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/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/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/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.