Texas’s grid operator frightened residents last week when it said it had very little reserves to cover demand spiking as temperatures soared. This summer could produce more scary times. In February, the Texas grid, run by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), nearly collapsed from several days of frigid weather, exposing its vulnerabilities as weather grows more extreme and power demand rises. ERCOT is already warning its 26 million customers to conserve energy, and experts say people should brace for rolling blackouts amid drought and extreme heat. “It’s not even that hot yet,” said Dan Cohan, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Rice University in Houston. Since February, the state passed some reforms to address the problems. However, ERCOT still relies on lopsided incentives, triggered only during a crisis, to get generators to produce more electricity. “Texas relies on jackpot incentives,” Cohan said. […]