This is not 100% true. Wind and solar do not account for a large enough percentage of total power to be solely blamed for this. This is mismanagement, deregulation and privatization. Also the fact that TX is on its own power grid not connected to the eastern or western grids in any major way. The TX governor even admitted that the equipment at the natural gas facilities seized up and the natural gas is frozen in the lines. This just to say do your own research seek facts for yourself. Dont believe everything you hear left or right. The TX Governor's interview on Fox News was totally different than the ones he did with state and local news outlets. Left vs Right.......third party now!
Erick Erickson didn't say renewables were very large. They run 20% to 25% of power generation in the state. What he IS pointing out is that ALL systems failed due to a lack of winterizing. Please note this storm/weather is a once in a 150 yr type thing.
“ We are no where near the leftwing pipe dream of massive battery storage systems for the wind and solar production that is generated in excess of daily demand.”
We will never get there. Wind and solar remain unreliable, and cost ineffective without those Federal subsidies, which is why they will never work on a national scale - which is precisely what the Bidenauts are proposing.
California yesterday, Texas today, the rest of the country tomorrow; welcome to the Green Raw Deal future.
I am in Texas. What they are telling us is that because of COVID, the inspections were done via Zoom and that more inspections were to be done later this month. What is being shown on TV is (1) the 3 grids that are used in the country and (2) the graph of how much power is being used as opposed to what is available. Texas is the only state that has its own grid, so we have no place to get energy if ours collapses. Other states, as I understand it, can purchase energy from other states within the same grid that are not experiencing the shortages. Please correct me if I have misrepresented anything.
The simple truth about renewable energy showed its ugly head in Texas this past week. The truth is this: To avoid shortages you must have sufficient reliable weather-independent backup power to compensate for the total loss of the renewable sector. As you increase the percentage of wind/solar you must back it up with an equal amount of non-renewable capacity. Furthermore, the backup must be able to come on stream very quickly to avoid outages. This generally means natural gas powered turbine generators.
There is a complicating factor where wind is concerned that no one wants to talk about: Wind generators fail over time and are not easily nor economically feasible to fix. Drive by any wind farm and you see this - a high percentage of the blades are not turning. These towers are broken and impossible to fix without bringing in huge high capacity cranes to fix them. Put simply if the time to tower failure is ten years then you loose 10% of your wind farm capacity each year. Under today's incentives it is cheaper to build new wind farms than fix old ones. In the Pacific Northwest, where I live, we are starting to see abandoned wind farms.
Thanks. I think the experience in Germany supports your point. Lots of turbines reaching end of useful life, or failing due to lack of proper maintenance.
As long as the Federal government continues to push "one size fits all" solutions and regulations to complex and nuanced issues, we will continue to see catastrophic policy failures and be forced to deal with the unintended consequences of their "not well thought out" agendas.
This is fascinating, thank you. I seem to remember that the overall subsidies (for all fuel sources) dropped during '08-'09 but assume they were added back as the economy improved. The whole situation definitely underscores the need for backup power sources if we want to go all Green New Deal. Nuclear's the cleanest and safest but there's a big NIMBY factor. From the left. Sigh.
I like that Texas is one of the leaders in renewable energy, and not surprised at all. Here's a thought! I suggest Bezos, Zuckerberg and Gates, the heroes of the Left, underwrite renewable energy, using their own funds, no Federal subsidies - you know, put their hundreds of billions of dollars to work. This is simply private investment, a tool of capitalism used for good ideas that benefit people and create jobs! Oh, but there's a problem... Bezos, Zuckerberg and Gates are, at the core of their very souls, capitalists. They will want a return on their investment. That ain't happening!
When real investors put real money into renewables - THAT'S when you'll know the economics is at least promising. As long as they're taxpayer subsidized - fuhgeddabout it
The Left wing media is also looking to blame the Governor of Texas for just about anything they possibly can, while giving the Governor of New York a pass on just about everything. Here in the Pacific Northwest the Liberals want to tear down perfectly good hydroelectric dams that are already producing affordable clean energy. As far as energy goes, it should be "all of the above."
This is not 100% true. Wind and solar do not account for a large enough percentage of total power to be solely blamed for this. This is mismanagement, deregulation and privatization. Also the fact that TX is on its own power grid not connected to the eastern or western grids in any major way. The TX governor even admitted that the equipment at the natural gas facilities seized up and the natural gas is frozen in the lines. This just to say do your own research seek facts for yourself. Dont believe everything you hear left or right. The TX Governor's interview on Fox News was totally different than the ones he did with state and local news outlets. Left vs Right.......third party now!
Erick Erickson didn't say renewables were very large. They run 20% to 25% of power generation in the state. What he IS pointing out is that ALL systems failed due to a lack of winterizing. Please note this storm/weather is a once in a 150 yr type thing.
We had a similar storm in 2011.
I did not see him on Fox News. The news conference that I saw was covered by all channels.
Thank you, Erick, for always seeking the truth in these increasingly tribal times...
Update on Texas: Governor Abbott just held a lengthy press conference in which he stated the following:
* Multiple sources of energy have been compromised - wind, solar, coal, natural gas, equipment
failure.
* The South Texas Nuclear Project is completely down but should be operational later today.
* Coal and natural gas sources either froze or are incapable of adding power.
* Governor Abbott, when he was attorney general, prosecuted ERCOT for lack of transparency.
Currently ERCOT has not been forth telling on where power is and is not going.
* In 2011 Texas experienced a severe cold spell, resulting in the legislature making changes.
During the current legislative session, those changes will be reviewed/re-evaluated.
* Due to broken water pipes, residents need to boil water before ingesting it. My city
has sent out two emergency messages today re same.
Erick, you wrote:
“ We are no where near the leftwing pipe dream of massive battery storage systems for the wind and solar production that is generated in excess of daily demand.”
We will never get there. Wind and solar remain unreliable, and cost ineffective without those Federal subsidies, which is why they will never work on a national scale - which is precisely what the Bidenauts are proposing.
California yesterday, Texas today, the rest of the country tomorrow; welcome to the Green Raw Deal future.
I am in Texas. What they are telling us is that because of COVID, the inspections were done via Zoom and that more inspections were to be done later this month. What is being shown on TV is (1) the 3 grids that are used in the country and (2) the graph of how much power is being used as opposed to what is available. Texas is the only state that has its own grid, so we have no place to get energy if ours collapses. Other states, as I understand it, can purchase energy from other states within the same grid that are not experiencing the shortages. Please correct me if I have misrepresented anything.
The simple truth about renewable energy showed its ugly head in Texas this past week. The truth is this: To avoid shortages you must have sufficient reliable weather-independent backup power to compensate for the total loss of the renewable sector. As you increase the percentage of wind/solar you must back it up with an equal amount of non-renewable capacity. Furthermore, the backup must be able to come on stream very quickly to avoid outages. This generally means natural gas powered turbine generators.
There is a complicating factor where wind is concerned that no one wants to talk about: Wind generators fail over time and are not easily nor economically feasible to fix. Drive by any wind farm and you see this - a high percentage of the blades are not turning. These towers are broken and impossible to fix without bringing in huge high capacity cranes to fix them. Put simply if the time to tower failure is ten years then you loose 10% of your wind farm capacity each year. Under today's incentives it is cheaper to build new wind farms than fix old ones. In the Pacific Northwest, where I live, we are starting to see abandoned wind farms.
Thanks. I think the experience in Germany supports your point. Lots of turbines reaching end of useful life, or failing due to lack of proper maintenance.
As long as the Federal government continues to push "one size fits all" solutions and regulations to complex and nuanced issues, we will continue to see catastrophic policy failures and be forced to deal with the unintended consequences of their "not well thought out" agendas.
Our having a single grid disallows the federal government from helping out. Our system, as I understand it, was set up in 1970.
This is fascinating, thank you. I seem to remember that the overall subsidies (for all fuel sources) dropped during '08-'09 but assume they were added back as the economy improved. The whole situation definitely underscores the need for backup power sources if we want to go all Green New Deal. Nuclear's the cleanest and safest but there's a big NIMBY factor. From the left. Sigh.
I like that Texas is one of the leaders in renewable energy, and not surprised at all. Here's a thought! I suggest Bezos, Zuckerberg and Gates, the heroes of the Left, underwrite renewable energy, using their own funds, no Federal subsidies - you know, put their hundreds of billions of dollars to work. This is simply private investment, a tool of capitalism used for good ideas that benefit people and create jobs! Oh, but there's a problem... Bezos, Zuckerberg and Gates are, at the core of their very souls, capitalists. They will want a return on their investment. That ain't happening!
When real investors put real money into renewables - THAT'S when you'll know the economics is at least promising. As long as they're taxpayer subsidized - fuhgeddabout it
The Left wing media is also looking to blame the Governor of Texas for just about anything they possibly can, while giving the Governor of New York a pass on just about everything. Here in the Pacific Northwest the Liberals want to tear down perfectly good hydroelectric dams that are already producing affordable clean energy. As far as energy goes, it should be "all of the above."
Mmmm, let me circle back. My mind is sort of frozen this morning and this did not help. I thought I understood the issue from
My readings yesterday but...Can you say, clear as mud. My problem, not yours.