Wind And Solar Are Bailing Out Texas Amid Record Heat

[mudwhistle]

Where I live there are communities dependent on logging. Logging companies used to build housing with central steam heating. Up here, cooling was not a requirement.

I didn't know what AC was until I went overseas in the Pacific.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

The report came from CNN. This opens speculation as to how truthful it is.

 

[Delldude]

The report came from CNN. This opens speculation as to how truthful it is.

But wait, they're the most trusted name in news.

 

[badger2]

Portable lithium ion power stations charged by solar panels will run an air conditioner, as can be seen on youtube. Low temperatures do not affect a solar panel's output in Wisconsin, as we have already proven, which charges an electric bike.

 

[mudwhistle]

Portable lithium ion power stations charged by solar panels will run an air conditioner, as can be seen on youtube. Low temperatures do not affect a solar panel's output in Wisconsin, as we have already proven, which charges an electric bike.

Low temps effect the storage capacity of a battery.
It's simple physics.

 

[Delldude]

Portable lithium ion power stations charged by solar panels will run an air conditioner, as can be seen on youtube. Low temperatures do not affect a solar panel's output in Wisconsin, as we have already proven, which charges an electric bike.

So we can run one air conditioner and one electric bike....Biden has saved the planet.

 

[San Souci]

The problem with hydroelectric is that all the best places seem to be drying up! And the problem with damns is that they generally often cause side-issues like blocking migrating salmon. I'm not a power plant expert but understand enough about fission and the past accidents like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island to think that at this point, we can learn from our mistakes and build fail-safe reactors whose backup make it impossible to melt down and don't put all of the wiring for the back up systems in the same wiring tunnel as the primary systems just burned out by the fire.

Instead of screwing around with useless things like Wind and Solar ,why not a HUGE R&D effort to build a FUSION Reactor? Also ,Hydrogen Peroxide would give plenty of power. The Emissions from Hy-Prox are Oxygen and Water.

 

[Delldude]

Instead of screwing around with useless things like Wind and Solar ,why not a HUGE R&D effort to build a FUSION Reactor? Also ,Hydrogen Peroxide would give plenty of power. The Emissions from Hy-Prox are Oxygen and Water.

I believe that is happening now.

 

[San Souci]

I believe that is happening now.

Hope so. The wind ain't always blowing. The Sun ain't always shining. These are futile persuits.

 

[Delldude]

Hope so. The wind ain't always blowing. The Sun ain't always shining. These are futile persuits.

Go big time on wind, suddenly a huge volcano pops, putting ash into the atmosphere for a year or so.

 

[Bootney Lee Farnsworth]

Texans are cranking on the air conditioning this week amid an unusually early heat wave, setting new records for electricity demand in the state, which surpassed 75 gigawatts on Sunday and smashed the 2019 record. Texas grid operator ERCOT projects it could approach that peak again on Tuesday.
But unlike previous extreme weather events in Texas which led to deadly blackouts, the grid is holding up remarkably well this week. Several experts told CNN that it's owed in large part to strong performances from wind and solar, which generated 27 gigawatts of electricity during Sunday's peak demand -- close to 40% of the total needed.

"Texas is, by rhetoric, anti-renewables. But frankly, renewables are bailing us out," said Michael Webber, an energy expert and professor at the University of Texas at Austin. "They're rocking. That really spares us a lot of heartache and a lot of money."
Despite the Texas Republican rhetoric that wind and solar are unreliable, Texas has a massive and growing fleet of renewables. Zero-carbon electricity sources (wind, solar, and nuclear) powered about 38% of the state's power in 2021, rivaling natural gas at 42%.

Wind and solar power are 'bailing out' Texas amid record heat and energy demand | CNN

Energy experts told CNN the Texas electric grid is holding up well this week in large part to strong performances from renewable energy.

www.cnn.com

Guess which state is the largest wind producer?

This thread aged well.

 

[Rambunctious]

Wind and solar aren't "bailing out" Texas... Texas doesn't have a choice because the Texas government stupidly went all in on so called renewables... the same kind of green energy policy they adopted in Shri Lanka which is now today a failed nation because of it.....

 

[2aguy]

Texans are cranking on the air conditioning this week amid an unusually early heat wave, setting new records for electricity demand in the state, which surpassed 75 gigawatts on Sunday and smashed the 2019 record. Texas grid operator ERCOT projects it could approach that peak again on Tuesday.
But unlike previous extreme weather events in Texas which led to deadly blackouts, the grid is holding up remarkably well this week. Several experts told CNN that it's owed in large part to strong performances from wind and solar, which generated 27 gigawatts of electricity during Sunday's peak demand -- close to 40% of the total needed.

"Texas is, by rhetoric, anti-renewables. But frankly, renewables are bailing us out," said Michael Webber, an energy expert and professor at the University of Texas at Austin. "They're rocking. That really spares us a lot of heartache and a lot of money."
Despite the Texas Republican rhetoric that wind and solar are unreliable, Texas has a massive and growing fleet of renewables. Zero-carbon electricity sources (wind, solar, and nuclear) powered about 38% of the state's power in 2021, rivaling natural gas at 42%.

Wind and solar power are 'bailing out' Texas amid record heat and energy demand | CNN

Energy experts told CNN the Texas electric grid is holding up well this week in large part to strong performances from renewable energy.

www.cnn.com

Guess which state is the largest wind producer?

Yeah…no…..wind is only at 8% of capacity it isn’t doing what it is supposed to be doing

It is a failure…

Texas Wind Power Is Failing Right When the State Needs It Most​

• Turbines are generating 8% of installed available capacity
• High-pressure system brings heat wave while depressing winds

Texas Wind Power Is Failing Right When the State Needs It Most

www.bloomberg.com

 

[beautress]

Texans are cranking on the air conditioning this week amid an unusually early heat wave, setting new records for electricity demand in the state, which surpassed 75 gigawatts on Sunday and smashed the 2019 record. Texas grid operator ERCOT projects it could approach that peak again on Tuesday.
But unlike previous extreme weather events in Texas which led to deadly blackouts, the grid is holding up remarkably well this week. Several experts told CNN that it's owed in large part to strong performances from wind and solar, which generated 27 gigawatts of electricity during Sunday's peak demand -- close to 40% of the total needed.

"Texas is, by rhetoric, anti-renewables. But frankly, renewables are bailing us out," said Michael Webber, an energy expert and professor at the University of Texas at Austin. "They're rocking. That really spares us a lot of heartache and a lot of money."
Despite the Texas Republican rhetoric that wind and solar are unreliable, Texas has a massive and growing fleet of renewables. Zero-carbon electricity sources (wind, solar, and nuclear) powered about 38% of the state's power in 2021, rivaling natural gas at 42%.

Wind and solar power are 'bailing out' Texas amid record heat and energy demand | CNN

Energy experts told CNN the Texas electric grid is holding up well this week in large part to strong performances from renewable energy.

www.cnn.com

Guess which state is the largest wind producer?

Today they put a local warning that the intense heat is causing wind and solar problems, and requested that we turn off the use of air conditioners by half. I've been turning the AC at night for several weeks now, because earlier it was a lot cooler at night. Today, the house didn't warm up until the afternoon, so I turned the air conditioner back on. It's cool again at nine, and I've already turned the downstairs cooler off. Hope everyone is having good luck with alternating the on and off cycles if they participate in saving electricity. God bless our dear Texas and keep all 29 million of us temperature safe, and also may people make sure not to leave children and pets in the car and the streets safe. Amen.

 

[badger2]

Solar panels will charge a power station (lithium battery pack) which will run an AC. Totally off-grid. See youtube.

 

[Stryder50]

We { everyone really needs less plastic in their life }. Plastics are
not a no brainer.A lot of health problems { cancers ets. } are due to
plastics.Plus burning plastic is a No-No.
Like cutting down Poison Ivy and burning along with a
bunch of leaves.Poison Ivy is highly toxic.One could die from breathing in
poison Ivy that is burning.

"Plastics" is generic for artificial produced items, using hydrocarbon resources.

If you read and understood my post #22 here, you'd understand and hence have a "no brainer".

But seems you didn't, and don't grasp how much "plastics" are an essential part of modern life, economics, technologies, etc.; hence an implication of no brain in gears, and a "no brainer" of a different sorts.

At most times, most of us are surrounded by about 75-80% "plastics" in forms of paints, solvents, materials, clothing, furniture, vehicles, appliances, etc., etc., etc.

 

[beagle9]

Don't forget the whales, which were the major source in the 19th century. Until they stopped reproducing fast enough to meet demand, hence the turn to petroleum.

And petroleum (and natural gas) are more than fuel sources. They are the primary source for;
Plastics - from the casing of your computer, to vehicle body parts, construction material, composites used in aircraft and other vehicles, etc., etc., etc., ...

Asphalt of our roads, synthetic rubber for the tires that roll on those roads, and synthetic leather and other materials of the shoes we wear when running/walking those roads, the Lycra sports wear, the rayon and other modern fabrics, plastic packaging for everything from grocery items to most consumer products, ...

The list could fill pages of posts here, but point is;

The environment 'eco-nazis' whom think that the alternatives to carbon resources will be cheap, plentiful, and meet all our needs are ignorant of the complexities of manufacture, crop production, transportation, and other components of our modern and consumer focused lifestyles and existence.

As you point out, to go to a petroleum (and other carbon resources such as coal, natural gas, etc.) "free" (non-use) civilization would mean global population reduction on order of 80-90%. And a brute, animal powered life support system for those left on Earth.

Good post.... What alternative energy sources should have been trending towards was the individual be it him or herself, otherwise with the idea of living more free and less dependent on government by way of such method's or sources to be used. We should have million's of free thinkers making the nation less dependent of globalism and/or upon state or local government's than we do of government dependents in this so called free nation.

The rest of the population that wants to live in socialist la la land, otherwise that is sustainable by government from cradle to grave, then it has to be achieved in the most easiest ways possible by said government. Alternative energy is costly as you say, and it's more complicated to sustain and maintain. It's not the answer to sustainable "abundant on demand, and by demand power", otherwise that is always consistent and durable with the ability to keep the nation as a whole on the ready and safe whenever needed.

Am I wrong ?

 

[Stryder50]

Good post.... What alternative energy sources should have been trending towards was the individual be it him or herself, otherwise with the idea of living more free and less dependent on government by way of such method's or sources to be used. We should have million's of free thinkers making the nation less dependent of globalism and/or upon state or local government's than we do of government dependents in this so called free nation.

The rest of the population that wants to live in socialist la la land, otherwise that is sustainable by government from cradle to grave, then it has to be achieved in the most easiest ways possible by said government. Alternative energy is costly as you say, and it's more complicated to sustain and maintain. It's not the answer to sustainable "abundant on demand, and by demand power", otherwise that is always consistent and durable with the ability to keep the nation as a whole on the ready and safe whenever needed.

Am I wrong ?

I agree that "alternative energy sources/systems" can have their place, but not as mainstream energy sources. Not yet anyway.

Wife and I are considering getting a few solar panels, and/or small scale wind generators (with battery storage of course) only because the main electric power grid shows potential of not being reliable. I'm talking more than the occasional and short term 'black out' due to storm or blown transformer.

Efforts are afoot here in PNW to shut down the dam power generators and dismantle the dams, mostly for the sake of the fish/salmon. Never mind the huge need for flood controls and irrigation, especially in the Eastern part of our state(Washington).

The inmates running the asylum insanity here is that with a push for everyone to go electric vehicle, give up internal combustions, compounded with shut down and decrease in electrical generating grid, increase probability of brown out and black outs seem in the future. Catch 22 of sorts if one remains dependent upon "public utility" for electricity.

So yeah, getting off the grid, in more ways than one, seems the sane and logical course when the crazies are starting to have more influence.

 

[Stryder50]

One way "solar" could work rather efficiently; not be limited to daylight and land space for the panels, etc. - would be via orbital solar array power plants. Placed in geosynchronous orbit and transforming the electricity into microwaves, which beam down to receiver antennae array on Earth surface, then transformed back into electricity into the grid.

Rather pricey to get started and would have to be on a grand scale such as a national effort. But once seeded, could be passed over to private enterprise. Would provide reason and means to get a rather large space program going that would include assorted lift vehicles, orbital habitats and likely mining and basing on the Moon for resource mining and smeltering/refining activity.

 

[Jarlaxle]

What happens when NG is transmitted through underground lines where the ground is very cold and the NG in the supply line is a higher temperature?

That's why they go below the frost line!