I’ve shared previously that futurist and author George Friedman is someone I read, follow and admire. He wrote “The Next 100 Years.” He is a geopolitical analyst and strategist of the first order. I have no idea what his politics are.
And he lives in Texas. He’s posted on his website a terrific perspective on Texas’ energy woes.
While I bask here on our resort porch in Kissimmee, FL, where it is currently a pleasant 74 degrees and sunny, I am thinking of a great many family and friends in Texas who are not so fortunate.
We know what it is like to be without power for 4 days after a crippling winter storm. We had that experience in Philly just a couple of years ago. Or so it seems. We found a nearby hotel, but even the hotels in Texas are struggling to keep the power on.
The usual course of things when power grids or other utilities fail to deliver as promised, is to point fingers and assign blame. Politicians are usually among the first, so the blame doesn’t fall their way. The narrative makers of course are using this to push or attack policy and political agendas around the “Green New Deal” and renewable energy.
And just so you don’t think it’s just the progressive left (“thanks, Obama!”) that’s foisted these policies upon states, remember that one of the biggest proponents for wind energy was the late T. Boone Pickens, the conservative Texas oil tycoon. You can look it up. Remember the “Pickens Plan?” Things can be a little more complicated than it seems.
While it is useful, even essential to ask “how did this happen,” it is usually tempting but unhelpful to point fingers. The fact is that a decade or more of tax credits and subsidies for the magic elixir of renewable wind and solar power, coupled with relentless attacks on the “fossil fuel” industry, created incentives for Texas (and many other states and even manufacturing industries, eager to promote their “corporate social responsibility” agendas) to increase its reliance on wind for about 25% of their power. Freaky, unanticipated, historic weather can wreck havoc over the best laid plans and thinking. Stuff happens. Sometimes the wind doesn’t blow, either. Even in Texas.
Also, don’t forget, many states have studiously deregulated their utility industries and allowed consumers to “shop around” for the best (low) prices. Power grids - “stranded costs” - may not be attracting the investment they used to, even in fast growing states like Texas. Traditional utility companies have a lot of political and governmental hurdles to raising rates for upgrading power lines and the like. I’ll defer to my Texas friends for the facts there, once they’re power is back on. Hopefully very soon.
At least with the rolling brownouts and power outages, the transplanted Californians feel at home (aside from the weather).
Texas will learn from this, especially the state Public Utilities Commission (perhaps along with the independently elected Texas Railroad Commmission, which regulates the oil and natural gas industry). While freezing temperatures have had some effect on gas delivery systems as well, they seem less affected by the extreme cold than renewables.
And nuclear power? I still don’t understand opposition to it, but with low natural gas prices (Joe Biden - “Hold my beer”), the economics of producing nuclear power is a currently a challenge, not to mention the federal regulatory hurdles. It is clean and demonstrably safe. Disclosure - my late father in law built dozens of nuclear power facilities in the US and Europe.
I’ll let Dr. Friedman tell his story. It puts things in perspective.
ADDENDUM: This is an excellent post from wolfstreet.com that was posted earlier today (Feb. 19th). It provides excellent information and detail that I’d previously not seen, but confirms much of what I said - this is complicated, and blame-gaming isn’t the way to go: https://wolfstreet.com/2021/02/18/whos-to-blame-for-the-texas-power-crisis/