Texan grid

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dealmaker

Texan grid

Turns out California isn't the only state whose power grid can topple in adverse weather conditions. Texas suffered rolling blackouts yesterday during a rare winter storm, with around 2 million homes being without power. The weather forced natural gas and coal-fired plants offline, and froze wind turbines. Fortune
 
Find it hilarious that the narrative now is to blame it on green energy, as if green energy had much clout in Texas's energy policy.
 
Here4money said:
Find it hilarious that the narrative now is to blame it on green energy, as if green energy had much clout in Texas's energy policy.
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Define "as if"
How much of the Texas energy grid is from wind/solar power
 
Mercor said:
Define "as if"
How much of the Texas energy grid is from wind/solar power
More...

I can't find the article now, but recently read one that mentioned, IIRC, wind accounting for 20% of total generation in Texas.
 
Here4money said:
Find it hilarious that the narrative now is to blame it on green energy, as if green energy had much clout in Texas's energy policy.
More...
This is a post by an engineer friend of mine who ran one of the biggest power plants in Texas.

"For 36 years I worked for the largest electricity generator in Texas. Then Enron, Obama and renewable energy came along and the company shut down 9 coal plants and mines and laid off 5,000 people including me. So now the wind turbines are off line due to ice and the state is experiencing rolling brown outs. Some say build conventional plants to back up the wind and solar so now we have to build twice as many plants (one renewable and one conventional) not to mention developing the gas well and pipeline system and who will pay for that? It’s not very efficient to build generation and natural gas infrastructure that will sit idle for years until they are needed is it? Still think renewable energy is the answer?"

Obviously he has his views but solutions do not come from ideology alone .... or from dismissive snark.

BTW, wind turbines were not designed to be recyclable so they end up in landfills...how's that for Earth friendly?
 
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dealmaker said:
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1361715854371659783
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I've experienced 3 ice storms, two in Dallas and one on L.I.NY. For all their spectacular beauty, they are very damaging. The weight of the sticking ice brings down power lines as well as tree limbs which take down power lines. They and the blown transformers have to be re-connected by crews sent to do the job, and that can take days depending on how wide spread the damage. Trucks and their crews will come in from other States as is the case in all natural disasters but it takes how long it takes.
 
speedo said:
This is a post by an engineer friend of mine who ran one of the biggest power plants in Texas.

"For 36 years I worked for the largest electricity generator in Texas. Then Enron, Obama and renewable energy came along and the company shut down 9 coal plants and mines and laid off 5,000 people including me. So now the wind turbines are off line due to ice and the state is experiencing rolling brown outs. Some say build conventional plants to back up the wind and solar so now we have to build twice as many plants (one renewable and one conventional) not to mention developing the gas well and pipeline system and who will pay for that? It’s not very efficient to build generation and natural gas infrastructure that will sit idle for years until they are needed is it? Still think renewable energy is the answer?"

Obviously he has his views but solutions do not come from ideology alone .... or from dismissive snark.

BTW, wind turbines were not designed to be recyclable so they end up in landfills...how's that for Earth friendly?
More...
Sounds like Texas in their infinite wisdom opted not to buy the anti-frost packages for their wind turbines. Oddly enough plenty northern regions run their wind turbines just fine. In a bigger leap of self-reliance they opted to have their energy grid off the national one, creating a no back up problem.

You can't fix stupid really.
 
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