{"id":303627,"date":"2024-02-20T19:01:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T18:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=303627"},"modified":"2024-02-20T19:01:05","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T18:01:05","slug":"the-great-texas-blackout-of-2021-triumph-of-the-unreliables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=303627","title":{"rendered":"The Great Texas Blackout of 2021: Triumph of the Unreliables"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Master Resource<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Bradley Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe Kiesling\/Giberson (et al.) narrative is a call for more government. MORE wind. MORE solar. MORE Batteries. MORE central planning to correct prior. And rationing from \u2018smart meters\u2019 to forgive all that came before. Think Big Brother, the Electricity Road to Serfdom.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Three years ago this month, a prolonged, extensive cold snap did the unthinkable to Texas\u2019s huge electricity grid. The shared narrative<\/em> from proponents\/apologists of forced energy transformation (\u2018Energy Transition\u2019, \u2018Decarbonization\u2019, \u2018Net Zero\u2019, \u2018Green New Deal\u2019, \u2018Virtual Power Plant\u2019) focused on the failure of natural gas infrastructure as the cause of the debacle, a sort of \u201cmarket failure\u201d from \u201can Act of God.\u201d The cancer<\/a> in the system, intermittent wind and solar ($66 billion worth<\/a>), was forgiven, and central planning of the state\u2019s grid by Austin politicians, regulators, and administrators was treated as a neutrality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faux free-market advocates Lynne Kiesling and Michael Giberson pushed this false narrative, refusing to get from the physical why<\/em> to the analytical why<\/em>. Bad analytics, bad historical interpretation. And their recommendation: more<\/em> intervention, not less, coordinated by government agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiki summarized the physical side of the event:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In February 2021, the state of Texas<\/a> suffered a major power crisis<\/a>, which came about during three severe winter storms sweeping across the United States on February 10\u201311<\/a>, 13\u201317<\/a>, and 15\u201320<\/a>. The storms triggered the worst energy infrastructure failure in Texas<\/a> state history, leading to shortages of water, food, and heat. More than 4.5 million homes and businesses were left without power, some for several days. At least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly, with some estimates as high as 702 killed as a result of the crisis.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The human and economic toll of the Great Texas Blackout is in the books. But the \u201cwhy-behind-the-why\u201d of the unprecedented debacle has been neglected, even by \u201cfree market\u201d electricity specialists wed to the state\u2019s ISO central planning model<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting back to fundamental causality requires a lot of analysis beyond the simplistic surface effects. It brings in a worldview of free-market processes and government intervention. As I concluded in a counter-analysis the month after the event, \u201cRenewables \u2018Market-Failed<\/a>\u2018 Natural Gas in Texas<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The second draft of history is pointing toward a massive government planning failure in America\u2019s second most regulated industry (next to money & banking), as well as the intended and unintended consequences of pro-renewable, anti-fossil-fuel decarbonization policies. There is much more evidence to come, but the picture is getting clearer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I updated my initial thoughts on the second anniversary of the debacle: \u201cWind, Solar, and the Great Texas Blackout: Guilty as Charged<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unreliable capacity that never should have been built crowded out the reliables\u2014as intended by \u201cmagical thinking<\/a>\u201d policymakers. Storm Uri was not the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back, it was the moment that showed the animal\u2019s back was badly broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way forward is the opposite of what the UT-Austin authors recommend. Wind, solar, and batteries should no longer receive government advantage. The wholesale power grid now run by ERCOT should be denationalized and mandatory transmission rules rescinded. Third, franchise protection and other \u201cpublic utility\u201d regulation should be removed for the denationalized grid, a program outlined<\/a> elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central planning for a forced energy transformation produced the debacle of debacles two [now three] years ago in Texas. It is time for a new era for U.S. electricity policy, premised on market entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Specifically,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n