Energy Alliance's Director Bill Peacock states that the doubt regarding whether the Texas energy grid is really prepared to handle colder temperatures is not unjustified since weather-dependent energy production isn't really reliable.
"The weather effects energy generating capacity whether it is hot or cold. So the fact that natural gas production slowed during a recent cold snap is not surprising," Peacock said.
In the early days of 2022, Texas experienced its first real bout of colder weather for the winter. According to a report by S&P Global, natural gas production fell by 20% in the state's top energy-producing region. There were no significant losses of power reported, but the decline in production brought doubt to the ability of the Texas grid to handle colder weather.
Peacock further said, "Because energy generation fluctuates with weather, you do not want to be solely focused on building energy projects that depend entirely on the weather. This does nothing but exacerbate the issue."
According to Bloomberg, natural gas production fell to the lowest level the state had seen since February of 2021. Multiple companies reported equipment freezing, and the amount of natural gas that was burned off or wasted totaled nearly 1 million cubic feet.
"The state government and PUC are doing nothing to ensure that new generation is going into energy sources like natural gas. Instead, new investments are being made in more solar and wind projects that do not increase the reliability of the grid but instead make its energy generation even more variable," Peacock said.
Natural gas is the main source of energy production in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott took to Twitter to reassure Texans that ERCOT's power grid had more than enough energy to supply to residents of the state.
The production disruption during temperatures that were not considered severe brought doubt to the reliability of the grid, regardless of the governor's reassurances.
"I think it means the gas system's not ready for another cold snap," Michael Webber, an energy resources professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Texas Tribune. "It wasn't even really cold. It was cold, but nothing close to Winter Storm Uri [in February]."
The Houston Daily reported that Abbott said that "Everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid in Texas."