While weather-related blackouts grab the headlines, what's less noticed is how wind and solar are increasingly providing reliable power day in and day out, across the country.

Three years after a historic winter storm knocked out power in Texas that tragically killed 246 people, the blame game is still going on. Those who are ideologically opposed to clean energy continue to blame wind and solar for power failures, no matter how many times the facts have debunked this misinformation. And it doesn’t stop with Texas. Despite evidence to the contrary, special interests view any power outage during a storm as an opportunity to point the finger at renewable energy. As a lead analyst for the renewable energy industry, I closely monitor the growth of this industry and how it contributes month by month, day by day and hour by hour to our nation’s energy mix.

In the wake of Winter Storm Elliott in 2022, which battered the Midwest and the Northeast, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corp. found that gas, coal and oil-generated power accounted for 90% of the prolonged power outages experienced throughout the storm. Again, opponents of clean power pointed at renewable energy while ignoring that one natural gas plant was down for maintenance and several others had either gone down partially or entirely due to the cold.

While weather-related blackouts grab the headlines, what’s less noticed is how wind and solar are increasingly providing reliable power day in and day out, across the country. More than 15% of America’s power now comes from wind and solar farms, providing an extremely valuable power source that’s helping the grid keep up with increasing demand. Further, studies clearly demonstrate that the U.S. grid can operate reliably with high levels of renewable energy.