Texas May Face Blackouts & Power Outages As Early As Fall This Year

Fall is the best time to be a Texan- fairs, football, and barbeques all accented by the deliciously cool and lovely Fall weather. I'll give you a second to soak in that joy...

...before I ruin it by telling you we may get rolling blackouts and power outages as early as Fall this year. What in tarnation?

That's right, according to a recent report, ERCOT may need to implement rolling blackouts this Fall under certain conditions, which I will do my best to explain.

It's mostly because "dirtier" energy is offline more often during cooler months for routine maintenance- so coal and oil plants may not operate on certain days. If they happen to be offline during a day that sees more demand (we do get "pops" of hot temps in the Fall) and if the wind is low, the combination could result in power outages well before it gets frigid. Are you rolling your eyes? I'm kind of rolling my eyes, too. Because this comes after, "10 power demand records and nearly a dozen calls to conserve electricity this summer." Are we going to be asked to dim our Friday Night Lights?

This is also a chilling reminder of how bad it can get in winter, as 2021 was a literal disaster. The extremely cold weather froze up natural gas lines and kept turbines from spinning. This winter is predicted to be very cold as well. Bundle up, buttercup, and pray we ain't left in the dark this winter.