I read an article about TX power woes today. Some I thought was probably right; but the part about TX being independent, not subject to federal regulation, and being more fragile was probably somewhat BS. The commentary went that TX went big on solar and wind which don't work well right now, and the plants running on natural gas are having supply problems. I'm not a proponent at all of using natural gas to produce electricity. It's easy enough - not much more than a couple of cowboys with money to spend, hopped up turbines (think 747 engines) hooked to a generator, and cheap NG. The problem is they aren't real utilities who have to deal with base load, and intermittent power to the grid is a big problem for real utilities trying to meet demand and balance operating costs. It sounds like the NG/electric units are one of those interruptible schemes buying excess gas, but cut off when everybody needs it most - which can coincide with when electric generation is in short supply.
