Study: 10 GW of solar could have cut Texas blackouts by 15% during Winter Storm Uri.

An analysis by electricity grid forum GridLab and energy systems consulting company IdeaSmiths has found that 10 GW of utility-scale solar could have significantly reduced unserved load by 15% during Winter Storm Uri of 2021 in Texas, which resulted in the worst blackouts in recent domestic history. The high demand and low supply of energy caused the state grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to call for 20,000 MW of load shed, which cost over $100 billion in power generation expenses and infrastructure damage costs. The study suggests that while additional solar power wouldn’t have stopped the blackouts, it could have provided one million homes with four to eight hours of electricity throughout the storm. The report does not include energy storage and does not account for energy storage. Since the storm, Texas has added almost 16 GW of solar power to its grid and is leading the country in solar development.