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In short, the outages were caused mostly by shutdown of gas, coal, and nuclear energy sources.
This begs the question. Why do conservatives hate renewable energy so much? Why do they get such a hard-on for non-renewable sources? Do conservatives actually believe that we have unlimited supply of fossil fuel?
The answer is that they lost twice as much wind power as they did the rest. Or put another way, wind power is 1/2 as reliable as the other sources.
Texas generates 120 gigawatts of power. nW is the symbol for gigawatt.
90 nW comes from gas, coal, and nuclear.
30 nW comes from wind.
So wind lost 16 of 30 nW or 53%.
Gas, coal, and nuclear lost 30 of 90 nW or 33%.
So wind is about half as reliable as the remaining sources. If wind was as reliable, it would only have lost about 10 nW rather than 16 nW.
I don't have any problem with wind power myself, assuming it is as cost effective as other sources. I think it is silly to blame wind power for problems in hot sunny Texas when temperatures like this only come around every 30 years or so. I like those odds myself. I would have no problem having my wind generation freeze up and go down for 2 weeks every 30 years. That is not a problem in my view.
In short, the outages were caused mostly by shutdown of gas, coal, and nuclear energy sources.
This begs the question. Why do conservatives hate renewable energy so much? Why do they get such a hard-on for non-renewable sources? Do conservatives actually believe that we have unlimited supply of fossil fuel?
A mix of energy sources is clearly the most secure way to secure against outages and nuclear and gas should be part of this mix.
In terms renewable energy, a mix is also more effective, and as well as wind power, you have Solar, biofuels, geothermal power, hydroelectric and new emerging sources such as wave power.
Storage of energy, is also going to become more important, as more energy is created at certain times of the year, and if stored this energy could be harnessed later when it's really needed. Hydrogen storage is also being researched and considered in a number of countries, whilst intensive research in to battery storage is going on across the globe.
This is common sense no matter what your political beliefs.
Last edited by Brave New World; 02-17-2021 at 04:22 AM..
The answer is that they lost twice as much wind power as they did the rest. Or put another way, wind power is 1/2 as reliable as the other sources.
Texas generates 120 gigawatts of power. nW is the symbol for gigawatt.
90 nW comes from gas, coal, and nuclear.
30 nW comes from wind.
So wind lost 16 of 30 nW or 53%.
Gas, coal, and nuclear lost 30 of 90 nW or 33%.
So wind is about half as reliable as the remaining sources. If wind was as reliable, it would only have lost about 10 nW rather than 16 nW.
I don't have any problem with wind power myself, assuming it is as cost effective as other sources. I think it is silly to blame wind power for problems in hot sunny Texas when temperatures like this only come around every 30 years or so. I like those odds myself. I would have no problem having my wind generation freeze up and go down for 2 weeks every 30 years. That is not a problem in my view.
Lol, what now? Gigawatt is GW.
nW is .... nanowatt 10^(-9)W
Nice try on the wind energy - but only 6 GW was expected from wind at this time. It varies hugely by the time of the year.
The current fiasco is due to a total mismanagement on all levels. It will cost lives and huge amount of property losses. Perhaps enforced winterization regulation would not have been a bad thing. But who needs regulation, this is Texas, right
But I'm sure it's all good, after all the governor said the grid is fine..
I agree, nuclear is the solution for energy. The problem is storage of the spent materials. Much of it is being recycled but the left over radioactive materials are being stored in bunkers, in the future it will be stored underground. How is that not a problem ? Here in Michigan, there were proposals to store it under one of the Great Lakes....that has to be the most asinine thing ever. Luckily it has been stopped.
"With that, OPG's more than 16-year pursuit of a deep underground repository to store almost a half-mile underground some radioactive waste from its 20 nuclear reactors comes to an end — at least at the controversial location by Lake Huron."
In short, the outages were caused mostly by shutdown of gas, coal, and nuclear energy sources.
This begs the question. Why do conservatives hate renewable energy so much? Why do they get such a hard-on for non-renewable sources? Do conservatives actually believe that we have unlimited supply of fossil fuel?
Not really a Conservative here, but lean right. I'm all about "green" energy...if it is actually "green" and it's cost effective. A friend of mine lives in Ontario, Canada, pretty much across the lake from me. There is a huge wind farm there, on clear days we can see it on the horizon, at night , that whole side of the lake flashes from the lights on them. The other side of the lake glows from all the "grow" houses, but that is another topic.
Their electric bills have skyrocketed. At the moment , wind power appears to be an economic failure there. This is what many of us are against. If it was cost effective, I'd love to add solar and wind power on my home and cottage, I just can't afford it.
"Despite the act being repealed, Ontarians continue to pay exorbitant rates. In April, 2020, the market value for all wind-generated electricity in Ontario was $4.3 million, but Ontario paid $184.5 million in wind contracts—almost 43 times the value of electricity delivered."
Gasoline is up to $2.95 in my part of SE PA. I can't imagine how much heating oil will be going up. Thanks Biden. A$$hole.
The problem with fuel prices is that they are tied to the cost of crude oil, which has been increasing this year. The availability of vaccines will likely increase business activity and thus increase consumption. OPEC+ has also had a hand in tightening supply, so that will drive up costs as well. So yeah, we can blame it all on Biden because he controls the world now.
Wind accounts for just 10 percent of the power in Texas generated during the winter. And the loss of power to the grid caused by shutdowns of thermal power plants, primarily those relying on natural gas, dwarfed the dent caused by frozen wind turbines, by a factor of five or six.
Quote:
When it gets really cold, it can be hard to produce electricity, as customers in Texas and neighboring states are finding out. But it’s not impossible. Operators in Alaska, Canada, Maine, Norway and Siberia do it all the time.
What has sent Texas reeling is not an engineering problem, nor is it the frozen wind turbines blamed by prominent Republicans. It is a financial structure for power generation that offers no incentives to power plant operators to prepare for winter. In the name of deregulation and free markets, critics say, Texas has created an electric grid that puts an emphasis on cheap prices over reliable service.
Before Texas secedes they better figure out how to keep the lights on.
And neighboring French electricity costs are just 59% of German electricity prices. France produces one-tenth the carbon pollution from electricity compared to Germany.
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