Since the deep freeze that brought down the Texas energy grid, causing millions of Texans to freeze in the dark, a variety of fixes have been proposed to ensure that such an event never happens again.
For example, Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Republican, has proposed measures to encourage the building of nuclear power plants. He proposes streamlining the permitting process for new nuclear power plants and allowing the government to cosign loans to finance their construction. He aims to encourage the development of advanced nuclear power technology as well.
Crenshaw makes the point that unlike wind and solar, nuclear operates 24/7: day, night, rain, shine, calm, and windy. Nuclear is therefore more resilient than the renewable energy that many in Washington favor while, at the same time, avoiding greenhouse gasses.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk, a new Texas resident known for his rockets and electric cars, is trying a different approach. He is constructing a giant battery in Brazoria County about 40 miles from Houston. The battery will be capable of storing 100 megawatts of energy, enough to power 20,000 homes. The battery would be charged when electricity costs are low and then could be used when a shortage of energy develops. The same principle applies to home rooftop solar systems in which a battery is charged during the day and provides electricity at night.
Grid-level battery storage units would help Texas’s vaunted wind farms become more resilient. Excess electricity generated by the wind turbines could be stored in the batteries for use later, when the winds are calm or when an event such as a winter storm takes many of them offline. Musk has built similar giant batteries in California and Australia.
Had enough of Musk’s giant batteries existed during the winter apocalypse, they would have taken some of the load, at least temporarily, while technicians feverishly worked to bring the wind farms, gas generators, coal plants, and even the single nuclear power plant that went down back online.
Currently, the Texas legislature is working to ensure that nothing like the power blackouts that took place during the recent winter storm ever happens again. No doubt these measures could include encouraging the construction of both new nuclear power plants and the giant batteries that Musk is proposing. The demand for electricity in Texas, as it is everywhere else, is just going to increase.
One benefit of the winter storm and the catastrophe that it wrought is that it concentrated the minds of decision-makers. The operators of the Texas power grid, ERCOT, did not take measures to make sure that power generation plants were winterized against severe cold temperatures. After all, how often does the temperature get into the teens in Texas?
The problem is, when the once-in-a-generation event happened, the resulting costs far outpaced the costs of taking preventive measures to begin with. The principle that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure applies in this case.
One good effect of the winter storm in Texas is that it has paused the momentum of the Green New Deal. Every form of power generation, renewable, fossil fuel, and nuclear, failed in Texas. Especially without a backup source of energy, Texas’s wind farms proved to be especially fragile. A plan to rely solely on renewables was proven to be foolish and more than a little dangerous.
Clearly, if we are to satisfy our need for abundant, reliable electricity while fighting greenhouse gas emissions, an approach that uses all forms of energy is best. Nuclear power plants, Musk’s giant batteries to make the wind farms more resilient, carbon capture plants such as the one operating in La Porte, Texas, and even rooftop solar power are all part of the solution.
Mark Whittington, who writes frequently about space and politics, has published a political study of space exploration titled Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon? as well as The Moon, Mars and Beyond. He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner.
