The oil and gas industry was Abbott’s top campaign contributor from January 2017 through 2020, giving him US$16.5 million, 21 per cent of the total raised, according to a report by Texans for Public Justice, a watchdog group focused on curbing political corruption in the state. That kind of regulatory carve-out isn’t uncommon in a state like Texas, where fossil fuels still reign supreme. And yet, even after a spate of power reforms, there are no gas-sector winterization requirements in place for this winter, or next. 1 supplier of power-plant fuel in the state, and dozens of generators reported trouble getting fuel after gas wells and delivery systems froze. For most of the crisis, gas-fired plants accounted for around half of the generation outages, according to data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, commonly known as Ercot. It’s the gas industry that has experts the most concerned heading into this winter. Multiple parts of the system were to blame: Regulators failed to predict the severity of the low temperatures, the grid operator vastly underestimated demand, wind turbines froze and gas, coal and nuclear plants tripped offline. At its peak, the storm took down nearly two-thirds of the power supply on the Texas grid, causing widespread blackouts and, ultimately, at least 210 deaths. energy capital, triggering a cascade of failures. When the freak Arctic blast hit Texas in February, it sent a shockwave through the U.S.

And Texas - having been among the first to endure what would prove to be a series of energy crises worldwide - stands out as a test case of what could be done, at least if the political will is there. Europe and Asia are already in the throes of energy shortages that threaten to spread to U.S. Climate change is plaguing them with increasingly extreme weather, and a rapid transition to cleaner power resources has made them more fragile and easier to shock. The call for more preparation in Texas comes at a time when energy systems are aging the world over, buckling under the strain of ever-growing demand.

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“We are not ready for another cold winter.” More On This Topic “Texas has not done enough,” said Michael Webber, a University of Texas at Austin professor who specializes in energy.

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