https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/are-frozen-wind-turbines-to-blame-for-texas-power-outages/...But the vast majority of energy the state generates is through natural gas. In October 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that renewables generated 22% of the state’s energy, while gas generated 51.8%.
In ERCOT’s plan for this winter, it expected that thermal and hydro resources, i.e. gas, coal and water, would need to generate 67,000 megawatts per hour during a high demand event to support the state. This didn’t take into account a historic snow storm where demand would increase and supply would be threatened.
On Monday, frozen instruments and a limited gas supply forced 30,000 MW/h of power offline. This was half of what ERCOT believed they would need. According to the agency, wind turbines account for less than 13% of the total generation that was lost. The majority of which was coal and gas....
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Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy for the ERCOT Region (SARA)
Winter 2020/2021
http://www.ercot.com/content/wcm/lists/197378/SARA-PreliminaryWinter2020-2021.pdfOperational Resources (thermal and hydro), MW 67,547
Capacity from Private Use Networks, MW 3,631
Coastal Wind, Peak Average Capacity Contribution, MW 1,480
Panhandle Wind, Peak Average Capacity Contribution, MW 1,411
Other Wind, Peak Average Capacity Contribution, MW 3,251
Solar Utility-Scale, Peak Average Capacity Contribution, MW 254