As we previously reported on the ice-storm Texas frozen wind power – outages ensue, electricity now at unheard of $9000 per megawatt-hour I have friends in Texas that are reporting dire conditions thanks to the “green energy” grid failing to produce enough power. One friend and her husband are trapped in Austin, TX and have received this letter from the hotel they are staying at – it’s mind-blowing. She says in a Facebook post:
“Our hotel is out of food, electricity, water and is giving us glow sticks for light. We’re here until the weekend in below freezing weather.”
In the most energy-rich state in the nation, they can’t keep the lights on, the heat on, or deliver food. The hotel is as the mercy of the elements, without even a full backup generator that can keep guests warm.
I have other friends who have been without power for days. My friend Sterling writes about his buffalo hide coming to the rescue:
Green energy induced rolling blackouts Texas style. Inside temperature 45 degrees. Power: 5 to 7 hours off, no more than 1 1/2 hour on. Living under blankets. Thank God, I hunted a buffalo and had a blanket made of its hide. Had it for 14 years, never needed to use it until now.
Thanks wind power and renewable energy!
renewableunreliable energy. There’s alot more of this to come in the coming years. Not only Black-outs but soaring electric bills to consumers as We are the ones who will pay for that $9,000/Mw-hr electricity. Virtue signaling has a price and middle class is about to pay it.Does anyone wonder why the Democrats in Congress need to keep the National Guard deployed there?
Why is the Pentagon talking about plans to remain until mid-March, or longer?
What do they have to do with the decisions?
Nancy and Chucky obviously have a legislative agenda timeline they are going to roll out in coord with the Biden-Harris Administration in the 4 months to summer 4th July recess.
It will be an all-out campaign of disinformation and propaganda planned to coincide with each legislative piece roll-out. Much like a military campaign, with coordination between the players and compliant media who will write fawning coverage stories.
It’s going to spin heads.
They know there will be push back. They probably have details they know will enrage the Conservatives. They are scared enough to know they might need the National Guard to protect Congress.
There are still enough moderate Democrats in the Senate who won’t go along with the extremists’ agenda:
———–
Centrist Democrats pose major problem for progressives
The new strength of Democratic moderates in the Senate may temper just how aggressively Democratic leaders can push for President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package and other priorities, including climate chang
Read in The Hill: https://apple.news/AYSvUJ9ZFRl-WQZVWRdfjQQ
“There are still enough moderate Democrats in the Senate who won’t go along with the extremists’ agenda”
LMAO!!!! That’s gloriously naive… gloriously…
Don’t forget the long ago realized truism:
Democrats campaign for socialism, Republicans enact it.
I don’t believe that for a minute. How many Democrats voted against the unconstitutional impeachment of former president Trump? NOT A SINGLE ONE! Not one Democrat has respect for the constitution.
You, like the two commenters above you, have failed to click my link from The Hill and read it. Here is an extract from it:
————-
The new strength of Democratic moderates in the Senate may temper just how aggressively Democratic leaders can push for President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package and other priorities, including climate change legislation.
The addition of two new Democratic moderates to the Senate — newly elected Sens. John Hickenlooper (Colo.) and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) — combined with enhanced profiles for Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), has strengthened the centrist wing of the caucus.
The growing influence of party moderates has put one of Biden’s priorities, a proposed increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, in serious trouble, and complicates other plans on immigration and climate change.
It also raises questions about whether Democrats will stay unified on Biden’s proposed spending target, $1.9 trillion, which has sparked concerns that its size could lead to inflation.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) hasn’t had to worry as much about protecting moderate colleagues after four of them lost reelection in 2018, shrinking the Democratic caucus to 47 seats.
Former Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Claire McCaskill(Mo.) and Bill Nelson (Fla.) lost in a brutal midterm election for Democrats, which a few of them blamed in part on liberals going too far in the bitter fight over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Schumer, who is up for reelection himself in 2022, has to balance the desire of liberals such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) for bold action with the political interests of colleagues up for reelection in swing states next year — including Sens. Michael Bennet (Colo.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Raphael Warnock(Ga.), and Kelly.
Democratic strategists predict he’ll do that by focusing on issues with the broadest consensus support within his conference, such as COVID-19 relief, and try to downplay more divisive questions.
………
Democratic moderates flexed their muscle last week when they voted for several Republican amendments during a marathon voting session to set up a special path to pass Biden’s coronavirus relief package with a simple majority next month.
Eight Democrats — Manchin, Sinema, Hickenlooper, Kelly, Tester, Hassan, Gary Peters(Mich.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) — voted for an amendment to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving direct stimulus payments or other tax-based temporary financial assistance from the next COVID-19 rescue package.
Seven moderate Democrats also voted for an amendment to prohibit the Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing rules and guidance to ban hydraulic fracking in the United States.
Unless a Senator is in serious fear of not being re-elected, after a great bit of sound and fury, he or she will vote exactly as Schumer tell them to. They are all puppets to those in power, because they want a piece of that power.
Every single Democratic Senator voted to convict. I saw no moderate nor any moderation. The article is nothing more then a leftist self-proclaimed “journalist” worried that these “lawmakers” will ruin the monopoly hive and herd thinking. It is warning to all other leftist to get them under control.
You obviously don’t live in Arizona – or your definition of “moderate” is “somewhere between Lenin and Mao.”
“There are still enough moderate Democrats in the Senate who won’t go along with the extremists’ agenda”
There is no evidence of this. They all vote in a monolithic block. There is no independent thought, no is independent Will, it is only herd mentality.
It seems to me that this is a false flag to manipulate the intellectually weak Democrats into thinking it will not be that bad. They have already been proven to have lied about a 2k stimulus check. Any yet you are back at the trough to drink more of their kool-aid otherwise known as BS, hogwash, malarkey; the wetness you feel on your leg is not rain. Really how many times does it take you to touch a hot stove before you learn not to touch it?
“There is no evidence of this. They all vote in a monolithic block.”
Nonsense: To repeat what I quoted above:
“Democratic moderates flexed their muscle last week when they voted for several Republican amendments during a marathon voting session to set up a special path to pass Biden’s coronavirus relief package with a simple majority next month.”
Followed by three examples.
Here, five days after the above, is emerging evidence of moderate Democrat independence, From NPR:
“Neera Tanden, President Biden’s pick to run the Office of Management and Budget, saw her path to nomination narrow significantly on Monday …. Last week, Democratic Sen. Joe Minchin of West Virginia said he would oppose Tanden’s nomination ….”
Are you talking about Washington, or Beijing here? I really can’t tell the difference?
You have both eyes wide open, Joel. However, some of these Biden agenda issues will end up in the Supreme Court. Like the Second Amendment issue of gun control. The current Supreme Court is literal constitution leaning, Biden and the New Green Weenie crowd might encounter some problems. Having said that, I have no doubt that we are in for two years of disaster and crime family activity (at least until 2022 midterms).
Why would you think the 2022 elections will be legitimate if the last election was so easily stolen?
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me”. OK, some wishful thinking?
I wish the same thing. Time will tell if we get what we wish for.
They can only steal the state-wide elections. The Republicans gained seats in the House even though there were enough fake Biden votes in the big cities.
I suspect there will be a lot more USB sticks voting next election, and they will remember to turn off the cameras.
Perhaps election workers should have body cams. They sure as hell need to allow observers and abide by chain of custody.
Yeah, yeah, whatever. That would be true in a functional democracy / republic. We are lightyears beyond that quaint notion.
Dominion Voting Systems is being contracted to place their machines in more and more localities so stealing more and more elections will become the norm. Till DVS is driven out of America’s electoral system this will only get worse.
No, they are BUYING those ‘contracts’, just like they did here in GA. And then being implemented without any state legislature oversight…
Yes, that’s the question.
We have time to fix it, if we have the will.
So what you are saying is that the US military is now participating in a military junta. So much for oaths to defend the Constitution. They are ready to slaughter We The People, if necessary, in order to keep the Communist regime in power. So much for “consent of the governed”.
Because I can’t think of any other reason to have these optics.
Can you conclusively rule out the possibility that the military are encircling the coup-plotters?
Is that even possible?
No, it is not happening.
The Democrats are trying to maintain a crisis atmosphere around the Jan. 6, Capital Building attack, for which they blame Trump and by extension, his 75 million supporters, and keeping the military around is their way of emphasizing that message.
I don’t think there is any kind of military takeover in the planning.
The U.S. military is not going to violate the U.S. Constitution. Biden hasn’t been in Office long enough to undermine them yet. American troops are fully aware of their constitutional duties.
The military troops they are using in Washington DC are National Guard troops, which means they are citizen soldiers who have another life, other than serving in Washington DC.
If the Controllers feel the need for the military on the streets of Washington DC, they should send the National Guard back to their families and replace them with the regular military who are paid to stand guard in lonely places. It’s their job.
I haven’t looked into it, but I think all the Red State governors have recalled their National Guard troops from Washington DC, so I guess it is only Blue State governors who are supplying troops.
Regardless of who is supplying them, the National Guard should be replaced by regular military troops if troops are necessary.
It doesn’t look to me like troops are necessary. Nobody is talking. Yet. But we will get to the bottom of this mystery eventually.
We’re going to have a bunch of investigations of the Jan. 6, attack, too. Good! Bring them on! Let’s get the truth on every person involved. “What did Nancy know, and when did she know it?”, would be a good start.
Wiki posse comitatus. Federal troops cannot be used for police actions. National Guard can.
Exactly right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act — signed on June 18, 1878, by President Rutherford B. Hayes
The Battle of Lincoln, New Mexico, was a five-day-long firefight between civilians that took place between July 15–19, 1878
…until the arrival of US Army troops commanded by Colonel Nathan Dudley. When these troops pointed cannons at the Ellis store and other positions, Billy the Kid, Doc Scurlock and his men fled from their positions, as did Chavez’s cowboys, leaving those remaining in the McSween house to their fate.
Dudley was not court marshalled for his offence against the one month old Act, he was however transferred to another Fort in New Mexico.
It’s for political show. Just like this investigative so called “9/11 type” commission Pelosi is going to set up. It distracts from the real issues with what they are actually doing and are about to do which they know will be unpopular, and provides a forum for the democrats to denigrate Trump and his supporters for the next few months on the tax payers dime.
Of course it is lost on many Americans that comparing Pelosi’s sham commission to supposedly investigate further the penetration of protesters into the Capital, to the events of 9/11 when the country was really attacked and nearly 3,000 killed, is a disgusting thing to do.
Though I don’t read much fiction I have found myself rereading Tom Clancy’s ‘Executive Orders” lately.
Good comment, rah.
The political show is somewhat easy to understand, what is difficult is trying to discern what is real and what is staged. If only a genuine commission designed to get to the truth were possible.
On the Capitol “insurrection,” clearly among all the Trump supporters, there were ANTIFA type instigators and numerous videos show some on-site direction with multiple professional type camera crews. Undoubtedly, there were FBI and other law enforcement infiltrators and other competing parties all trying to maintain some order or even to support some agenda.
More than a month out, there is still a lot being hidden. The MSM has stopped investigating what really happened just like they’ve covered for all the Biden scandals. It was surprising that CNN actually reported on the fact that officer Sicknick did not die from any injuries suffered during the riot.
With all their surveillance tools, the NSA and other agencies have to have the script. Does this mean they are in on it?
According to what I have been reading they already know what happened and the who’s, what, when, where. and why. And that Pelosi and other Congressional leadership and the Chief of the Capitol Police were briefed and warned what was coming before it happened.
If Pelosi was serious the commission would have been set up and running BEFORE they did their sham impeachment and not after it failed.
Pelosi has been abusig her power in a constant attack on Donald Trump. She didn’t have time to carry out an investigation of the Jan. 6, attack, and her real interest was hanging an “impeachment” sign around Trump’s neck before he left Office, so she went ahead with a sham impeachment procedure with no evidence and without allowing Trump to defend himself.
The whole point for the Democrats is to damage Trump, and his supporters, as much as possible.
To the Democrats horror, Trump was dismantling their socialist plans for the nation, and they feared that one more term of his might just put them out of business, and I would agree, so they went after him with every method they could employ, legal and illegal, to purge Trump and anyone who thinks like Trump from the conversation.
Trump and his followers *are* an existential threat to socialism and the Democrats are treating them as mortal, evil enemies because of it.
The purpose of Pelosi’s investigation is to block people questioning the events. They’ll say “an investigation is underway” and never answer the question. They can then drag this out for a year or three until people forget or get distracted with the next Big Lie.
So it’s a “Warren ” Commission?
The Pentagon refused President Trump’s request for troops and couldn’t rush fast enough when Nancy and the DC mayor asked for troops.
Traitors would be one word description.
Well there is method in there madness they are waiting untill Hunter comes because then the sh”t will hit the fan (providing daddy has still got electricity)
Last I heard was at least through Fall.
Send the Hotel a response
To Whom It May Concern,
Although Memorable, our stay at your establishment has been far less than satisfactory. With only 30% of amenities (food, heat, power) available during the time of our stay at your facilities, we feel it equally necessary to deduct an equivalent amount from our final bill for unmet responsibilities on your part and an inability to meet advertised expectations.
Sincerely….
The hotel might like to send the remainder of the bill to the people responsible for wrecking the power grid.
That’s fiddling while Rome burns. Save your energy for fighting the imposition of ersatz “global warming” measures.
Time we were in a hotel during a hurricane in 2005, we lost power, and the hotel cancelled everyone’s bills for their whole stays
Texas needs a truth commission to find everyone responsible for replacing reliable coal with unreliable wind and solar, to hold them accountable. Gas is not an adequate back up for unreliables.
For one, Texas politicians past and present, are responsible for making Texas overly dependent on unreliable power sources like windmills and industrial solar.
Now we see what a big mistake this was.
It’s not a good idea to rely on unreliable sources.
Thank goodness for GAS, even though it did have some issues that need to be fixed.
Wind and solar were almost totally MIA
Thanks for the chart. That is the best description of what happened. The left is blaming carbon sources for the majority of the shortfall in electrical generation. Of course gas may have had issues,it is apparent it picked up the shortfall pretty well when needed, something that solar or wind could never do. In this case solar and wind looks like they went on strike.
Gas wouldn’t have had its problems had ERCOT kept building coal and nuke plants instead of, or at least in addition to, unreliables, ie wind and solar, as demand increased.
So much for “experts”, who didn’t prepare for winter, apparently falling for the false CACA gospel of dangerous warming.
Clean, green, renewable drivers. Disposable, intermittent Green energy converters. Laundered, renewable greenbacks. [catastrophic] [anthropogenic] climate cooling… warming… change. How green we are in a perfect parody.
That said, throw a baby… Fetal-American on the barbie, cannibalize her profitable parts, sequester her carbon pollutants, it’s over.
Oh, save a wind turbine, whack a bird, a bat.
Also, intimidation, suppression and selective purges of the military. Who committed elective abortion of the unarmed, female, veteran Ashli Babbitt and why?
Already in the UK 23% of every electricity bill is to pay for ‘environmental and social obligation’ and VAT is on top of that.
I read somewhere, and it’s worth repeating:
“Running out of energy in Texas is like starving to death in a grocery store. You have to work at it to make it happen.”
I’d laugh if it weren’t so tragic. Real people who had nothing to do with the Alarmist cabal are freezing, trapped, and desperate.
Not desperate as of this writing. But pretty the hell pissed off.
I have the ability to stay warm and cook food for a few weeks. We have done some preparing. I am also xArmy 82nd Airborne and have other viable skills that I maintain and practice. My concern is getting both myself and my brother off the 4th floor if the situation turns to survival and has to go tactical.
I heard that from Tucker Carlson.
Good luck over there from an Aussie ‘suffering’ in mid 30C temps
The only rolling blackout I see is my apartment building and the cancer clinic I work at in the 75063 zip code. Very similar to your friend Sterling’s experiences with regards to the timing. Not a single other grid circuit other these two is being turned off that I can see from 4th my story windows.
Are these record low temperatures as is being reported or very unusual but not unique?
Winter happens every year.
dallas and north texas set all time (love that expression) record lows yesterday morning. artic air temps are only 1-2 degrees celsius above normal. odd this is happening upon a backdrop of global warming.
Hi Tony
I’m not from Texas so I will defer to those who are. As I see it, the temperatures are very unusual but also affecting areas much further south than normal. I’m sure that the Dallas area gets quite cold at times each winter. But for cities like Houston, San Antonio and Austin I have to assume it is very, very unusual. Texas is one big state.
I have seen radar showing snow in Mexico. Probably higher elevations but that is rare, just the same.
I’m in Florida this month. The low was in the 30s again last night. The forecast is for more of the same overnight lows. That means maybe 10+ nights below 40. Again, not unusual 50 or 60 years ago, but certainly unusual in recent years. But like Texas, Florida really has 2 climates, northern and tropical. It was in the 80s the other day further south while I was shivering.
Back home in the Midwest it’s been below 0 F, which reminds me of winters in the 1960s and 1970s. Because of COVID19, the grandkids aren’t having to go out in subzero weather each morning, which is ok with me.
I hope you are well.
I’m not from Texas but have relatives who are. It’s not unusual to get one or two cold blasts per year. What is unusual is how long it is sticking around.
I am north of Texas in eastern Kansas. We set 3 low temperature records in the past 3 days, and 2 record low maximum records, as well. We also had rolling blackouts, but not on the scale of Texas, due to frozen wind turbines in western Kansas, and a simple inadequacy of the grid to handle the demand.
What is unusual about this cold spell is the duration–we have exceeded the previous periods of time that the temperatures were so low by days. Usually in February we are starting to see a little warming, or at least not prolonged periods of cold.
So my short answer to your question is–yes, record lows, also very unusual but not entirely unique.
@tonyb
I am transplant into Texas so I have no historical experience. I did grow up in the SE USA which is not known for having a lot snow or keeping it for more than a fews hours.
Here in Texas we have had multiple snow and ice events throughout this entire week with no relief in terms of melting due to the suppressed temperatures. The original snow and ice events are still on the ground from Saturday/Sunday. This is an extremely rare event in the entire SE corner of the North American continent.
Thanks for all the replies. So the temperatures are certainly unusual over the last 50 years. For them to be unique we need to examine some historical records. Otherwise of course if they are unique we all know it will be claimed to be due to AGW
tonyb
I believe there were similar low temps in the late 19th century.
This is an account of the terrible winter of 1848 which seems to cover a similar area to the one in the reports
A TRAGIC EXPEDITION | Texas History and genealogy, written by those who lived it. | Frontier Times Magazine
Can anyone confirm we are talking about the same area
tonyb
from what Ive read Unusual but NOT unique
apparently the 40s also had similar weather events
While not wishing to laugh at the Texans’ situation, they are the very ones who have allowed this ludicrous situation to arise. Throw out all of your alarmist ignorant politicians, and replace them with technically literate folk who have been able to understand the applicable science for years. Disconnect all wind and solar, and enliven any mothballed fossil-fueled power plants, then initiate the construction of some new coal-fired reliable economical generators. Then try to explain to thick Joe the facts of generating life, and fracking! Get moving without delay!
I have sent several messages to my State legislator demanding just about all you recommend – especially the disconnection of all wind and solar. Whether it happens, though, is another question. Politicians are such fools.
“While not wishing to laugh at the Texans’ situation, they are the very ones who have allowed this ludicrous situation to arise. Throw out all of your alarmist ignorant politicians”
The governor has said that he wants to dismiss the entire supervisory board. And here is a quote I just saw on JoNova’s site, from Breitbart:
Heartland Patriot
The person most to blame is the woman running ERCOT, Sally Talberg. She doesn’t even live in Texas, she lives in Michigan. She’s a big “green energy” supporter, and formerly worked for the State of Michigan and its Democrat governor, Gretchen Whitmer, one of the worst governors in the entire nation. I hope that Talberg will lose her job over this fiasco.
Disconnect is a wrong approach. Once they are built, the damage has been done. Just stop subsidizing them.
And build fossil fuel/nuclear backup for when they fail again.
“She doesn’t even live in Texas, she lives in Michigan”
Meaning that she doesn’t have to suffer the effects of her decisions. Nice.
Are we sure this woman is responsible for placing all the windmills and industrial solar in Texas?
This took place over a number of years and I’m not sure she has been around that long, or that she has that power.
I’m not making excuses for her, I just think the governors and other Texas politicians have been involved in these decisions and they are the ones ultimately responsible.
Here’s a new weasel phrase I’ve been hearing from some Texas politicians: “We need a mix of generation methods”. This is just an attempt to justify the use of unreliable power generation.
Why do we need a mix, if part of that mix doesn’t work very well. Why should we keep the windmills and solar that fail at the worst possible time?
Some number of years ago–maybe 10-15–T. Boone Pickens, the oil baron and natural gas entrepreneur in Texas, got into the wind business. I don’t remember the details now, but I think he was building wind turbines, and then using natural gas units as back up, since they could come on line very quickly. His goal was to make a lot of money, not assemble a robust electric grid.
“I just think the governors and other Texas politicians have been involved in these decisions and they are the ones ultimately responsible.”
I just read a story in a Texas newspaper placing the blame on the way the legislative politicians couldn’t sort out the finger-pointing after the previous 2011 freeze and failed to do anything more than require power plants to make annual reports—which were ignored. What was needed apparently were anti-freezing devices used in more northern states and maybe even required by federal regulations—which ERCOT was deliberately set up to avoid.
Some long time ago, Boone Pickens bought water rights out in the Texas boonies, but he couldn’t get it to Dallas, so he needed right-of-way for a pipeline, but folks objected. Then he or someone came up with putting windmills in the same area so they would get politically correct right-of-way for the transmission lines, then just stick the pipeline on the same route. Ulterior motives. Don’t know if it worked that way, but that might be part of the answer.
Not in Houston right now. Stuck at my brothers house up in Illinois, airports closed, snow blower inadequate, running low on diet Mountain Dew.
She is the Chair of the Board of Directors and wields one heck of a lot of power when it comes to setting energy policy in TX. It’s the BOD that determines what percentage of each type of power will be available – it’s a policy decision, not a technical decision.
As of 8AM CT this morning all of the BOD were listed on the ERCOT site along with their profiles. As of 4PM CT all of these entries are gone!!!! You now can’t find who is on the BOD any longer.
Wonder why that is?
Base load!
Base load!
Base load!
Base load!
Base load!
Seems like that’s been discussed a time or two here! (Maybe the illiterate politicians were only considering baseball!)
Some people claim it isn’t just the wind generators causing the problem. They point to an extremely tight supply of natural gas. It’s both.
So, that’s from the horse’ mouth but I think it doesn’t tell the whole story.
I clearly remember the Northeast Blackout of 2003. That happened in the summer and it was disrupting. Had it happened in the winter it would have been a whole different story.
We are told that the grid operators learned important lessons from that blackout and that it wouldn’t happen now. Well, OK, I’ll believe ‘them’. It’s guaranteed that the people who designed the Texas grid were aware of the lessons from 2003.
This is an unprecedented natural disaster but, as far as I can tell, someone should be held responsible for the fact that the Texas grid has inadequate connections to other grids.
“unprecedented natural disaster”
Do you mean that the lack of preparedness is unprecedented , or something else?
I don’t recall anything like this ever happening in Texas before. The first thing that comes to my mind is the Quebec Ice storm of 1998. Transmission towers collapsed because the weight of ice accumulated on the power lines. So, as far as I can tell, the extent and duration of this freeze is unprecedented in Texas.
As far as I can tell, the electricity transmission system in Texas is intact. On a normal day, the windmills are supposed to have 100% backup. That means that if the windmills fail and anything else goes wrong, there will be a problem. In this case it is a big problem.
As far as I can tell, the people who designed the Texas grid didn’t follow best engineering practices based on experience in other jurisdictions. If I’m right, that sounds like grounds for some really hefty lawsuits. The standard operating practice for grid operators is to try to harden their systems against natural disasters. Texas doesn’t seem to have lived up to that standard. Courts have a reasonable person standard. Given what other grid operators are doing, the operators of the Texas grid have fallen below that standard, as far as I can tell.
So, the answer to your question is, Yes!
there is no incentive to have backup to solar / wind. Can’t charge customers for standby power plants.
Actually, the utilities can charge customers for backup power–they just have to get the state agency that sets rates to approve the inclusion in the rate base. Unfortunately the regulators have been stung in the past, and are very demanding about proof of necessity these days. Unless the power source in question is renewable–then they are all in.
As found on another blog: In many places the gas pipeline companies were pressured to ‘go low carbon’ by replacing gas powered compressors (which push the gas down the pipes to distribution points and power plants) with electric compressors hooked up to the grid.
When the grid fails the compressors fail and then the gas pipeline distribution system loses pressure and fails: thus exacerbating the problem of trying to meet excessive demand during unusual weather such as we are experiencing.
The wholesale gas companies sell in open markets and some companies/utilities cannot even bid at highly elevated prices as they don’t have the funds to pay. Others will have to rely on their downstream contracts with their customers and pass on the costs or they will go bankrupt and there will be even further pressure on the grid and distribution systems -particularly in rural and poor communities.
Snuffy,
Your comment as to electric natural gas compressors is intriguing. In the great gas fields of North America, and I assume elsewhere, the compressors are fueled by the natural gas field, itself. Completely logical and direct.
Very interesting comment. I will be paying attention to try to learn if this is a factor. If so, seems to be a serious and illogical error with deadly consequences. Do you have more information about this or more you can write to validate your statement?
Yesterday I read that the grid disaster in Texas et al was not solely because of loss of wind mills but also the inability to fuel the standby natural gas turbines. I could not understand how this could happen despite the stated reason that residential customers were given priority for home heating. Who would design a system with such an obvious failure mode?
Regards,
Bill Rocks
“seems to be a serious and illogical error with deadly consequences”.
No engineer would ever do that.
Why do you say it is an error?
The money that should have been spent to winterize the gas pipelines and generators was spent on wind/solar instead. The results were entirely predictable to anyone except the Greeies on the ERCOT Board of Directors who set the TX grid policies.
Are you sure it is unprecedented? Was it colder in 1989?
Yes, it was colder in 1989. Houston got down to 9F in 1989.
Kansas City got down to -23F in 1989. But the cold outbreak didn’t last as long, and there were fewer people here, also no wind power–just lots of coal. I recall lots of cars not starting. I also recall the cold moved east, and my father was midwifing baby pigs Christmas night in 20 below temps in Pennsylvania.
As far as cold weather is concerned, this event is unusual in terms of severity and duration.
I resided in Houston for a number of years, including 1989, and experienced several extreme weather events. I’m not there now but objectively this cold event will be the worst in their lives for most and will be long remembered.
“ this cold event will be the worst in their lives for most and will be long remembered.” Unless next year is worse.
NOAA predicted above average temperatures for this entire area for the month of Feb. just a month ago. No one can predict the weather more than a couple of days out with any reasonable accuracy.
When you subsidize unreliable forms of energy and divert money from investment in reliable forms of energy bad things WILL happen.
Ok, so where should money be spent, increasing ng gas supplies and building coal or nuke plants, which would solve the problem, or more wind and solar farms, which would not?
Connections to other grids will not give you more power if they, too, have a shortage, which is currently the case.
This is where we are at, where do we go from here? Wind and solar clearly are not the answer.
One of Texas’s big problems is they do not have significant interconnections with other big grids. Even if the surrounding grids had lots of excess capacity, getting it into Texas would be a problem.
Interconnections would not solve today’s shortages. No one has surplus power. Just build a couple of stand-by coal plants and Texas could be selling surplus power to neighboring states for a huge profit. Why is that so difficult?
You are correct that interconnections will not solve the problem when there are shortages all around. But coal is not a stand-by proposition–it is too expensive and takes too long to bring on line from a cold start. Natural gas is the stand-by fuel of choice. Coal is baseload, with the opportunity for rolling reserve overnight.
Then why not a few oil-fired plants? Using refined ‘diesel’ or fuel oil as so many homeowners in the NE still use. Texas still has a lot of oil reserves and the refineries needed to process it…
Oil is completely uneconomic to generate electricity with these days.
Bingo! Bing Bing Bing Bing!
We have a winner.
The money spent on windmills has reduced the budget available for a sustainable grid.
We now have more than enough experience to say that wasting money on windmills is a crummy way to reduce greenhouse gasses. If you want to reduce CO2, windmills aren’t the way to do it. Skeptics and alarmists should be able to agree on that simple point.
“This is where we are at, where do we go from here? Wind and solar clearly are not the answer.”
I bet you that’s what every Texan is saying right now.
When alarmists in more northern States want to build more windmills and industrial solar, the public needs to say, “Are you crazy!? Look at what windmills and solar did to the people of Texas! You want that for us, too!? No, thanks! Go away.
Here in God’s flyover country (Kansas) the powers that be want to build more windmills, not for Kansas consumers, but to wheel back east on great big transmission lines. We don’t want to host either their windmills or their transmission lines. Also, they don’t want the transmission lines–funny that–so it may be some time before that scheme really gets implemented.
@commieBob – just about <i>all</i> of the grids are having rolling blackouts. The nearest places that could “spare a watt” right now are probably my Arizona and south Florida.
I’m sure that California, with its <i>very</i> well connected grid (the only way they keep the lights on most of the time) would be happy to sell Texas as much as they needed at $9,000 / kWh. Then later buy it back when the sun don’t shine and the wind don’t blow at $12,000 / kWh, as is their normal operating procedure.
I think I’ve achieved some clarity on this issue.
If there were adequate backup, the frozen windmills would be no more problem than having a week when the wind failed and none of the windmills produced power.
As long as money is no object, you can have all the windmills you want and still have a reliable grid. (Yes, I do realize it’s not quite that simple but accept it for sake of argument.)
Since money is almost always an object, the money spent on windmills takes away from the money available to properly harden the grid.
Some people will attempt to prove that the frozen windmills didn’t cause the disaster. In a very narrow sense they will be right. What caused the problem was the money spent on the windmills.
I wish I could give you a +20!
The City of Austin deserves this, as they have been the most virtue-signaling city in Texas when it comes to green energy policy. They can be the ones stuck with the most rolling brownouts/blackouts, as far as I’m concerned.
I’m here in the DFW area, and fortunately we have yet to see any reduction in power supply. If we can make it through Friday, our area should be okay.
I live DFW area as well we lost power Sunday night. The 75063 zip code and it has so-called rolling ever since. 1 to 2 hour with; 5 to 8 without.
My relatives are in the DFW area. They are losing power over extended periods of time.
I have a friend in a hotel in Dallas. He is there for a few weeks of advanced technology training. He is cold in his hotel room and the training was cancelled Monday and Tuesday. Power is out. Finally able to get 2 thin blankets to keep warm. When the power does come on he cranks thermo up high, can you blame him? His rental car has not moved for a few days.
The biggest problem, there is no food. None. And none to be found walking around. Everything closed. He has cell phone and charges it between blackouts.
He should use the rental car and get out of Dodge, at least to find some food.
He has considered that. Can not drive on ice.
Austin had a similar problem back in the 70’s… forgot to buy enough natural gas for their power plants.
Meanwhile, global warming protestors in Texas….
Please post that picture on instagram with that caption. Hilarious
Is that Bart Simpson with a “I love Fossil Fuels” sign. 4th from the back?
If Texas elects a Democrat anywhere after this debacle then the jig is up. If the rest of the country takes note, California and New York excepted (done and dusted already), the Republicans will sweep the mid-terms. Trump looks pretty good on the energy file now wouldn’t you say?
When was the last time Texas had a democratic governor? Seems like years of Republican mismanagement and privatization have come home to roost. At least Biden has approved emergency aid. If Trump were still in charge he’d be demanding Abbott fellate his small, mushroom headed johnson before he did anything. Oh, and BTW according to the governor it’s not just the windmills that are out, but gas and coal as well. But facts like that spoil the BS narrative doesn’t it? https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/136139877421674496
The problem is Texas has grown immensely economically and in population in the last 10 years, and the electrical generation supply expansion has depended too heavily on wind power. It is not that nat gas plants have been shut down like California has done to crimp reliable supply as part of their anti-carbon virtue signaling, but the failure to build in enough reliable supply while expanding too much unreliable wind power.
Texas simply chose to build out too much wind power as part of their climate virtue and not take into account that every Megawatt of name plate wind power has to backed up by an equal amount of reliable fossil fuel or nuclear power.
Just call it “base load”. The lie is that renewables are “base load”!
Woody biomass power plants are renewable and base load- which is why it shouldn’t be associated with wind and solar. And it releases CO2 too, just like fossil fuels- but the forests regrow so it’s a good energy source, though he can never amount to much compared to others- since the wood is available in managed forests- it might as well be used.
Joe, I appreciate your knowledge of forestry, but there isn’t enough wood to power a state with 28 million people.
There are ways to winterize equipment and store backup fuel (folks up north routinely deal with weather like this week in Texas), but fossil plant operators are disadvantaged by the wind power intrusion in the skewed energy market and probably have had to defer maintenance and upgrades just to stay in business. Along comes unusual weather (NOT unprecedented) and voila!
“there isn’t enough wood to power a state with 28 million people”
Did I ever say it would? Of course it’s potential is limited- but with it, we foresters can do better forestry. That’s a fact.
Can’t see why people would vote Joseph down.
Biomass is a reliable but limited form of energy.
Exactly, unfortunately, too many people mix it up with phony green energy. It’s the real green energy- green trees- renewable and base load power. I know all the arguments against it because here in Massacusetts, the state is infested with tree huggers who hate forestry but don’t mind hundreds of thousands of acres of forest being utterly destroyed for solar “farms”. I argue with such idiots daily. Even Michael Moore got it wrong because he listened to one of the forestry haters- the guy who stood next to the biomass plant in VT, in his video- a guy I know well. He won’t say who funds him.
“The lie is that renewables are “base load”!”
That IS the lie. We have just seen a demonstration that it is a lie.
How will the alarmists spin this debacle?
“Texas simply chose to build out too much wind power as part of their climate virtue”
That’s right. They were real happy with how good they looked to the world and they never thought about their virtue signal freezing up solid.
Now stark reality slaps them in the face.
I have a feeling windmills and solar will be looked at differently in the future. By sensible people, anyway.
it sounds like you have personal experience of this….
Russia colluuuusion 😉
Ever hear of the Green New Deal in which fossil fuels are to be restricted severely because China Joe makes more money from his bagman son working for China than he ever would as president!?!
Hell, this way China Joe gets to diversify his income portfolio and collect two salaries!!
And some people brainwashed with the Marxist Media never see the obvious!
I refer you to a reply elsewhere on this thread…..In many places the gas pipeline companies were pressured to ‘go low carbon’ by replacing gas powered compressors (which push the gas down the pipes to distribution points and power plants) with electric compressors hooked up to the grid.
When the grid fails the compressors fail and then the gas pipeline distribution system loses pressure and fails: thus exacerbating the problem of trying to meet excessive demand during unusual weather such as we are experiencing.
Amazing. I do not doubt what you say but will be looking for confirmation of this in coming days or weeks. This is beyond stupid, if correct. Thanks for the information.
The problem is that reliable coal was replaced with unreliable wind. Some controls at the few remaining coal plants did freeze, but had they stocked up on coal for the winter, that wouldn’t have happened.
Gas is more vulnerable than it need be, due to reliance on electricity from wind. But TX could also stockpile gas rather than relying on new pumping, which works fine except in once a decade cold snaps like this.
Colder winters are probably going to be the norm, as natural cycles return to the frigid 1940s to 1977 oceanic oscillation regime in coming decades. Which means bring back coal for winter base load.
Can’t find where the coal plants are down, only wind, solar, and gas.
Heard the MSM saying yesterday that what failed in Texas was nat gas and coal. That wind and solar only makes up about 8% of the energy generation in TX. I have no idea where they got those figures. For 2019 nat gas was about 50%, wind/solar was about 25%, and coal was 15%
When wind/solar disappeared there simply wasn’t enough reserve left to make up the difference.
Which is OF COURSE a MANIFEST LIE
GAS, despite a few issues, SAVED THE DAY
COAL ran flat chat through the whole peak period., just not enough of it still installed.
States have to deal with federal regulations. Surely you knew that? Or were you just desperate to deflect blame away from your co-conspirators?
Texas is the only state in the US with an independent power grid (by choice), meaning it is largely dependent on its own resources. Not looking so clever now.
SO WHAT !!
Proper spending in the right areas, and NOT WASTING MONEY on UNRELIABLES and none of this problem would have occurred
No-one else had any electricity to spare anyway
gee , you really are living up to your IQ=45, little stevie.
Viva Calizuela!!
“If Texas elects a Democrat”
Then there’ll never be a ‘Republican’ elected again as the Uniparty will have successfully corrupted the election system; no vote will count again. They have been rigging the election for decades. Trump’s turnout in 2016 was an unexpected 1 in a 100 years fluke, they didn’t vote-dump hard enough.
“We’ll primary them out!” I hear. Laughable…
The state has been run by Republicans for decades now,. It’s a failure of Republicans, not Democrats.
ERCOT has been run by a Board of Directors that is definitely Democrat Greenies. THEY set the policies, not the operating crew and not the governor or legislature.
Republicans SHOULD NEVER have followed the Greenie agenda of closing coal-fired power stations.
Glad you agree.
Exactly- republicans are completely incompetent- it’s no surprise all the shtihouse states have republican governors. 100s of thousands dead in the pandemic too because of rank incompetence and mismanagement.
So, Red State Governors have “incompetence” and “mismanagement” all wrapped up.
I guess that only leaves “intentional malice” for Cuomo, Whitmer, and diBlasio?
That actually makes sense!
Difficult to control a pandemic when 30% of your population are either thick as pigshti, batshti crazy or both. I always knew America was going to be an absolute shtshow this pandemic because of your lack of health care, worst in the developed world safety net, and embarrassing levels of poverty. This really has been something else though. Difficult to imagine it would have been this bad had not a failed reality tv star been in charge.
You mean as opposed to 70% in most democrat states ?
How come Democrat-mismanaged states have the highest COVID death rates? Why did five Democrat governors send infectious ChiCom virus patients into nursing homes, then, in Cuomo’s case, lie about the murderous misdeed?
Explain the socialized “healthcare” UK, if you please. Or socialized “healthcare” Italy, or socialized “healthcare” Spain.
“without even a backup generator”
But the image of the hotel’s letter says it does have a generator.
Only for the one elevator and emergency lights, nothing else. They don’t have a backup generator for the guests comfort, heating, cooking, etc. bare minimum.
In most places, backup generators are for emergency services.
WUWT has been slipping as of late…
With few exceptions, backup generators in most governmental and commercial buildings are sized and wired to power only life safety systems and server rooms.
Of late?!?! It’s always been a joke run by a failed weather girl!
Your nose is a running joke.
Leaking what little brain your 45 IQ might have left.
250 your weight in pounds? bwahahahahaha…
Maybe he’s 7’0″, hence BMI of 24.9.
So 45 pounds is your weight as well !
You poor pathetic effeminate SJW !!
Subtract another 5 from your IQ, moron. !
Here in central Indiana, I had a nice dinner of portabella mushroom ravioli and sauce that has been simmering in the slow cooker all day, plus a good tossed salad. However being on a well, we have a water cooler and the water guys failed to deliver so I will put the empty 5 gallon bottles in the Toyota FJ cruiser and drive to the place and get my water and salt for our water softener.
Over a week ago my Granddaughter that lives in Killeen, TX with her soldier Bow she is about to marry, got a heads up from me that the Arctic air was coming and due around Valentines day and they should prepare and stock up their larder ASAP. I also informed her that when they are deployed to S. Korea in three months that what they are getting in Texas will seem small, short, and sweet.
“Thank God, I hunted a buffalo and had a blanket made of its hide.”
I just read that an economical way to keep warm under a blanket is to occasionally blow warm air under it with a hair dryer. Also, when using a hot water bottle, fill it with hot water first to warm the bottle, then empty it and refill it.
If they had power for the hair dryer…😜
I wonder how long a computer ups will power a hair dryer or electric blanket. They could probably power a low wattage LED lamp for several hours.
I suspect some may have an untapped power source, even if it lasts only for a few minutes.
I’ve heard that physical activity also helps. 😉
Physical activity of untrained person will add around another 200W above their base 200W metabolism. Basal metabolism energy is equivalent with loss of energy at 25C, that is 12C below body temperature, adding another 200W by physical activity gives you another 12C, e.g. 13C ambient temperature. Adding another 200W by bottle or hair dryer will give you another 12C, so you will be comfy in 13C without physical activity or 1C with physical activity.
Using 500W hair dryer means you have to blow 24 minutes from hour to have 200W.
I meant physical activity while in bed, D’oh !!
Eat heavy proteins before going to bed. Your body must work to digest a steak and will generate heat doing so. Sugars will only give you a short burst but may enough to get you back to sleep if you wake up cold. . When in the field I would try to follow that advise and I kept a John Wayne bar handy if I woke up cold in the sleeping bag, Sleep in polypro or underarmor type underwear.
What is the literacy level of a manager who writes “Do not light candles to prevent fires.”?
Geoff S
Public schools.
What do you mean? The fire-prevention capabilities of candles are well-known.
Poor wording, but any doofus should get the point.
That’s the thing about virtue signalling spineless corporates – most of the time, day to day – the thing just rolls along allowing dimwit management, “executives” even – to indulge themselves in fashionable whims and cost cutting.
The Texas public electricity utility have fallen down on the job – not providing what it says on the tin – not paying attention. IIRC some forecasters gave EPCOT several days warning of what was coming and they did nothing and if they haven’t already, in the way of dysfunctional bureaucrats across the western democracies they’ll try blaming “climate change”.
Even if the windmills aren’t turning – the PR / corporate communications goons will be spinning fit to light up the Lone Star State….
I fully expect that Ole Joe will get a script to announce that it happened because Texas and surrounding states didn’t have enough windmills and solar panels… – it’s Green and sustainable! – yes, it failed because you don’t have enough!
Much like the rats that brought the Black Death to Constantinople and Europe, it now appears that the many Commifornians, fleeing the wreckage they hath wrought, brought the Blackout Grid Death with them to their new home!
Of course the first signs of the infection, the giant bird and bat blenders that sprang up like toadstools after a spring rain, were ignored by many! There probably were a few well greased pockets to facilitate the spread; but the whole wind power scam has been a Ponzi scheme benefiting the wealthy with government subsidies! The local residents are left to deal with the high costs, unreliability and subsonic vibration problems that make our noble lords and masters refuse to permit them in proper neighborhoods! Just ask Lord Kerry, from the Ministry of the Environment, who wouldn’t allow them to even be visible from his estates! That’s what the little folk are for in the New American caste system!
But surely I exaggerate; these problems seldom occur. Judging from Germany, Spain and the late, great Golden State; the price hikes and problems will only get worse! Better to get rid of the 16th Century technology and install something reliable,like clean coal or nuclear, that don’t require the porridge to be just right!
So, all the Californians who moved to Texas finally feel at home now that they are getting power blackouts to remind them of where they came from.
These are hard times for the northern part of the World. For example, the Swedish government banned the use of vacuum cleaner to save electricity. But not everybody agree with them. According to opposition leader Ebba Busch, “Paused vacuum cleaning does not solve the electricity shortage”.
https://www.gp.se/debatt/pausad-dammsugning-löser-inte-elbristen-1.41202160
What are they going to do with all that dust? 🙂
Off Topic
VW Hybrid explodes
https://notrickszone.com/2021/02/16/vw-hybrid-car-explodes-bursts-into-flames-22-fire-brigades-to-extinguish-hazardous-battery-fire/
Oh, I don’t know – it seems fairly on-topic to me if we’re discussing Green stupidity, mismanagement and virtue-signalling, plus the totally foreseen consequences of such behaviour.
We just had several 100-car vehicle accidents in Oklahoma and Texas during this arctic blast. Just think if all those vehicles were battery operated. That’s the goal of the alarmists, to make us all drive electric vehicles. Maybe they are pyromaniacs.
The core of the Arctic air is moving over the Great Lakes.
Texas will see snow and freezing rain.
Another wave of stratospheric intrusion will hit Texas on Feb. 18.
The UK’s MSM studiously ignoring German Renewable success
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/worlds-solar-and-wind-capital-freezing-due-to-snow-blanketing-millions-of-solar-panels/ar-BB1dF9Dp?ocid=st
‘Success ‘ ????
Solar panels in cloudy, coal-rich Germany is nuts.
Bingo! Completely and utterly. Now we’re starting to see the forseeable consequences of their nutty behaviour. Perhaps WUWT should have been renamed ‘Cassandra”.
Austin currently has temperatures of -3 C and heavy freezing rain. Dangerous weather.
But they’re saving the planet, right? What could be more noble than that!
Apparently some are dissatisfied & believe they are clamoring for some action.
I’m sorry but I’d need an investigation into this post. It looks a lot like incitement to me!
Rioters are gathering at the STEPPES
Don’t Doxx me Bro!
Yep, the irony of the fact that this is all being done to make the planet cooler does not seem to get enough attention, even on this thread.
Need a bumper sticker that says, “Saving the planet a hundred years from now by killing people today is NOT an option.”
Glow sticks pollute
Use glow worms…
How about fireflies?
Why not!
Note that this solar Grand Minimum has barely started, it’s effects at first will be diluted but with time it will culminate in the next 20–30 years. Current cold weather is just a weather but regular repetition makes it climate change if you inclined to believe in one, regretfully not warmer and more benign but colder in vicious on all weak and unprepared. It happened before number of times in this millennium and will happen again and nothing anyone can do about it except to prepare to meet the challenges. All good here.
The AMO is also trending towards its cold phase. How did a small group of socialists and one-world-order types convince the rest of humanity, in the middle of a deadly ice age, that a slightly warmer world was a horrible thing?
“convince the rest of humanity, in the middle of a deadly ice age, that a slightly warmer world was a horrible thing?”
You mean why did they?
They had the opinion-forming Leftwing Media on their side of the issue.
While perhaps it “should not” happen, I can understand massive unexpected heating requirements reducing the gas supply for electricity generation, especially if the pipelines pumps are electrical, but reports have said the cold has also shut down coal and nuclear power plants.
As far as electrical generation goes, it seems to me little extra or no extra coal should be needed. Should coal powered plants not have had enough coal in stock, as a matter of course, to get through a couple of weeks of disrupted delivery?
How can cold weather shut down nuclear power plants?
How much power can you get out of a plant that’s been closed for years?
I work in industrial manufacturing. It’s not the cold weather that shuts down the nuclear reactor or coal furnaces, it’s the steam system that usually winds up shutting the plant down. The heat of combustion or the nuclear reactor generate steam which drives steam turbines to produce electricity. There are condensate return systems, blowdown systems, and other equipment in the colder portions of the plant that can freeze. In my experience, these are the things that shut you down despite having plenty of heat. There are also compressed air systems that, if not kept try, will also freeze and shut the plant down.
Also, Texas is in the south and probably does not have the same level of freeze protection that generating stations in the north do. They don’t typically design for something like this so far south (whether that is wise or not).
I can’t find where any coal plants went down. Only gas and a small amount of nuclear. Gas plants could get fuel because the electric pumps (which a decade ago were powered by local gas generators) couldn’t pressurize the pipelines sufficiently due to being out of operation.
If a state like Texas, that is certainly not poor, cannot “manage climate” then why would one believe any deluded “green energy” advocate that their ideas can be successfully translated for the rest of the world. It is time to stop putting people who have no knowledge of engineering in the real world in charge or anywhere near energy supply.
Further proof that coal, gas, hydro and nuclear are the only real power sources.
The Guardian: “US conservatives falsely blame renewables for Texas storm outages”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-conservatives-falsely-blame-renewables-for-texas-storm-outages/ar-BB1dL3Hr?ocid=Peregrine
Fact that some 4GW of coal fired power has been taken off-line in the last 3 year, has nothing to do with it, of course 😉
When I want to know what is going on in the world, I read the Guardian! Whatever they say is happening, I can rest assured the opposite is true.
The Texas situation is complicated. Investing in and depending on wind energy is a big part of the problem in complicated ways. The article says: “While some wind turbines did freeze, failures in natural gas, coal and nuclear energy systems were responsible for nearly twice as many outages as renewables…” If we take that at face value, that means that renewables are responsible for a third of the outages, while routinely only suppling about 1/5 of Texas electricity needs. This makes renewables disproportionally responsible for the problem
Then we need to ask what the energy grid would look like if not a single wind farm was built over the last 20 years and all that money was invested in reliable nonrenewable energy sources instead? Such a question is beyond my knowledge and skill to answer, but it is safe to say that the situation in Texas today would be a lot better than it is, and electric bills would be lower.
The Guardian is an anti-conservative rag dedicated to defending leftist nonsense in any way possible, which requires a great deal of misrepresentation. This article was not written to inform, but to attack political enemies and defend the indefensible.
In Jan, 2019 nat gas was abut 50% of power generation in TX, wind/solar was 25%, coal was about 15%, and nuclear/etc made up the rest. Even if *all* the nat gas had kept operating, it simply couldn’t cover the loss of 25% of generating capacity from wind and solar. When those went down TX was already in a dire situation. The percentage of wind/solar has only gone up since 2019 while nat gas has gone down.
ERCOT *should* have been planning for 30% reserve capability from nat gas and coal but didn’t. They had similar situations in 1989 and 2011 but ignored them thinking it could never happen again. It’s the ERCOT Board of Directors that set policy for ERCOT, not the operations team. The ERCOT BOD should be asked to resign so they can be replaced with people that are not 100% wind/solar advocates!
I listened to the head of ERCOT on tv today and he never mentioned “windmills” one time. He was asked what the problem was and he said “generation” was not up to the job, but never explained why and never mentioned windmills.
I think he was trying to avoid the question, even though he said his responsiblity is with keeping the grid up and running and is not responsible for how the grid is running. He just plays with the hand he is delt.
I agree that renewables were not the cause of the mess in Texas—and so we should have been careful not to claim it. The cause was the gas and nuclear plants that tripped off, due to being unprepared for such cold weather in various ways. BUT the fact that half the wind turbines and all the solar panels went down should caution other states not to rely too heavily on them, that is, without peaker-plant backup. (Grid-scale batteries can provide only a few hours of protection.)
Nope. Wind/solar were the problem. In Jan, 2019 nat gas was 50% of generation, wind/solar was 25%, and coal was 15%. Theat ration has changed with wind/solar being higher today than in Jan, 2019.
When the wind/solar failed it took at least 25% capacity out. The remaining gas and coal plants couldn’t have covered that loss even if *all* of them had stayed on line. When the wind/solar went out it also took out much of the nat gas pumping stations on the pipelines which impacted the nat gas plants fuel capacity.
If all the money spent since the last winter extreme in TX of 2011 had been spent on reliable energy plus winterizing of nat gas wells and pipes, TX wouldn’t be having this problem today. It really is just that simple.
No nat gas plants in KS have been shut down for the freezing temps that I can find and it is colder here than in TX!
The problem is money being diverted to totally useless sources of power during extreme weather events instead preparing reliable power sources for those events.
A small percentage of coal and gas plants tripping off line wouldn’t have been a big problem without the huge loss in power from the non-functional wind stations.
UNRELIABLE sources of electricity have been built, while RELIABLE sources have been closed.
What is that is so complicated you have to DENY THE REALITY of the situation.
GAS actually SAVED THE DAY, despite s few issues.
Wind and solar almost totally MIA
COAL was at full output the whole period, there just is FAR LESS NOW INSTALLED than is needed
Facts and data speech way louder than baseless rhetoric and MSM lies and misinformation.
This is what happens when ideology is allowed to trump rational decision making. It is a fact that the climate is always changing. The single most important question remains to be asked, let alone answered: what is the optimum climate for the biosphere that sustains all life? Where is our present climate in relation to that? Are we trending towards that optimum or away from it?
Because advocates of climate change don’t seem to be interested in this, I can only conclude they suspect it harms their ideologically driven agenda to impose the Secular Utopia upon us. Change my mind, please.
Dear Reader:
I am reminded of the sage advice that, ” Revenge is a meal best served cold.”
Well no sooner did president Biden cancel Keystone, declare electric cars to replace gasoline and diesel and no electricity generated by fossil fuels by 2035, than Canada, the country, not the bumbling administration of one JT, served up its Pfizer-like ultra-cold revenge, exporting historically low winter weather to the US and Mexico.
“Don’t mess with Texas?” I’d say, “Don’t mess with Canada!” More cold meals on the way.
Texas gas wells froze tight, ice covered wind turbines froze and failed, solar panels rimed with snow and frost could not find the sun and the oil refineries shut as power failed. Canadian natural gas is pouring south at record rates.
And president Biden got to sign another order, to declare a federally recognized disaster in the state, and the Texas governor, who just recently received an award from the renewables industry, praising the governor’s foresight in promoting wind and solar, and shuttering coal plants, called out the National Guard to fire up portable generators fed by fossil fuels.
Good ol’ Canadian winters, that gift that just keeps on giving.
Keith Harrison
Warm and toasty in Cumberland ON
“and the Texas governor, who just recently received an award from the renewables industry, praising the governor’s foresight in promoting wind and solar,”
Yes, I think this is the problem: The Republican elites buy into the Human-caused Climate Change scam and then put their State in jeopardy by doing stupid things like depending on unreliable generation for your base electricity supply.
Let’s have some investigations.
Wait a minute – you mean to say the National Guard isn’t bringing in portable windmills and solar panels to ward off this emergency?
This ongoing cold weather is getting to be a nuisance, it seems to be happening every year though last winter was a recent exception, here in the UK.
I am looking forward to that global warming later in the year. The weather will not be mentioned for fear of confusing the listeners.
The BBC are being unusually quiet about the desperate situation the “weather” is creating in North America.
On that note. does anyone know if Canada is having some weather? Or is it still Global Warming and Climate Change all the time up there?
I think there is nothing interesting in difference -20 vs -30 in Canada.
Aka. still Global Warming.
A piece in WSJ says part of the electricity shortage is due to ‘gas generators shutting down because their cooling water supply is frozen’. I don’t know if this is accurate?
I can’t find where any nat gas plants in KS have been shut down for any reason. And it’s been colder here than in TX.
Texas temperatures have briefly moderated, but we have traded an ice storm for the snow storm. Even when generation begins to recover, there will be ice damage to trees, power lines, etc., so many people are days away from power restoration.
ERCOT points out the loss of generating assets from all categories, not just wind and solar, but this hides the fact that wind power and its governmentally induced economic edge have so skewed the market that conventional plant operators have to defer scheduled maintenance and upgrades just to stay in business.
Then, wait for it, here it comes, some University of Texas energy economist throws in the expected “climate change” blame. This weather is neither unprecedented nor influenced by human activity. It is rare, but the last time it occurred, Texas population was much lower and there was not a bird chopper in sight.
In the UK we are supposed to get smart meters plus an IOT, which will mean not only will they be able to switch off the supply to your house but they will be able to adjust your thermostat. Orwell just got the date wrong. We have been told that we can only have electricity when it is available. This is producer control, not consumer control. The latter has been taken from us in multiple ways. It reminds me of the Canadian Environment minister who said that “It doesn’t matter if the science is all phony there are a lot of collateral benefits”. I couldn’t understand what she meant until I looked at my Stalinist playbook.
Please do not make this all about the wind turbines. I think wind turbines are useless, but this crisis comes more from the failure to winterize the gas generating plants. Yes, during this period we get all of about 3,000MW from our 32,000MW of installed wind turbines, but we have seen that poor performance during summer demand records as well.
What we should have done is used the billions paid for wind turbines and the associated power lines (the power lines were something like $6 billion alone) and built a big nuke plant.
Also, hopefully we will see a lot more attention paid to who gets appointed to ERCOT and demand professional technical grid expertise of all members. Expertise in designing, building and operating grids – not green energy expertise or gas well development expertise.
The gas pipelines and generating plants didn’t get winterized because the money got spent on wind/solar instead! A direct result of the Greeie policy decisions made by the Greenie ERCOT Board of Directors.
Why don’t we just wait until there is an investigation before ruling anything out. Trying to make heads or tails out of the situation using leftwing media reports is a waste of time.
Feeling a bit snarky, I offer this:
Maybe they should put a bank of D Cell batteries in each turbine blade with a defroster coil. They could hire a lot of people at $15 to change them. GE, Druacell and Democrats would love it.
Opinion from the locals:
https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/editorials/article249285685.html
The opinion of one editorial writer counts as “from the locals”?
Really? Are you that desperate?
FACTS from REAL DATA versus baseless ignorant-leftist journalists opinion.
Wind and solar basically AWOL,
GAS carrying a massive chunk of the load despite issues
COAL flat chat for the whole period, just
….. NOT ENOUGH STILL INSTALLED to make up for the loss of wind and solar.
The blame game is already falling into predictable narratives. On the right, the problem is too much reliance on renewable energy. On the left, it’s privatization, Republican leadership and a failure to anticipate the effects of climate change.
”effects of climate change.”
who da thunk it. They have to come up with some narrative to cover up their misjudgment. When the AMO flips and we’ve had decades of cooling or flat temperatures they will fall in love with natural variability as an excuse.
How long will the rest of the Texas infrastructure operate with no power? Specifically Water, Sewer, Cell Phones, POTS (real telephone service), Internet, and Gas service (for those with gas heat). My son in downtown Austin (Austin Energy) has had power the past few days (unlike much of Austin) but now the water is out. The water supply eventually depends upon pumps which need electricity to operate. Ditto for the Sewer system. Cell towers likely have UPS with batteries (my assumption), but I doubt they have back-up generators. Someone knowledgeable about the rest of the infrastructure in Texas?
What’s a glow stick?
A candle?
Or one of those plastic tubes containing a chemical that you bend to make it glow?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glow_stick
Krishna
Thanks 🙏
I remember them from years ago. They’re pretty crap as a light source, better get used to them I guess.
“the “green energy” grid failing to produce enough power. “ While this is certainly true, I think we must frame the argument differently. Greens are already blaming this on the failure of ng power plants.
I think the argument should be, renewables are USELESS in these conditions. Every dollar spent on them means one less dollar spent on reliable power production and a robust grid.
If the money spent on solar and wind farms had been spent increasing ng supplies, pipelines, methods to prevent frozen lines, etc., there would be no widespread power outage. A couple of well-placed, standby coal power plants, with ninety days of coal on site, would have prevented the outages at a fraction of the cost of the wind farms.
Renewables cannot operate in these conditions. That is not where we should be diverting resources. And now people are dying for that diversion. And their deaths are on the hands of those pushing renewables.
“Greens are already blaming this on the failure of ng power plants.”
Of course, they are. They have to protect their Green New Deal narrative, so they will never admit windmills or solar are at fault.
If they acknowledge the failure of windmills and solar to provide baseload power, then the jig is up. They will have to change their project to the Green New Nuclear Deal, as nuclear is their only viable option when you live in Realville.
This is my take. Texas is growing like crazy. New houses are being built where I live east of Dallas at an amazing rate. Meanwhile I understand Texas has two nuclear plants, both scheduled for permanent shutdown, two remaining major coal fired plants, windmills going up faster than new houses, solar plants just about as fast, and gas remaining the primary method of home heating and electricity generation. The power line grid appears to be in the process of being upgraded, mostly to connect all those new windmills that are spread out everywhere. It is not hard to see that priorities have not been balanced. Gas fired turbines are great but they need either an independent hardened gas supply system or another backup system. The idea of shutting down the nucs right now is foolish, especially since they can have many more productive years left in them. All that capital expenditure wasted. Same goes for the coal plants. Renewables are not cheaper, the subsidies are throwing the market of balance and now we pay the piper. Meanwhile electric rates just keep jumping up by leaps and bounds.
Welcome, Texas, to the amazing, renewal (and unreliable) 3rd-world green power! California has enjoyed this by itself for many years and is pleased it now has a new friend to cozy-up during these long, global warming-caused record low temp nights…without a green electron to keep the lights on.
Let them eat bugs and carbon credits.
Danish wind turbine maker Vestas lays of 450 employees in U.S. state of Colorado
https://www.google.com/amp/s/financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/danish-wind-turbine-maker-vestas-lays-of-450-employees-in-u-s-state-of-colorado/wcm/b8c3c5b5-7a2b-4dfd-bf44-bd0f07bba4bb/amp/
I hear they are serving tea up in the Paul Ehrlich Room.
You’re on a roll ; keep it coming. 🙂
It’s a mistake not to have your own generator in the US so long as you can afford it. Each region has enough natural events to make it a good choice. In the northeast where I live winter storms and the occasional hurricane are the big ones, but even moderate storms can knock limbs off of trees. Also having a bit of emergency food is always a good idea. When Sandy hit, my area, near NYC had gasoline and food shortages for a while. I know hurricanes in general trigger such things for a few days to weeks from time to time everywhere they are known to go.
That being said, there is no excuse for breaking the electric grid, even if I think we all should have some basic protections. Personally, CO2 aside, I am big fan of nuclear in all the modern versions, and would prefer if more, perhaps most, of our electricity came from that. I think the rather onerous regulations on building them could be relaxed a bit, and I think we would have a much better grid. I would also like more utilities to be forced to bury existing wires, as that would also have a positive effect on reliability, at least in the NorthEast. 1-2% a year, by mileage, would have a huge positive effect at a reasonable cost.
I bought one 20 years ago. I have used it exactly ONE time after a low-grade hurricane swept thru central GA and knocked out my power for approx. 6 hours. It hasn’t been cranked since and I doubt it will even start now.(Yes, I know-that’s on me.) I then moved to extreme northeast GA 7 years ago and have eagerly awaited an ice and/or snow storm but have been sorely disappointed as it has yet to happen. My sympathies to all Texans and the rest-we really dodged that bullet. But who knows how long our luck will last? Back in the 80’s my parents were living here and literally got nailed! They were without power for 2 weeks!
I think Uncle Joe should waive all hotel bills to go along with waiving mortgages and rent. Don’t forget to waive utility bills. You’re going to have to kiss the ring though.
Hello Dummies. Wheels Abbott never enacted any new green deal, nor the republican run govt. they deregulated your power so individual operators and investment funds run them. They don’t upgrade infrastructure. They use 90% natural gas, coal and, lol, wood. I know because I have shares in one of em, lol. My heat never turned off…sorry, capitalism isn’t working for you. You’re poor.
How stupid do you have to be to think that freezing weather is caused by global warming?
And if everything that happens is “told-ya, it’s climate change” then how much work do you need to do constantly to protect yourself from the realisation that you are a total liar and con-artist?
🤣 John Kerry Gets Fact Checked!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/politifact/amp/Fact-checking-John-Kerry-