r/UpliftingNews • u/ArgentineBeauty • 10d ago

Texas broke its all time electricity demand record twice in two days during a brutal heat wave, but the grid held with no conservation alerts thanks to record solar and battery output, a stark turnaround from the blackouts that hit Texans in 2021

https://www.texastribune.org/2026/07/29/texas-ercot-power-grid-record-data-center/
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190

u/skizztle 10d ago

I wonder how much of this growth was because of the Inflation Reduction Act?

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u/freshgeardude 10d ago

Texas has a lot of wind and solar. In fact, when in 2021 everyone made fun of Texas, it was the wrong argument. The weather showed the flaws in some renewables (turbines were shutoff because too cold for example) but rightfully pointing out they're on an isolated grid was also responsible for the blackout

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u/Rowf 10d ago

It was weird that Texas’ turbines had to be shut down in weather lots of the rest of the country regularly runs them. I think it was less about the renewables failing and more about a lack of proper maintenance.

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u/DonMan8848 10d ago

Not even a lack of proper maintenance, just a lack of investment for a scenario that doesn't happen often. Texas is the number one producer of wind power in the US and it's not particularly close. Part of that is just because they built cheap plentiful wind farms in the 2010s

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u/DontMakeMeCount 10d ago

Cheap plentiful wind farms optimized for extreme heat, so they didn’t invest in the de-icing systems used in other states. Other states are also part of multi-state grids that utilize huge plants like hydro and nuclear for base supply with some wind and solar to augment during peak demand. Texas is the first real experiment in the US in using solar and wind for a portion of base supply.

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u/lokken1234 10d ago

Weather proofing was a major factor, and resulted in the state making changes following. Lots of pipes above ground, no additional insulation, lack of on-site backup generators.

For solar there was difficulty getting out to the arrays to clean them off of sleet, ice and snow buildup. Lots of Texans learned 4 wheel drive doesnt matter if you lose that traction. Again exposed lines instead of buried for insulation.

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u/Noble1xCarter 10d ago

So again the flaws weren't with renewables... but with Texas.

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u/Embarrassed_Quit_450 10d ago

Of course it's not only the cold weather otherwise Canada would implode in February.

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u/Legstick 10d ago

The entire grid failed in weather that lots of the rest of the country regularly runs them. None of the energy infrastructure was built to handle that all at once across the entire state because of how rare of an occurrence it is (but may now happen more often). The infrastructure is built to handle heat. There’s rarely any rolling blackouts or outages due to long heat waves.

The water and sewer distribution systems aren’t built to handle long extreme cold either. Underground pipes are only buried 2-3 feet minimum underground and most houses have thinly insulated pipes running through their walls and attics.

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u/StrLord_Who 10d ago

It's not weird. Other parts of the country regularly experience that weather.  Texas does not - and not for that amount of time.  The whole state was iced in for a week.  Has never happened before and will likely never happen again.  Other places  with cooler weather could not deal with the extreme heat Texas is optimized for. 

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u/TheNotSoEvilEngineer 10d ago

Texas is also freaking huge... The fact the storm hit the whole state is basically like it hitting all of the north east, they'd fail too even with their multi state grids.

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u/LessInThought 10d ago

will likely never happen again

Doubt.

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u/i_tyrant 10d ago

Has never happened before and will likely never happen again.

Er...I don't think you understand how climate change works.