AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Anger over Texas’ power grid failing in the face of a record winter freeze is mounting. Nearly 3 million customers in the energy capital of the U.S. woke up Wednesday still without power.
The outages follow unusually heavy snowfall and single-digit temperatures in Texas that created a surge in demand for electricity to warm up homes.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday called for an investigation of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the state’s power grid.
Officials offered no timetable for when power might be restored throughout the state.
Conservative commentators on Tuesday have falsely claimed that wind turbines and solar energy were primarily to blame for power outages across Texas as the power grid buckled.
A variety of misleading claims spread on social media, with the Green New Deal and wind turbines getting much of the attention.
But the Texas state power agency said that gas, coal and nuclear plants actually caused nearly twice as many outages as wind and solar power.
On top of that, ERCOT data shows that while Texas has ramped up wind energy in recent years, the state still only relies on wind power for about 25% of its total electricity.
