We had PLENTY of capacity at the time of grid failure. The problem was that natural gas plants didn't pay for cold weather weatherization so the pipes literally froze.
The wind turbines were plentiful but lacked de-icing capabilities (another cost cutting measure).
Batteries are good, but my power was off for 72 hours. Some lost it for double that.
To your point "great since the freeze" why would a corporation take on significant costs for a thing that happens only once every decade or so. Much cheaper to let people freeze to death in their own homes.
Regulations don't take away the cost. But they level the playing field. Without them, the market will punish "excess" aka "redundancy". An operator who does the right thing will find themselves unable to compete. Not just decreased margins but possibly put out of business.
Which is why the real failure is the design of the market. And that fundamentally hasn't changed.
From what I can tell a bunch of batteries, solar and wind came online since then not sure if the govt was involved or not.
We had PLENTY of capacity at the time of grid failure. The problem was that natural gas plants didn't pay for cold weather weatherization so the pipes literally froze.
The wind turbines were plentiful but lacked de-icing capabilities (another cost cutting measure).
Batteries are good, but my power was off for 72 hours. Some lost it for double that.
To your point "great since the freeze" why would a corporation take on significant costs for a thing that happens only once every decade or so. Much cheaper to let people freeze to death in their own homes.
Regulations don't take away the cost. But they level the playing field. Without them, the market will punish "excess" aka "redundancy". An operator who does the right thing will find themselves unable to compete. Not just decreased margins but possibly put out of business.
Which is why the real failure is the design of the market. And that fundamentally hasn't changed.