A blustery Sunday last week across Texas broke the record for wind generation, the second time in less than two weeks that November wind gusts produced record-breaking power from the state's wind farms.

Just after noon on Nov. 27, gusts along the Gulf Coast, the Texas Panhandle and in West Texas generated 15,033 megawatts of wind energy at once, accounting for nearly half of the state's electricity at the time, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees about 90 percent of the state's electric grid. The burst of clean power easily beat the previous record, set Nov. 17, when strong gusts drove wind turbines to generate 14,100 megawatts. (A megawatt can power about 200 homes during peak demand, and 500 homes during milder weather.)

The record-breaking performances demonstrated the improvements in wind technology and efficiency, and the potential for wind to become a cheap and reliable source of energy rivaling fossil fuels, should the industry solve the problem of intermittency. Perhaps the greatest weakness of wind energy is that it doesn't necessarily generate power when it is needed most; demand on a Sunday afternoon in November, for example, is relatively low, particularly compared to a hot August afternoon during the workweek.

Companies have tried to make wind more reliable through improved forecasting. Developing large-scale batteries that would allow the power to be stored until it is needed could be the ultimate solution, but that remains a technical challenge, despite years of research.

More Information A mighty wind Powerful gusts recently drove Texas wind turbines to produce a record amount of electricity. Here are the top five wind generation events: Nov. 27, 2016 – 15,033 MW (first time exceeding15,000 MW) Nov. 17, 2016 – 14,122 MW Feb. 18, 2016 – 14,023 MW (first time exceeding14,000 MW) Dec. 20, 2015 – 13,883 MW Dec. 19, 2015 – 13,029 MW (first time exceeding13,000 MW) Nov. 25, 2015 – 12,971 MW Shaky ground Since 2008, the rate of Texas earthquakes greater than magnitude 3 has increased from two to 12 a year. Most of the increase has occurred within 3 kilometers of wastewater disposal wells. In 2015, the Texas legislature funded a program to add 22 seismic monitoring stations in the state.

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In both of the record-breaking cases, the wholesale price of power dropped sharply while wind-generated electricity poured into the power grid. On Nov. 27, wind farms sent so much electricity into wholesale markets that it sold for essentially nothing. In other words, free power. ERCOT, which acts as an electricity clearinghouse, is always looking to take advantage of the cheapest power available, making wind a good resource, said Dan Woodfin, a senior director of system operations at ERCOT.

Last month, free wind power also lowered the wholesale prices of other electricity getting sold into the market at that time, said Michael Goggin, senior director of research at the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group.

"When you inject gigawatts of wind, that's bringing the price down for all the power in the market," he said. A gigawatt is a thousand megawatts.

Such dramatic price drops during heavy gusts of wind are rare and only happen for a few hours every year, Goggin added. In addition, wind power companies don't necessarily lose money; they still get paid through long-term contracts and federal tax credits that support renewable energy.

How this all benefits retail customers is not so clear. A 2014 study by the American Wind Energy Association found that wind saves Texas customers millions of dollars a year on electricity rates.

But customers would be hard-pressed to notice those savings when they pay their electric bills The cost of electricity is just one component of the bill. Any savings from a burst of wind power, or, for that matter, falling natural gas prices, could be offset by transmission charts, mark-ups by retail electricity companies, and taxes and fees.

Texas leads the nation in wind power, accounting for about one-fourth of all wind-generating capacity in the United States. Texas has more than 18,500 megawatts of installed wind-generating capacity, more than three times the amount in Iowa, the next leading state, according to statistics from the American Wind Energy Association.

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