Solar panels don't generate that much power during the day, and even less when they are covered in snow.

> If every house had solar panels this would likely be a non-issue.

I doubt this. That would mean a lot of power plants were taken offline as solar ramped up, and I doubt that enough solar to cool a house from 105 to 75 can heat it from 15 to 70.

The latest thinking is that with the seasonality of solar insolation and the current demand curve, a complete move to solar will require massive overprovisioning. (5x, 10x capacity at solar noon?) The price curve in 2050 or so would look funny to modern eyes: power would be free around noon, but expensive at night. Charge your car for nothing during the day, and enjoy endless hot water, but the minute the sun sets you'd cut your own throat rather than run anything power hungry.

Amusingly, Texas in this current crisis is halfway there: the handful of people who haven't had their power cut off are going to see gigantic power bills next month https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/texas-utility-company-urge...

I wonder what a similar cold snap would look like in the future. Long distance HVDC lines ramping up to full capacity. Strident alerts on your phone as KWh spot prices triple, then trigintuple. Water heaters and EV charges passing stop loss triggers and shutting off. A wood stove in every home. I see Texans in this thread talking about using space heaters, and boy will they regret that when they see the bill. Electric blankets and heat pads are dozens of times more efficient: https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2012/03/home-heating-for-the-hard...