Related Posts
Let’s meditate for our health...

Additional Posts in State & Local Government Consulting
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Let’s meditate for our health...

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Download the Fishbowl app to unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Copy and paste embed code on your site

Scan your QR code to download
Fishbowl app on your mobile

You don’t have to work in utilities to know that no, it wasn’t the turbines that caused the grid to fail.
It was the fact that ERCOT failed to incentivize long term investment in weatherizarion.
The cold took down a far larger share of natural gas and nuclear plants — which each produce much more electricity than wind.
I found this article to be really helpful in breaking it down:
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/natural-gas-power-storm/
No - failure to weatherize caused all forms of energy including nuclear to shut down.
If cold weather and turbines were incompatible, Nordic countries wouldn't have them all over the place.
If you still need a completely unrelated analogy to understand it:
Imagine a scenario where a bulletproof vest rates to stop armor piercing rounds fails to stop .22 round in the field. Do we A) claim bulletproof vests just don't work and remove them entirely from the military; or B) Investigate the reason for failure and adjust performance standards and approval requirements accordingly.
Obviously B - anyone claiming A is insane.
For context, this was an actual issue impacting body armor during the early 2000's - testing standards did not take into account that desert deployments with 130+ degree trunk temperatures would weaken stored body armor. Once discovered, new requirements were out into place to ensure weather would not impact performance.