Ed. Note: This week features four posts on the Great Texas Blackout of February 2021, the greatest mal-coordination in U.S. energy history. Today’s introduction is followed by 1) a blackout prediction that came to pass; 2) the fallacy of market failure; 3) a 2025 MasterResource blog recap of the debate; 4) a 2025 IER blog recap of the debate.
Market failure or government failure? The Great Texas Blackout of February 2021 (five years ago) is a case study that will forever be in debate. Why? Because the counterfactual–a real free-market in electricity–was not present (versus ERCOT et al. statism). Still, never before had a “market failure” of this type occurred in the U.S. electricity market, not even in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (the free-market era) when the technology to prevent blackouts was much more primitive. The author below contends that the Storm Uri blackouts were a government failure with many mothers and fathers, not a failure of free-market entrepreneurship.
Wiki summarized the event:
In February 2021, the state of Texas suffered a major power crisis, which came about during three severe winter storms sweeping across the United States on February 10–11, 13–17 (known as Winter Storm Uri), and 15–20. The storms triggered the worst energy infrastructure failure in Texas state history, leading to shortages of water, food, and heat. More than 4.5 million homes and businesses were left without power, some for several days. At least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly, with some estimates as high as 702 killed as a result of the crisis…. Damages due to the cold wave and winter storm were estimated to be at least $26.5 billion….
Articles supporting the counter-thesis that the “why-behind-the-why” (the mal-incentives behind the physical failures) were governmental follow:
The reposts this week are:
Texas Windpower: Will Negative Pricing Blow Out the Lights? (PTC vs. reliable new capacity) (Josiah Neeley: February 17, 2021)
The Great Texas Blackout Revisited: Market Failure Not (February 14, 2025)
Wind, Solar, and the Great Texas Blackout: Guilty as Charged
Other related posts offering a free market counter to the mainstream Storm Uri interpretation are:
Renewables “Market-Failed” Natural Gas in Texas
Electricity Planning: Physical vs. Economic (an exchange with Eric Schubert)
ERCOT “worked as planned” (architect Hogan gives no quarter)
Civil Society and Natural Gas during the Great Texas Blackout
“U.S. Winter Outlook: Cooler North, Warmer South” (NOAA’s prediction bust)
Numbers and the Great Texas Blackout (Bill Peacock: March 4, 2021 )
ERCOT: A Central Planning Government Agency
Texas’ Renewable Fail: Remember Georgetown’s Green New Deal Too
Oklahoma’s Rolling Blackouts: Remembering Audrey McClendon’s War on Coal (Charlie Meadows: February 23, 2021)
Wind Subsidies Help Freeze Texans (Bill Peacock: February 18, 2021)
The Bradley debate with ERCOT/renewables apologist Lynne Kiesling
The Great Texas Blackout (2021): When the Free Market Electricity Debate Began (February 24, 2025)