Texas grid hurt by natural gas, coal and nuclear power - Houston Chronicle
Texas grid hurt by natural gas, coal and nuclear power
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Show More Show Less Aerial view of solar power plant located in Arizona. Chem-Energy Corp. is planning to invest $1.15 billion in central Texas to build and maintain two power plants that will combine solar generation and battery storage. Alena Mozhjer, HO / TNS
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The U.S. and Texas flags fly in front of high-voltage transmission towers on Feb. 21, 2021, in Houston. Millions of Texans lost power when a winter storm hit the state and knocked out coal, natural gas and nuclear plants that were unprepared for the freezing temperatures brought on by the storm. Justin Sullivan, Staff / TNS
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The South Texas Nuclear Project reactor unit 2 control room at Bay City, photographed in 1988. Larry Reese, HC staff / Houston Chronicle
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Manessa Grady adjusts an oil lamp while spending time with her sons Zechariah, 8, left, and Noah, 9, at their home in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday evening, Feb. 16, 2021. TAMIR KALIFA, STR / NYT
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The Texas electric grid’s biggest failures so far this summer are coming from the supposedly most reliable generators: fossil fuels.
At 6:31 p.m. June 16, when electricity demand was near its peak, the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant dropped 1,000 megawatts of electricity for two days due to an equipment problem. That’s enough power for 200,000 homes that suddenly disappeared from a plant “with an on-off switch.”
Related Knowledge Center: Electrical grid reliability
With the need to reduce use of fossil fuels in transportation and other areas, demand is likely to increase for solutions that increase dependence on electricity and the electrical grid.