Renewable energy in the Texas power grid, and power outages caused by its unreliability, could be catastrophic and deadly for many who depend on electricity to run life-saving medical equipment, according to some experts.
This may have been a contributing factor in February during the winter storm when thousands of Texans lost power for more than 42 hours, resulting in multiple deaths. In-home medical equipment, such as oxygen machines, medication nebulizers, ventilators, home dialysis, infusion pumps and electric wheelchairs depend on a consistent supply of electricity to perform, NPR reported.
When power goes out, so does the equipment.
"When patients require oxygen, they don't have the luxury of time. They have to go the ED [emergency department] or otherwise they die, right? The people die," Shao Lin, a University at Albany physician-researcher who studies the health effects of extreme weather events, said, as reported by NPR.
According to NPR, patients using oxygen machines made up most of the more than 50 calls to MedStar in the Fort Worth area during the February storm. While some people can install generators or backup batteries, this is not always a practical solution.
In an interview with the Dallas Express, Robert Michaels, a retired Cal State Fullerton economics professor and energy analyst, said he believes subsidies for wind and solar "factor into" the recent issues of reliability and volatility on the Texas electric grid. Michaels explained that "what's happened is you've had a lot more investment in plants, which by their nature are less reliable -- intermittent sources."
“Normally in a power system, you add some extra generation capacity to it, you're going to be strengthening it here," Robert Michaels, a retired Cal State Fullerton economics professor and energy analyst, said in an interview with the Dallas Express. "Here the problem is that when you add intermittent capacity like wind or solar, you could very well be weakening the grid because it basically gives it another contingency that might go out."
Michaels said he believes that subsidies for wind and solar "factor into" recent issues of reliability and volatility on the Texas electric grid. Michaels explained that "what's happened is you've had a lot more investment in plants, which by their nature are less reliable -- intermittent sources."
A panel discussion on energy reliability hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation in January reached a unanimous agreement that a renewable-heavy "California model" is dangerous for Texas to emulate, Austin News reported.
“The main takeaway from the California discussion for me was that all of the panelists agreed that the California situation is a cautionary tale for the rest of the country and that is concerning if national energy policies begin to be modeled after the California model, as opposed to the Texas model,” Mike Nasi, a partner with Austin's Jackson Walker LLP law firm, said in a separate Austin News report.
A study of the 2003 power outages in the Northeastern United States reported that 23 of 255 patients coming into a New York City hospital during a 24-hour period reported a medical device failure as the reason for their emergency. New York, like California, is pushing to be 100% zero emission and use only renewable energy.
If Texas did decide to adopt the "California model," all energy put on renewable sources grids could suddenly shut down during extreme weather events without a backup system in place, critics argue. In those scenarios, it would leave the grid, and much-needed medical equipment, without any form of power. Of the Texans who lost their lives during the 2021 winter storm, most were due to power loss, resulting freezing or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Public Utilities Commission of Texas Chairman DeAnn Walker, a participant in the discussion, said “you cannot run an electric system only on wind and solar.” Another panelist noted an electricity system run solely on wind and solar is impossible.
