1. The blackout was in no way a reflection on the source of the power in the grid; the grid does not know or care where its energy comes from once the current enters the grid. Fossil, nuclear, wind or solar, the blackout would have occurred if the distribution grid as it stood was used.
2. "Renewable energy doesn't work" is a mindless mantra; it is true that in the past, renewable technologies were less proven and less evolved than diesel, for example. Let me point out that Niagara Falls, the source of a major component of the Northeast grid, is a renewable resource.
Texas is gradually adding renewable (wind) resources to its state grid and according to one estimate thought it would have 10,000 megawatts of renewable power online by 2010. I hope I have remembered those figures correctly.