[thesuitonym]

The problem wasn't really the just-in-time nature of power generation--nearly all power grids operate this way, usually with little more than a flywheel on the generator to smooth out fluctuations. Sometimes you get a stored water battery, but that doesn't last more than a few hours at peak consumption. We don't really have the ability to store power in a way that's efficient enough to not rely on JIT generation.

No, the problem here was that the grid wasn't winterized, and the hardware couldn't handle the cold. The problem came from hardware operating way outside its specs, which caused a cascading failure.

To be clear: I'm not saying it wasn't a lack of foresight on the companies involved, it completely was. Just not because of just in time generation.

[thesteamboat]

I don't think the parent was talking about JIT power generation but rather using JIT (in other industries) as a comparison to to talk about the efficiency-reliability tradeoff. The analogy here is cost savings of avoiding winterization make the power companies more competitive (more efficient) but less reliable.

You are, of course, right in the all specific details you've brought up vis-a-vis the winterizing and the nature of the power grid. I just think you missed the parent's point slightly.