To Prevent Blackouts From Happening Again, Texas Should Go Nuclear February 25, 2021 If the insurance estimates are to be believed, the economic fallout from the Great Texas Blackout will approach $20 billion. That total approaches the economic carnage from Hurricane Katrina. The latter was the single most expensive disaster in modern times. Eventually, forensics rather than finger-pointing will likely confirm what we know now: the Texas grid almost collapsed because of a domino of events. It began with a near-total loss of output from that state’s mighty wind farms. At the center of the debate about how to prevent a next time — with natural disasters, there is always a next time – we find a simple truism: For critical infrastructures, the hallmark of reserve capabilities is “available when needed.”