TX-Half of Texas wind power, over 12k megawatts offline due to cold weather, blackouts result

[Anti Federalist]

Now, add 8 million plus EVs drawing massive amounts of power to recharge, and see what happens.


Half of Texas Wind Turbines Freeze, Hurting Electricity Output

https://www.breitbart.com/environmen...ricity-output/

Joel B. Pollak 15 Feb 2021

Nearly half of the wind turbines in the state of Texas froze in recent winter weather, hurting state power supplies, according to state authorities.

The Austin American-Statesman reported Sunday:

Nearly half of Texas’ installed wind power generation capacity has been offline because of frozen wind turbines in West Texas, according to Texas grid operators.

Wind farms across the state generate up to a combined 25,100 megawatts of energy. But unusually moist winter conditions in West Texas brought on by the weekend’s freezing rain and historically low temperatures have iced many of those wind turbines to a halt.

As of Sunday morning, those iced turbines comprise 12,000 megawatts of Texas’ installed wind generation capacity, although those West Texas turbines don’t typically spin to their full generation capacity this time of year.

The outlet noted that the loss of power was largely offset by the fact that the remaining turbines were spinning quickly because of strong winter storm winds.

Millions of electricity customers across Texas suffered blackouts, partly due to the problems with the turbines, as the Washington Post reported:

Millions of households in Texas are suffering rolling power blackouts for the first time in a decade as an unprecedented Arctic freeze wrought chaos in U.S. energy markets.

The largest cities from Houston to San Antonio were without power for spells of up to an hour at a time as supplies in the U.S.’s second largest state fluctuated wildly.

…

The power crunch is being compounded by a lack of wind generation to help ease the load with output more than halving to 4.2 gigawatts from earlier. Wind turbines may freeze in bitterly cold weather, reducing efficiency and the blades can ultimately stopping spinning.

The problems in Texas echo difficulties with renewable energy that California experienced during a heat wave in September, when there were rolling blackouts because there was no wind, while overcast skies meant there was little solar energy.

Wind supplies 23% of the energy in Texas and has been growing rapidly in the state. Texas is also the leading producer of wind energy in the nation.

[acptulsa]

You bet your ice.

Say it with a Texas accent and it makes sense.

[phill4paul]

You bet your ice.

Say it with a Texas accent and it makes sense.

Lol. I did and it does.

[Aratus]

Y'all are being it by our weather, we all in N.E are usually hit by a sleety snowy slushy mess, at certain
times in winter. I hate ice storms especially when they take down the grid. Usually i expect two really big
blizzards in February, even if January is just cold or even mild. I hope y'all get thru this okay! Good luck!

[Snowball]

followed by the next story... so many Californians moving to Texas, it may be never Red again.

[Anti Globalist]

So much for dependable clean energy.

[Peace Piper]

As of Sunday morning, those iced turbines comprise 12,000 megawatts of Texas’ installed wind generation capacity, although those West Texas turbines don’t typically spin to their full generation capacity this time of year.


Wind supplies 23% of the energy in Texas and has been growing rapidly in the state. Texas is also the leading producer of wind energy in the nation.

Spin the turbines - even when there's no demand

Make hydrogen

when turbines freeze, Use the hydrogen, make electricity

NOT BRAIN SURGERY



TODAY'S HOUSTON CHRON

Texas could become nation's leader in production of hydrogen energy


Linde engineer at the company’s Port Arthur hydrogen refinery facility


Jim Magill, Feb. 15, 2021

Hydrogen, the world’s most abundant element, has long held the promise of transforming the energy industry because of its almost limitless supplies. But costs of producing hydrogen remain high, and dreams of fuel cell-powered cars and other applications have yet to be realized.

The years of unfulfilled promises were summed up by this saying: “Hydrogen is the fuel of the future, and it always will be.”

That, however, is changing — and rapidly — creating opportunities for Houston to become a center of a global hydrogen industry expected to grow 45 percent to nearly $200 billion in 2030, according to the market analytics company Prescient & Strategic Intelligence. Houston, the capital of the oil and gas industry, already is home to 48 plants that extract hydrogen from natural gas, producing 3.6 metric tons of hydrogen a year or more than one-third of U.S. production, used mostly by refineries and industrial plants.

The region also has one of the most extensive networks of hydrogen pipelines — some 1,600 miles — and storage facilities in the world, according to Brett Perlman, CEO of the Center for Houston’s Future, a local think tank.

Although the potential benefits of hydrogen have been known for decades — former President George W. Bush called hydrogen “freedom fuel” — several factors have slowed the widespread adoption, including cost of production, lack of pipelines to transport and distribute the fuel, and limited commercial markets.

But the global urgency to slow climate change is putting new focus on hydrogen and leading the world’s biggest energy companies to view it as an alternative to oil and gas that is not only cleaner, but also one that would allow them to adapt existing production facilities and distribution networks.... https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bus...n-15941151.php


HYDROGEN = ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

NO MORE PETRODOLLAR

For those who mocked, ridiculed and laughed at Hydrogen advocates for the last 10 + years:

This isn't the last laugh, it's the first. This is just ONE H2 stock - the whole sector exploded (sorry)


Closed today @ $63.xx, good time to buy

[Peace Piper]

So much for dependable clean energy.

That's what you're supposed to believe.

Don't fall for it.

The US could have been energy independent by now (first "arab oil shock" was early 1970's) but then Nixon and Kissinger brought us all the PETRODOLLAR

So why would Washington, District of Criminals, work to undermine their golden goose?

The North Sea Wind Turbines don't ice up

[TheTexan]

unusually moist

giggity

[Occam's Banana]

Now, add 8 million plus EVs drawing massive amounts of power to recharge, and see what happens.

There's no need to speculate about what will happen.

They've told us what will happen, loud and clear:

You will [...] be required to allow us to decide how much electricity you will be permitted to use - and when you will be permitted to use it.

But do not fear, comrade! We will limit ourselves to just making you "eat a cold dinner here and there."

We promise ...

To Save the Climate, Give Up the Demand for Constant Electricity
https://bostonreview.net/science-nat...nt-electricity
David McDermott Hughes (05 October 2020)

Waiting to ensure uninterrupted power for everyone as we transition away from fossil fuels will cost too much time - and too many lives.

Many decades ago electricity became the new oxygen, and the vast majority of Americans today believe they need it every moment of every waking or sleeping hour. The United States has built a vast infrastructure for generating, transmitting, and consuming it - all almost entirely based on planet-destroying fossil fuels and nuclear power.

[...]

What applies in the pandemic also applies - and also with desperate urgency - in the climate crisis. We can live with some intermittency and rationing - at least until batteries and other forms of energy storage are up and running everywhere. Hospitals certainly need 100 percent reliable equipment - perhaps some “continuous” businesses and cell towers too. And, in cities, elevators, streetlights, and subways must run reliably. One could imagine battery-assisted, semi-smart micro-grids connecting such infrastructure as well as home medical devices. But we don’t need the entire residential third of U.S. electricity consumption to run off lithium or to operate seamlessly. We don’t need Nest or permanent telecommuting. For a while, let’s eat a cold dinner here and there. Continuity costs too much. Climate change kills, and it kills vulnerable people first. Intermittency saves lives, and it saves vulnerable people first. Let the pause take its place in continuous climate activism.

[bold emphasis added - OB]

[TheTexan]

You bet your ice.

Say it with a Texas accent and it makes sense.

We don't have an accent. Its y'all who's got the accent.

[tfurrh]

We don't have an accent. Its y'all who's got the accent.

Rep

[tfurrh]

I may not have power but I do have:

A shotgun
A rifle
And a 4 wheel drive.

(I actually do have power....(like He-Man))

[dannno]

You bet your ice.

Say it with a Texas accent and it makes sense.

Would you like a foot in your ice?

[phill4paul]

Would you like a foot in your ice?

Texans wear boots ya sandal wearing soy-boi.

[acptulsa]

Would you like a foot in your ice?

You said that with a California accent. Sure. We have plenty. Come freeze your toes off.

[pcosmar]

As a Yooper, I always find it Humorous when southern States experience Winter.

Even here where winters are mild,, Drop Snow and they lose their minds. just don't handle it well.

Melting off here,, as is the widespread Panic.

As far as electric "Grids",, well perhaps that Idea needs reconsideration.

Massive blackouts have resulted due to the interconnected system.
decentralized systems+independent producers would minimize that.

[acptulsa]

As a Yooper, I always find it Humorous when southern States experience Winter.

As a Yooper, you got deep and crunchy snow, not warm streets melting and refreezing what falls on them. Or, at least, that's over in November and the ground stays frozen until April.

Snow is easy. We mostly get to roller skate on an ice rink.

[TheCount]

I guess secession is delayed until summer?

[Okie RP fan]

Would you like a foot in your ice?

Hey, if the Texans want a repeat of the Red River Bridge War, they can come try and put their boots in our ice.

[Brian4Liberty]

Keep in mind that the climate cultists want to eliminate natural gas, which many people use for heat...

[acptulsa]

Keep in mind that the climate cultists want to eliminate natural gas, which many people use for heat...

And toward that end, the federal government is eliminating the pilot light and thermopile-powered thermostat in favor of electronic ignition. So, homes that were dark, but warm, when ice storms attacked the vulnerable power lines now become freezing cold.

[Anti Globalist]

Guessing this current snowstorm symbolizes the dark winter that Biden talked about.

[69360]

85 and sunny today in FL. Been here 2 months now and liking it. I didn't really mind the snow up north when it was good and cold, but hated the ice storms when it was just kinda cold.

[Anti Globalist]

85 and sunny today in FL. Been here 2 months now and liking it. I didn't really mind the snow up north when it was good and cold, but hated the ice storms when it was just kinda cold.

My dad's been living in Florida the past 6 months. He always hated winter and doesn't plan on coming back to visit until probably around April.

[Anti Federalist]

And toward that end, the federal government is eliminating the pilot light and thermopile-powered thermostat in favor of electronic ignition. So, homes that were dark, but warm, when ice storms attacked the vulnerable power lines now become freezing cold.

I'm old enough to remember having a gas radiant heater that had to be lit manually, with a match.

[pcosmar]

Snow is easy. We mostly get to roller skate on an ice rink.

Yup we had Ice too,, Springtime melt and freeze.. Ice Storms..

But there is also salt embedded in the roadway to minimize..and sand spread where needed.

They also cleared Roads,, as they went.
here they wait for it to stop.. and everything shuts down.

[PRB]

I love Texas snow and power outages.

[CaptUSA]

Ugh. It doesn't matter what your fuel source is. Here is your problem:

PRICE CONTROLS CAUSE SHORTAGES!


Repeat that as many times as you can to understand. If you have a fluctuating supply and a fluctuating demand, but you don't allow prices to respond, you will end up having shortages any time those two factors deviate too far from each other. Doesn't matter if it's drinking water during a hurricane, electricity during a cold spell, or rental housing during a democratic mayorship.

[69360]

My dad's been living in Florida the past 6 months. He always hated winter and doesn't plan on coming back to visit until probably around April.

I think I might go back up north for a while in May. Probably going to sell up there and stay here year round.