, analysts said power.
Reading: Millions in Texas still without power amid record cold
To begin with, the blame for the Texas energy crisis, at least according to the first readings by Texas utility workers and backed by analysts, was multiple. This fact alone should stimulate the search for a diversified energy portfolio and an updated network to help the United States control emissions that contribute to global warming and keep energy costs relatively low, especially for vulnerable communities.
“The dangerous situations in Texas and Oklahoma underscore the urgency of the climate crisis and the need to make transformational investments in our country’s infrastructure, including the electricity grid,” said Lori Lodes, executive director of Climate Power. Climate Power, initially called Climate Power 2020 because of its then focus on the 2020 elections, is a political project created by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club.
Politicians and industry leaders loyal to fossil fuels defended renewable energies this week, taking advantage of the fact that wind is a source of energy, like solar, which requires planning for intermittent generation. Meaning: it is not completely reliable all the time.
They have doubled in their claim that fuel sources, including natural gas, will have to appear alongside wind, solar, nuclear and other options, even as the United States faces climate change and states like Texas adopt more renewable energy.
Without NG00 natural gas,
The industry argues that the power grid will run the risk of more frequent continuous blackouts, such as those affecting Texas and other states mainly on the plains. The electricity outages in California last summer were attributed in part to the very rapid retirement of gas plants, while the state was pursuing a clean energy agenda. In fact, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz saw his tweeted criticism of California resurface this week, when more than 4 million Texans were powerless.
So, what source was behind the Texas mess?
“The Texas crisis was not caused by the state’s renewable energy industry. The biggest generation loss came from gas-fired plants, with wind farms falling far behind, ”said Ed Crooks, Wood Mackenzie’s vice president for the Americas.
The use of natural gas for residential heating competes with its use in electricity generation, and that use has been extended in typically hot Texas. The deficit can be attributed to extreme weather conditions or it could be the first sign that winter planning for a mixture of fossil and renewable fuels needs to be reinforced.
Texas utilities, which rely mainly on natural gas and wind throughout the year, would have already reduced their planning for wind power before the storm, as they usually do in the winter. Summer is the peak of energy use and the wind represents only 25% of the state’s energy matrix during winter. Wind power during the ice storm met what is normally required at this time of year, officials suggested. Most of the disruptions occurred in parts of the Texas power grid that depend on natural gas, coal and nuclear power, sources that together account for more than two-thirds of power generation during the winter.
The cold snap was unique, but so is the Texas utility network.
Almost all of Texas operates as a single power grid not integrated with neighboring states. This network is administered by the Texas Electric Reliability Council, ERCOT, a nonprofit organization controlled by the state legislature and free from national regulation. At the best of times, it creates large price swings in both directions; under the worst of times, like this week, homes and businesses darken and cool.
Reading: Texas energy markets are in chaos. Here are two actions to watch
The American Gas Association said that dissecting exactly what went wrong in Texas during the freeze and what conclusions from that experiment could inform any change in the use of natural gas for electricity in the future will take longer.
National AGA data showed that while the cold covered much of the country, 151.7 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas was delivered to the U.S. on February 14 and 149.8 Bcf was delivered on February 15. Sunday was the second biggest delivery day at a time and the two days combined set a record for the highest demand for a two-day period. The group represents about 200 local energy companies, including some in Texas, that supply natural gas to utilities. Finally, about 71 million customers in the United States use gas from the companies that AGA represents.
The discussion in the coming days, weeks and months “should include how we use and value the role the system plays on the coldest days of the year … taking into account severe weather interruptions and events,” said Richard Meyer, managing director of energy markets, analysis and standards with AGA.
Reading: Deep freezing in the US drives natural gas up and uranium prices melt
Renewable energies also need to be rethought.
“The loss of energy has been a warning about the problems that will arise as the proportion of renewable generation in the grid increases,” said Crooks, of Wood Mackenzie.
The generation, transmission and distribution equipment, and the design of the electricity market, will become even more important in order to face the challenges created by a heavy network of renewable energies.
“The resources distributed, including storage and response to demand, will also play a greater role. Texas’ renewable capacity would need to increase more than 10 times to supply the same amount of energy produced by the fossil fuel fleet on Monday, even at low levels, ”said Wood Mackenzie analysts.
As this would be excessive at some times of the year, storage will be of great importance, including batteries, hydrogen or other technology.
Wade Scheur, director of research for the Americas at Wood MacKenzie, said there are some specific lessons from Texas. On the one hand, the state has several large population centers, but the renewable energy clusters are far from large cities, requiring more kilometers of potentially vulnerable transmission lines.
And there is no winter reliability mandate for the utility system, for example, in other parts of the US regulated
“There is little incentive for renewable energy, or even other sources, to increase capacity. Many energy sources are deactivated seasonally from October to May, ”said Scheur. “Perhaps the ability and incentives to produce better in winter need additional consideration.”
This may be true in Texas and elsewhere. Climate-related power cuts are increasing in the United States as climate change produces more extreme storms and temperature variations, writes professor of energy resources Michael Webber at the University of Texas at Austin in a comment.
“States that design their buildings and infrastructure for hot weather may need to plan for more chills, and states with cold weather may expect more heat waves,” he said. “As conditions in Texas show, there is no time to lose in preparing for the weather.”