John Timmer
The business incentives for winterization are small, the societal incentives huge.
Just over a year ago, a cold front moved into Texas and stayed there. As demand for electricity soared, various generating sources fell offline, leading to extensive grid failures that left customers without power for days. Nearly every form of power generation suffered from failures, as did the system supplying generators with natural gas. The total cost in terms of lost business and lives is estimated at roughly $130 billion.
Initial analyses provided some suggestions on how Texas could restructure its grid to provide better protection against future events like this. But a new study has asked a related question. Texas has economic incentives that should induce commercial generators to install winterization equipment on their own. Why …