Texas Wind Turbines Freeze during winter storm

[Pavel Mosko]

Just one reason out of many that I think all the "Green New Deal" stuff is bad policy. There is a long list of practical reasons many of which revolve around "energy density", etc. that makes this policy bad. Not saying that we shouldn't work to at renewable energy only that it doing so should be based on practicality, and common sense rather than idealism and wishful thinking.


Frozen wind turbines, limited gas supplies and rolling blackouts: Behind Texas' energy woes - CNN

 

[Pommer]

"The ability of some companies that generate the power has been frozen. This includes the natural gas & coal generators," Abbott wrote, adding that ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas are working to get power back online and will give priority to residential consumers.”

The entire system failed not just “wind”.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

And not just Texas turbines.
PowerOutage.US

 

[Danthemailman]

We’ve been experiencing rolling blackouts where I live in the Midwest. While casing mail today the power went out for almost an hour at the Post Office where I work. I saw businesses without power today on my mail route and traffic lights lost power which caused an accident at a busy intersection. I’m definitely not a fan of the “Green New Deal.”

 

[TLK Valentine]

We’ve been experiencing rolling blackouts where I live in the Midwest. While casing mail today the power went out for almost an hour at the Post Office where I work. I saw businesses without power today on my mail route and traffic lights lost power which caused an accident at a busy intersection. I’m definitely not a fan of the “Green New Deal.”

What "Green New Deal"?

 

[GoldenBoy89]

Just one reason out of many that I think all the "Green New Deal" stuff is bad policy. There is a long list of practical reasons many of which revolve around "energy density", etc. that makes this policy bad. Not saying that we shouldn't work to at renewable energy only that it doing so should be based on practicality, and common sense rather than idealism and wishful thinking.


Frozen wind turbines, limited gas supplies and rolling blackouts: Behind Texas' energy woes - CNN

I don’t see what the GND, which is yet to come up in Congress for a vote, has to do with Texas’ lacking infrastructure.

All this shows is what a disaster secession would be for the state.

 

[TLK Valentine]

Meanwhile, the Antarctica Wind Turbines are doing just fine...

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

Why do people think the Green New Deal is at fault for current power outage?
Is there any doubt that climate change is affecting us here and now and that the old power grid infrastructure is obsolete?

 

[GoldenBoy89]

Why do people think the Green New Deal is at fault for current power outage?
Is there any doubt that climate change is affecting us here and now and that the old power grid infrastructure is obsolete?

People in charge of the talking points on the right are convincing others it’s the boogeyman Green New Deal that is to blame and not the state’s failing infrastructure or bad red state policies for climate change mitigation that are the cause of this disaster.

But hey, maybe Texas just needs to rake their leaves and this will all go away.

 

[Halbhh]

Just one reason out of many that I think all the "Green New Deal" stuff is bad policy. There is a long list of practical reasons many of which revolve around "energy density", etc. that makes this policy bad. Not saying that we shouldn't work to at renewable energy only that it doing so should be based on practicality, and common sense rather than idealism and wishful thinking.


Frozen wind turbines, limited gas supplies and rolling blackouts: Behind Texas' energy woes - CNN

@Darkhorse


While ice has forced some turbines to shut down just as a brutal cold wave drives record electricity demand, wind only comprises 25% of the state’s energy mix this time of year. The majority of outages overnight were plants fueled by natural gas, coal and nuclear, which together make up more than two-thirds of power generation during winter.

“The wind is not solely to blame,” said Wade Schauer, research director of Americas power and renewables at Wood Mackenzie. He estimates that about 27 gigawatts of coal, nuclear and gas capacity is unavailable, in part because the cold has driven up demand for natural gas for heating. “That’s the bigger problem.”

Frozen Wind Farms Are Just a Small Piece of Texas’s Power Woes

 

[RDKirk]

Early frantic news reports jumped on the idea of a renewable energy source failure simply because Texas is 'way out in front of renewable energy creation.

The real fault for the Texas blackout is the fact that Texas is on its own grid and can't balance shortfalls with help from the rest of the country.

In fact, the state's wind and solar power resources are currently producing more power than predicted for this time of the year. They are not at maximum output, and they are suffering some weather-related failures...but they were not expected to be at maximum output for this time of year. They're doing better than expected even with weather-related failures.

The systems operating far below expectations for the period because of weather-related failures are gas, oil, and coal...particularly gas.

Jenkins highlighted this too, pointing out that ERCOT had only assumed a small contribution from wind power. “In total, that means ERCOT is counting on 1,542 MW of coastal wind output, 1,411 MW of panhandle wind and 3,251 MW of other wind for a total of 6,204 MW of wind from currently operational facilities. 6.2 GW. Use that to track how wind performs during this emergency”. The wind turbines that did not shut down in fact over-performed on their forecasted output, due to the high wind speeds from the storm.

Massive Texas gas failure during climate extremes gets blamed on wind power

So while having Texas' full wind-generating capacity online would help, the problems with meeting demand appear to lie elsewhere. An ERCOT director told Bloomberg that problems were widespread across generating sources, including coal, natural gas, and even nuclear plants. In the past, severe cold has caused US supplies of natural gas to be constrained, as use in residential heating competes with its use in generating electricity. But that doesn't explain the shortfalls in coal and nuclear, and the ERCOT executive wasn't willing to speculate.

Texas’ power grid crumples under the cold

 

[Darkhorse]

@Darkhorse

“The wind is not solely to blame,” said Wade Schauer, research director of Americas power and renewables at Wood Mackenzie. He estimates that about 27 gigawatts of coal, nuclear and gas capacity is unavailable, in part because the cold has driven up demand for natural gas for heating. “That’s the bigger problem.”

Frozen Wind Farms Are Just a Small Piece of Texas’s Power Woes

I lived in Texas during the winter of 1973, which was one of these unusual southern cold snaps which happen about every 25 years. We had 8 inches of snow, but no power outages, probably due to being in a sparsely-populated rural area with no natural gas.

I have nothing against wind power; I think it's great. However, people would be foolish to abandon coal and petroleum energy sources in an attempt to "save the planet". We had better give some thought to saving ourselves.

 

[TLK Valentine]

I lived in Texas during the winter of 1973, which was one of these unusual southern cold snaps which happen about every 25 years. We had 8 inches of snow, but no power outages, probably due to being in a sparsely-populated rural area with no natural gas.

I have nothing against wind power; I think it's great. However, people would be foolish to abandon coal and petroleum energy sources in an attempt to "save the planet". We had better give some thought to saving ourselves.

That's not really working out for Texas lately.

 

[Sparagmos]

Just one reason out of many that I think all the "Green New Deal" stuff is bad policy. There is a long list of practical reasons many of which revolve around "energy density", etc. that makes this policy bad. Not saying that we shouldn't work to at renewable energy only that it doing so should be based on practicality, and common sense rather than idealism and wishful thinking.


Frozen wind turbines, limited gas supplies and rolling blackouts: Behind Texas' energy woes - CNN

To be clear, are you saying that the power outages in Texas were caused by frozen wind turbines?

 

[chevyontheriver]

Just one reason out of many that I think all the "Green New Deal" stuff is bad policy. There is a long list of practical reasons many of which revolve around "energy density", etc. that makes this policy bad. Not saying that we shouldn't work to at renewable energy only that it doing so should be based on practicality, and common sense rather than idealism and wishful thinking.


Frozen wind turbines, limited gas supplies and rolling blackouts: Behind Texas' energy woes - CNN

These turbines need to have their gear grease changed. Nothing more magical than using a grease adequate for the temperature. But somebody must have forgotten to do that. When it's hot they need a summer grease. A winter grease for the cold. It's just like you need different formulations of diesel fuel for cold. With that, if it's cold enough and you haven't adapted to cold weather fuel, the diesel turns into jelly and you aren't going anywhere.

 

[rambot]

I'm sure this will disappoint some.

2. Alberta here. -25c for the last two weeks
Guess what hasn't frozen?
3. They get about 14% of their power from wind. What's wrong with other energy sources?

Why blame new Green deal?

 

[rambot]

As an important ps....
Texas and the us can likely anticipate more cold snaps like this thanks sasly, to climate change.

It has to do with the shifting of the polar vortex which is, iirc, driven by ocean temperatures and when ocean temps rise? It destabilizes the arctic weather

 

[Danthemailman]

What "Green New Deal"?

Plan for Climate Change and Environmental Justice | Joe Biden

 

[Danthemailman]

Gov. Kristi Noem says rolling blackouts highlight concerns regarding Biden's energy policy

 

[rambot]

Gov. Kristi Noem says rolling blackouts highlight concerns regarding Biden's energy policy

I don't find these critiques offer too much in the way of specificity. That could be a reporter problem.

Yeah and as I go back and reread it, it's closer to a series of platitudes and not much substantive.

If they can say specific policies that are problematic, they can build a better case to convince me. "Trumps policies were right" alone is not (at least it should not be) seen as a legitimate critique. Tell me what Biden is doing wrong. I'm not an idiot. I can understand you. But you best bring some empirical evidence to back it.

He's got 54% approval on 538. More than half...