Frozen wind turbines hamper Texas power output

[OldLady]

So I went to google. Indeed, Biden calls for all electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2035. They've got a hell of a long way to go. But I am not worried that they will phase out reliable sources until they've got reliable alternatives on line. That would be stupid.

The wind turbines in Texas are supplemental, used during the hottest months to cover demand for ac. They just tried firing them up for the increased heating demands during this once in a lifetime weather emergency and they too were affected by the highly unusual weather. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, or that it's horribly unreliable. They are also crippled by a lack of natural gas--it's not just the wind turbines. I heard that in some places, the natural gas pipes are freezing as well.

We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas," ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said in a news release. "At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units."

The cold even forced an oil refinery to shut down.

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

Some of the warmest places in Texas, where rolling power outages are occurring across the chilly state, are inside cars and trucks parked in the driveway of a home without electricity.

www.cnn.com

It's always strange to read this, as for me an electricity interruption has absolutely zero effect on my heating.

Just your flushing. You use wood? I do love walking into a cozy warm house heated by a wood stove on a cold winter's day.

 

[OldLady]

So I went to google. Indeed, Biden calls for all electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2035. They've got a hell of a long way to go. But I am not worried that they will phase out reliable sources until they've got reliable alternatives on line. That would be stupid.

The wind turbines in Texas are supplemental, used during the hottest months to cover demand for ac. They just tried firing them up for the increased heating demands during this once in a lifetime weather emergency and they too were affected by the highly unusual weather. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, or that it's horribly unreliable. They are also crippled by a lack of natural gas--it's not just the wind turbines. I heard that in some places, the natural gas pipes are freezing as well.

We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas," ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said in a news release. "At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units."

The cold even forced an oil refinery to shut down.

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

Some of the warmest places in Texas, where rolling power outages are occurring across the chilly state, are inside cars and trucks parked in the driveway of a home without electricity.

www.cnn.com

Funny that's exactly what they did in Germany.

They decommissioned nuclear plants and thought wind power could provide enough power.

They were wrong

Let's hope we learn from that. I just read an article on it in Forbes. Sounds like a mess.

We won't learn from it we will copy it.

Don't be pessimistic. Write to your Congressman.

 

[Blues Man]

So I went to google. Indeed, Biden calls for all electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2035. They've got a hell of a long way to go. But I am not worried that they will phase out reliable sources until they've got reliable alternatives on line. That would be stupid.

The wind turbines in Texas are supplemental, used during the hottest months to cover demand for ac. They just tried firing them up for the increased heating demands during this once in a lifetime weather emergency and they too were affected by the highly unusual weather. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, or that it's horribly unreliable. They are also crippled by a lack of natural gas--it's not just the wind turbines. I heard that in some places, the natural gas pipes are freezing as well.

We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas," ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said in a news release. "At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units."

The cold even forced an oil refinery to shut down.

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

Some of the warmest places in Texas, where rolling power outages are occurring across the chilly state, are inside cars and trucks parked in the driveway of a home without electricity.

www.cnn.com

It's always strange to read this, as for me an electricity interruption has absolutely zero effect on my heating.

Just your flushing. You use wood? I do love walking into a cozy warm house heated by a wood stove on a cold winter's day.

I use propane for heat and hot water.

My furnace is 98% efficient so I waste very little

 

[Jarlaxle]

Light water reactors are obsolete we should be getting rid of them by attrition and we should be going all in on LFTR reactors

Naah. The greenies, the NIMBYs, and the BANANA kooks will never permit it. They hear the word "nuclear" and immediately shit their pants.

 

[Blues Man]

So I went to google. Indeed, Biden calls for all electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2035. They've got a hell of a long way to go. But I am not worried that they will phase out reliable sources until they've got reliable alternatives on line. That would be stupid.

The wind turbines in Texas are supplemental, used during the hottest months to cover demand for ac. They just tried firing them up for the increased heating demands during this once in a lifetime weather emergency and they too were affected by the highly unusual weather. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, or that it's horribly unreliable. They are also crippled by a lack of natural gas--it's not just the wind turbines. I heard that in some places, the natural gas pipes are freezing as well.

We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas," ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said in a news release. "At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units."

The cold even forced an oil refinery to shut down.

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

Some of the warmest places in Texas, where rolling power outages are occurring across the chilly state, are inside cars and trucks parked in the driveway of a home without electricity.

www.cnn.com

Funny that's exactly what they did in Germany.

They decommissioned nuclear plants and thought wind power could provide enough power.

They were wrong

Let's hope we learn from that. I just read an article on it in Forbes. Sounds like a mess.

We won't learn from it we will copy it.

Don't be pessimistic. Write to your Congressman.

I have no reason to think our politicians are any smarter than the idiots in Germany.

 

[Jarlaxle]

It's always strange to read this, as for me an electricity interruption has absolutely zero effect on my heating.

Not everyone heats with woodstoves. Most furnaces require electricity.

 

[Blues Man]

Light water reactors are obsolete we should be getting rid of them by attrition and we should be going all in on LFTR reactors

Naah. The greenies, the NIMBYs, and the BANANA kooks will never permit it. They hear the word "nuclear" and immediately shit their pants.

When they finally realize that windmills solar panels and batteries will never be enough to meet the power needs of a fossil fuel free economy they will have to accept it

 

[jbrownson0831]

Yes, GOP run Texas won't use their own resource.
Worse, the state allows NG producers to Flare Gas as there is no market for it.
They could easily build/run power plant on every day's flared NG for just about -0-.
Morons.
Conservative of course.

`

Hmmmm maybe you should go to Texas and blow your worthless hot air on the frozen turbines.....

 

[Jarlaxle]

When they finally realize that windmills solar panels and batteries will never be enough to meet the power needs of a fossil fuel free economy they will have to accept it

You greatly underestimate their capacity for self-delusion. They are not rational-this is essentially a religion for them.

 

[Pogo]

So I went to google. Indeed, Biden calls for all electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2035. They've got a hell of a long way to go. But I am not worried that they will phase out reliable sources until they've got reliable alternatives on line. That would be stupid.

The wind turbines in Texas are supplemental, used during the hottest months to cover demand for ac. They just tried firing them up for the increased heating demands during this once in a lifetime weather emergency and they too were affected by the highly unusual weather. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, or that it's horribly unreliable. They are also crippled by a lack of natural gas--it's not just the wind turbines. I heard that in some places, the natural gas pipes are freezing as well.

We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas," ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said in a news release. "At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units."

The cold even forced an oil refinery to shut down.

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

Some of the warmest places in Texas, where rolling power outages are occurring across the chilly state, are inside cars and trucks parked in the driveway of a home without electricity.

www.cnn.com

It's always strange to read this, as for me an electricity interruption has absolutely zero effect on my heating.

Just your flushing. You use wood? I do love walking into a cozy warm house heated by a wood stove on a cold winter's day.

Wood for the coldest times, propane for everyday like right now. T'other day when the power went out all night I cooked my dinner on the wood stove.

The power went out that night just after sunset, which meant the poor power guys had to traipse around in the dark in the bitter cold looking for trouble, for hours. They were poking around my back yard, which is a national forest. Eventually they found the issue somewhere else.

We get fierce winds here, ridiculous winds that blow the bark off the trees. That's almost always what it is, a flying tree limb.

 

[Weatherman2020]

So I went to google. Indeed, Biden calls for all electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2035. They've got a hell of a long way to go. But I am not worried that they will phase out reliable sources until they've got reliable alternatives on line. That would be stupid.

The wind turbines in Texas are supplemental, used during the hottest months to cover demand for ac. They just tried firing them up for the increased heating demands during this once in a lifetime weather emergency and they too were affected by the highly unusual weather. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, or that it's horribly unreliable. They are also crippled by a lack of natural gas--it's not just the wind turbines. I heard that in some places, the natural gas pipes are freezing as well.

We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas," ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said in a news release. "At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units."

The cold even forced an oil refinery to shut down.

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

Some of the warmest places in Texas, where rolling power outages are occurring across the chilly state, are inside cars and trucks parked in the driveway of a home without electricity.

www.cnn.com

It's always strange to read this, as for me an electricity interruption has absolutely zero effect on my heating.

Just your flushing. You use wood? I do love walking into a cozy warm house heated by a wood stove on a cold winter's day.

Planet killer. Nothing like chopping down trees to burn them to spew carbon into the atmosphere.

 

[Pogo]

So I went to google. Indeed, Biden calls for all electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2035. They've got a hell of a long way to go. But I am not worried that they will phase out reliable sources until they've got reliable alternatives on line. That would be stupid.

The wind turbines in Texas are supplemental, used during the hottest months to cover demand for ac. They just tried firing them up for the increased heating demands during this once in a lifetime weather emergency and they too were affected by the highly unusual weather. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, or that it's horribly unreliable. They are also crippled by a lack of natural gas--it's not just the wind turbines. I heard that in some places, the natural gas pipes are freezing as well.

We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas," ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said in a news release. "At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units."

The cold even forced an oil refinery to shut down.

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

Some of the warmest places in Texas, where rolling power outages are occurring across the chilly state, are inside cars and trucks parked in the driveway of a home without electricity.

www.cnn.com

It's always strange to read this, as for me an electricity interruption has absolutely zero effect on my heating.

Just your flushing. You use wood? I do love walking into a cozy warm house heated by a wood stove on a cold winter's day.

Planet killer. Nothing like chopping down trees to burn them to spew carbon into the atmosphere.

Don't nobody need to chop no trees around here. They falls. Or more likely as regards the wood I use, they get blown down.

 

[OldLady]

So I went to google. Indeed, Biden calls for all electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2035. They've got a hell of a long way to go. But I am not worried that they will phase out reliable sources until they've got reliable alternatives on line. That would be stupid.

The wind turbines in Texas are supplemental, used during the hottest months to cover demand for ac. They just tried firing them up for the increased heating demands during this once in a lifetime weather emergency and they too were affected by the highly unusual weather. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, or that it's horribly unreliable. They are also crippled by a lack of natural gas--it's not just the wind turbines. I heard that in some places, the natural gas pipes are freezing as well.

We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas," ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said in a news release. "At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units."

The cold even forced an oil refinery to shut down.

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

Some of the warmest places in Texas, where rolling power outages are occurring across the chilly state, are inside cars and trucks parked in the driveway of a home without electricity.

www.cnn.com

It's always strange to read this, as for me an electricity interruption has absolutely zero effect on my heating.

Just your flushing. You use wood? I do love walking into a cozy warm house heated by a wood stove on a cold winter's day.

Planet killer. Nothing like chopping down trees to burn them to spew carbon into the atmosphere.

They're grown to be chopped down, just like broccoli.

 

[progressive hunter]

 

[Wild Bill Kelsoe]

The irony of this event is oh so delicious

Nearly half of Texas' installed wind power generation capacity has been offline because of frozen wind turbines in West Texas, according to Texas grid operators.

Wind farms across the state generate up to a combined 25,100 megawatts of energy. But unusually moist winter conditions in West Texas brought on by the weekend's freezing rain and historically low temperatures have iced many of those wind turbines to a halt.

Frozen wind turbines hamper Texas power output, state's electric grid operator says

Texas grid operators urge conservation as frozen wind turbines freeze up electric generation.

www.statesman.com

They should have thought of the worst case scenario and yet they never do because then how else can they have an excuse to let people have no power during a cold snap the might rival 1899 cold snap...

Every winter, in one part of the country, or another, the windmills freeze up and stop producing electricity. This is a regular occurance.

A couple years ago, 18% of Minnesota's grid went down. Windmills and and solar panels produce 18% of Minnesota's electrical output.

 

[Blues Man]

So I went to google. Indeed, Biden calls for all electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2035. They've got a hell of a long way to go. But I am not worried that they will phase out reliable sources until they've got reliable alternatives on line. That would be stupid.

The wind turbines in Texas are supplemental, used during the hottest months to cover demand for ac. They just tried firing them up for the increased heating demands during this once in a lifetime weather emergency and they too were affected by the highly unusual weather. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, or that it's horribly unreliable. They are also crippled by a lack of natural gas--it's not just the wind turbines. I heard that in some places, the natural gas pipes are freezing as well.

We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas," ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said in a news release. "At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units."

The cold even forced an oil refinery to shut down.

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

Some of the warmest places in Texas, where rolling power outages are occurring across the chilly state, are inside cars and trucks parked in the driveway of a home without electricity.

www.cnn.com

It's always strange to read this, as for me an electricity interruption has absolutely zero effect on my heating.

Just your flushing. You use wood? I do love walking into a cozy warm house heated by a wood stove on a cold winter's day.

Planet killer. Nothing like chopping down trees to burn them to spew carbon into the atmosphere.

Actually wood heat is carbon neutral the carbon in living trees is not like the old concentrated carbon sources like oil and coal. If managed properly wood heat does not add to atmospheric CO2

 

[flacaltenn]

They're looking into tidal energy as well. The technology will improve. By chipping away at demand for carbon fuels by using renewable, clean energy where possible, everyone wins.,

Plus a lot of waterfall that e.g. HydroQuebec harnesses next door to you. I imagine they sell some surplus to New England.

Big Hydro is no longer acceptable to the "green energy" fanatics.. Hydro no longer in the Green Bible of "alternatives".. Even tho, most states REPORT their rather significant hydro as "renewable". Cant build more TODAY -- but way back, the Sierra club and others actually endorsed it.. That's the way it is with a LOT of green energy history.. It stirs a "dream" and ends up getting booted when reality takes control.. Like "biomass conversion" or "tidal" energy.

 

[Pogo]

They're looking into tidal energy as well. The technology will improve. By chipping away at demand for carbon fuels by using renewable, clean energy where possible, everyone wins.,

Plus a lot of waterfall that e.g. HydroQuebec harnesses next door to you. I imagine they sell some surplus to New England.

Big Hydro is no longer acceptable to the "green energy" fanatics.. Hydro no longer in the Green Bible of "alternatives".. Even tho, most states REPORT their rather significant hydro as "renewable". Cant build more TODAY -- but way back, the Sierra club and others actually endorsed it.. That's the way it is with a LOT of green energy history.. It stirs a "dream" and ends up getting booted when reality takes control.. Like "biomass conversion" or "tidal" energy.

That's nice dear.

But again nothing I posted had anything to do with "green energy fanatics" did it. I know the poster I quoted is in Maine and I know where Québec is, and I tied those together.

 

[flacaltenn]

So I went to google. Indeed, Biden calls for all electricity to be generated by renewable sources by 2035. They've got a hell of a long way to go. But I am not worried that they will phase out reliable sources until they've got reliable alternatives on line. That would be stupid.

The wind turbines in Texas are supplemental, used during the hottest months to cover demand for ac. They just tried firing them up for the increased heating demands during this once in a lifetime weather emergency and they too were affected by the highly unusual weather. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, or that it's horribly unreliable. They are also crippled by a lack of natural gas--it's not just the wind turbines. I heard that in some places, the natural gas pipes are freezing as well.

We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas," ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said in a news release. "At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units."

The cold even forced an oil refinery to shut down.

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

Some of the warmest places in Texas, where rolling power outages are occurring across the chilly state, are inside cars and trucks parked in the driveway of a home without electricity.

www.cnn.com

It's always strange to read this, as for me an electricity interruption has absolutely zero effect on my heating.

Just your flushing. You use wood? I do love walking into a cozy warm house heated by a wood stove on a cold winter's day.

Planet killer. Nothing like chopping down trees to burn them to spew carbon into the atmosphere.

Actually wood heat is carbon neutral the carbon in living trees is not like the old concentrated carbon sources like oil and coal. If managed properly wood heat does not add to atmospheric CO2

That's a sketchy interpretation for a TRUE environmentalist. The issue with wood burning or biomass combustion in general IS NOT CO2.. It's all the OTHER REAL pollutants associated with it.. And it actually CONTAINS CARBON in the exhaust..

Funny that burning trees will save the planet, while planting trees will save the planet.. Even MORE ODD that you can burn TREES CLEANLY -- but you cannot talk about "clean coal"..

 

[Concerned American]

The irony of this event is oh so delicious

Nearly half of Texas' installed wind power generation capacity has been offline because of frozen wind turbines in West Texas, according to Texas grid operators.

Wind farms across the state generate up to a combined 25,100 megawatts of energy. But unusually moist winter conditions in West Texas brought on by the weekend's freezing rain and historically low temperatures have iced many of those wind turbines to a halt.

Frozen wind turbines hamper Texas power output, state's electric grid operator says

Texas grid operators urge conservation as frozen wind turbines freeze up electric generation.

www.statesman.com

Where's the "irony"?

Check Weatherman2020's post on this earlier. He illustrated with helicopter spraying petrichemical deicer on the wind turbines to get rid of the ice so they could make green energy.

But seriously, is this a matter of ice on the blades?

One of our local radio stations has had a shitty signal lately which I strongly suspect is the effect of de-icers on the antenna not working. Ice will fuck up things that need to be smooth as it changes the shape. Anyone who subscribes to satellite TV probably knows this too. And of course in the case of a propeller it changes the whole weight and balance.

Wind turbine blades should have de-icers on them, at least if they're in a climate where ice is likely. And maybe they do but not in Texas.

When Maine had the Mother of all ice storms in 1998, very few people had generators; even most gas stations didn't, which was causing the electric crews called in to help to run out of gas. 3" of ice encased the state; transmission lines fell like a row of dominoes, electric was down for a week and a half. Most people around here have wells, so along with the misery of no lights, no heat, no tv, and living on devilled ham sandwiches, most people also had no running water. We tried melting buckets of snow to flush the toilet, but it was too damned cold in the house for it to melt. After that storm, a lot of people started investing in pellet stoves or generators and most gas stations now have enough backup to at least pump gas (and hopefully make coffee). They're not expecting anything like it for a hundred years. Maybe Texas, too, will start planning for the unforeseen. It seems like defrosters on the turbines should be standard, at any rate.

Very cool, I'm jealous. I love natural disasters, well at least the ones that involve power outages.

I have the same issue here. When the power goes out the first thing that comes to mind is: "You get ONE flush, make it count". Actually if there's a power outage it usually means the creek just across the way is swollen with water, so I'll take a bucket over there to refill the toilet tank. For drinking and cooking I have backup stored water to tide me over until if need be I can drive up the road to a local spring. Wood stove and/or propane camping stove for cooking. If it's arctic weather and the reefer is off I can just store food out in the car. That's why I like power outages -- it makes ya get creative. And if you live in a lighted area (I don't any more) you get to see stars.

Or if you thought ahead, the emergency generator starts up and you go change your digital clocks and watch your favorite TV program.