A warning on windpower from deep in the heart of Texas

Were the South Australian blackouts in 2016 precursors to those that have occurred in Texas during the past few days?   

In both cases, an electricity system that has been force-fed with subsidised wind and solar suddenly failed.  The total blackout that was seen in South Australia was more severe than the Texas failure but in both cases wind and solar played a prominent role.  Those renewables normally account for 23 per cent of the electricity in Texas.  This is somewhat less than in South Australia where wind/solar is half of supply but the inherent intermittency of wind in South Australia is cushioned by links to Victorian coal.    

Texas, without similar such links, saw 98 per cent of its