Don't blame wind for Texas blackouts

In response to Texas blackouts warning to Biden and all of us: Renewables do play a role in grid problems, published Monday:

It is erroneous to claim that renewable power was largely responsible for the grid problems in Texas.

The Texas grid operator, Electric Reliability Council of Texas, has documented that considerably more gigawatts of fossil fuel and nuclear sources were lost than renewables. While wind power outperformed forecasts across the state, natural gas did the opposite, with nearly twice the amount of natural gas going offline than was predicted under ERCOT’s extreme generator outage scenario.

ERCOT’s senior director of systems operations called offline wind turbines “the least significant factor” in the blackouts, according to Bloomberg, with frozen instruments at natural gas, coal and nuclear facilities playing a more important role, along with reduced supplies of natural gas. Those who persist in blaming wind might also consider that the lights largely stayed on in El Paso, where power comes from the adjacent grid operator, Southwest Power Pool, which has a greater reliance on wind.

We should be focused on ensuring these blackouts never happen again. Expanding and upgrading our outdated and balkanized electrical grid is a critical part of the solution. Investment in more interregional transmission through a U.S. Macro Grid will enhance grid reliability, save consumers billions of dollars, deliver significant job creation and dramatically reduce carbon emissions.

Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO

American Council On Renewable Energy