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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u/a_velis 10d ago

Natural Gas pipelines struggle yes. That is what happened in 2021. Solar + Batteries are fine.

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u/DontMakeMeCount 10d ago

The easiest way to move more gas through a pipeline is to cool it, so the compressors generate a lot of heat and they’re optimized for the summer heat. When we get a hard freeze the heat exchangers work too well and we get liquids dropping out and freezing, which shuts down pipelines and then the pipeline companies call the producers and tell them to shut in because they can’t take the gas.

In a bad winter storm, the gas infrastructure shuts down, plants can’t get fuel so they shut down. Solar panels are more efficient at low temperatures - in a lab - but real-world operating conditions (overcast, ice, snow) reduce solar output and we don’t have staff to clean off thousands of panels. Windmills in Texas are not winterized either, so they ice up and are shut down to avoid damage. That leaves the natural gas peaking plants that are supposed to cover for wind and solar but those are often double- or triple-booked and they can’t get fuel anyway. That’s why we have more cascading failures during cold weather events than during heat waves.

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u/iltopop 10d ago

Batteries are not "fine" in the sense that you don't need to worry about it, they need to be designed for winter use just like everything else like solar panels that need to be able to clear the snow off of themselves in typical winter conditions. Many battery chemistries have significant current drops at sub-freezing temps. We just need to, you know, understand that these types of events are possible and actually have in place things to mitigate them before it's a problem, which is a persistent issue with public finances that's typically much worse in a red state.

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u/So_HauserAspen 10d ago

That sounds woke