Michael E. Webber, Drew Kassel, and other energy experts outline how Texas can reduce blackouts in The Conversation.
- Power outages are increasing in Texas as more homes heat their home with electricity and extreme weather events become more common.
- State regulators have introduced a measure that would discourage investments in renewables, increase costs for consumers, and do little to improve grid reliability.
- Energy experts in Texas believe that the state can address grid concerns by investing in winterized infrastructure, promoting energy efficiency, and increasing demand response.
“As energy researchers based in Texas, we have spent much of the past two years analyzing why the state was so unprepared for this event and how it can do better. A common knee-jerk reaction to disasters that cause widespread power outages is to call for building more “firm” power plants – those that use fuels like coal or natural gas and are designed to deliver power at any time of day or night. But coal and gas plants, and their fuel supplies, can fail spectacularly.”
Read the full article here.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
