TEXAS — It was one of the worst winter storms in years.

The mercury dipped into the teens. Systems failed. The grid sputtered. Rolling blackouts brought misery to three million Texans. And our independently operated power grid couldn’t handle extremely cold weather.

State officials were warned to fix the grid, or it would happen again. The warning was mostly ignored.

Then on Valentine’s Day 2021, a more powerful polar vortex invaded the state, plunging temperatures into single digits.

Major portions of the power grid failed. Nearly half the state’s power plant generation went down.

For the following week, millions went without heat and electricity. Over 240 Texans’ deaths were attributed to the storm and the resulting power failures.

The physical and emotional trauma inflicted on Texans may forever change how we look at the grid, creature comforts we used to take for granted during extreme winter weather, and times like now when the summer sun starts to bake.

State lawmakers and power grid officials have worked the past two years trying to adopt numerous reforms insulating and weatherizing power plants and natural gas delivery systems.

On July 20, 2022, the summer grid was put to the test.

Texans shattered an old record using around 80-thousand megawatts of power.

The grid bent, but did not break. This summer, we have already broken that record. And while daily power demand is now routinely up around 80,000 megawatts, the daily predicted availability of power is up near 100,000 megawatts.

“But if you actually add up all the nameplate capacity of power plants, we have it’s actually closet to 120,000MW,” said energy expert Joshua Rhodes, a researcher with the University of Texas, Webber Energy Group. Rhodes has been closely monitoring the repairs to the Texas power grid. He says while the energy appears to be in greater supply, aging infrastructure and an unwillingness to invest in new power plants will soon become a problem.

“One of the things we’ve been doing differently since Winter Storm Uri is we have been running power plants more often than necessary and I think that’s put extra wear and tear on the system,” said Rhodes. “Just like the more miles you have on a car the more likely it is for something to break.”

Those sentiments are echoed by energy experts all across the state.

“I think we are going to be ok this summer…but the trends are not great,” said Texas Monthly energy reporter Russell Gold. “We are growing, and new Texas residents expect to turn their air conditioners on. We are going to have to figure out a way to provide more power and more reliable power when we need it.”

Gold has written extensively about the failures of state officials to invest in the infrastructure needed to supply more power generation.

He says the weakest link is in the delivery of natural gas during extremely cold and hot weather.

Spectrum News 1 reported, during the recent record setting heat wave, numerous gas processing and delivery systems failed. As a result, according to ERCOT, the state’s power grid operator, the grid lost up to 10-thousand megawatts from the system during critical peak demand.

Another Texas energy reporter, Chris Tomlinson of the Houston Chronicle, says the state needs to enhance development of wind and solar. While both provide an intermittent supply, both are also a cheap and infinite supply of power.

“The goal is to provide the cheapest electricity possible to Texans, and that means wind and solar,” said Tomlinson. “We are still going to need natural gas, coal and nuclear to some extent to back that up, but not for our everyday power.”

Gold has written extensively about the failures of state officials to invest in the infrastructure needed to supply more power generation.

He says the weakest link is in the delivery of natural gas during extremely cold and hot weather.

Spectrum News reported during the recent record setting heat wave, numerous gas processing and delivery systems failed. As a result, according to ERCOT, the state’s power grid operator, the grid lost up to 10-thousand megawatts from the system during critical peak demand.

Another Texas energy reporter, Chris Tomlinson of the Houston Chronicle, says the state needs to enhance development of wind and solar. While both provide an intermittent supply of power, both are also a cheap and infinite supply of power.

“The goal is to provide the cheapest electricity possible to Texans, and that means wind and solar,” said Tomlinson. “We are still going to need natural gas, coal and nuclear to some extent to back that up, but not for our everyday power.”