Texas Governor Greg Abbott has conceded that the recent mass power outage in the state was due to failures in the network involving all sources of power, not just green energy. Around 80% of the Texas electricity failures were from fossil fuel generators.
"The fact is, power generation from all sources buckled under the harsh, freezing winter weather. That includes natural gas, coal, nuclear, as well as wind and solar," the governor went on. Abbott first pushed for winterization of the grid only last week.
The governor's remarks contrast sharply with his comments to Fox News' Sean Hannity on February 16. As events in Texas were unfolding and millions were without power, Abbott criticized renewable energy.
Natural gas is of particular importance to energy supply in Texas and freezing conditions coupled with a lack of winterization measures affected its supply to the grid. "It appears that a lot of the generation that has gone offline today has been primarily due to issues on the natural gas system," Dan Woodfin, a senior director at ERCOT, told the Texas Tribune on February 16.
(Source: Newsweek, "Greg Abbott Admits Failure from All Power Sources After Initially Blaming Green Energy")
