Wind And Solar Are Bailing Out Texas Amid Record Heat

[Stryder50]

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?

"... Zero-carbon electricity sources (wind, solar, and nuclear) ..."

Is basically a lie!

Doesn't factor in the high carbon costs in mining and manufacturing (and transport + construction) to employ such sources. Nor considers the similar carbon costs of disposing of such, especially the short lived "wind" and "solar" devices.

 

[Stryder50]

Silly.....it is called retro-lifestyle.........wicker and wood will replace all the plastic........if it was good 400 years ago....it is good enough for us....

Of course, it will require a massive "dying off," of the majority of the world population to sustain it...but our socialist friends have a lot of experience with that part of the equation...

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.

 

[DukeU]

Once "done with oil"(petroleum, and natural gas) what raw material do you propose to use to make all the 'plastics' and 'artificial products' those two carbon resources provide @ 98% of ???

I propose we stick with oil and gas until we have something to replace it.

 

[skews13]

Okay.....this Winter let's shut down all of the coal burning and hydro-electric plants and just run everyone's heat off of wind and solar.

You did that last year. It was the only power generation happening, while Ted Cruz was on a plane to Cancun.

Fossil fuel totally failed, and killed people, then hit them with 5 figure bills when it came back on line.

That's some power grid you got going there.

 

[Stryder50]

I propose we stick with oil and gas until we have something to replace it.

Which will likely be up to when they run out.

Any who took and passed organic chemistry will know that "oil(petroleum), natural gas, and coal" so called fossil fuels are a major source of the more accurately referred to "carbon resources".

The alternative is from current living things, flora and fauna. However, corn used for ethanol(fuel) is not available as food for the growing (and hungry) global population.

We've a Catch 22 here of sorts.

 

[Dadoalex]

"Texas is, by rhetoric, anti-renewables . . . "

By rhetoric? What the heck does that even mean? Where did that professor get that idea? From some European anti-US convention he attended?

Texas has long been out front in wind power. Whenever I drive west, I always pass by large windmill farms.

The problem when we had that freeze was too much alternative energy, not not enough.

"Rhetoric" is words designed to influence behavior.
Driving past windmills is not rhetoric.

Abbot:
In July, Abbott directed the PUC to “allocate reliability costs to generation resources that cannot guarantee their own availability, such as wind or solar power” and to “streamline incentives within the ERCOT market to foster the development and maintenance of adequate and reliable sources of power, like natural gas, coal, and nuclear power.”

That is make renewable energy more expensive and use that money for more fossils.

 

[Dadoalex]

Okay.....this Winter let's shut down all of the coal burning and hydro-electric plants and just run everyone's heat off of wind and solar.

OK.
But first let's shut down all the renewable sources and watch the grid collapse.
You're arguing for using horse and buggy technology.

 

[mudwhistle]

You did that last year. It was the only power generation happening, while Ted Cruz was on a plane to Cancun.

Fossil fuel totally failed, and killed people, then hit them with 5 figure bills when it came back on line.

That's some power grid you got going there.

Stop lying asshole. The windmills started freezing....and because snowflakes started shutting down coal energy plants they ran out of electricity.

 

[CarlinAnnArbor]

I propose we stick with oil and gas until we have something to replace it.

We have nuclear but Democrats are scared of it

 

[Delldude]

You did that last year. It was the only power generation happening, while Ted Cruz was on a plane to Cancun.

Fossil fuel totally failed, and killed people, then hit them with 5 figure bills when it came back on line.

That's some power grid you got going there.

No deice on the blades, frozen gas lines....

 

[mudwhistle]

No deice on the blades, frozen gas lines....

Yeah....frozen gas lines. It would take -297 degrees Fahrenheit to freeze natural gas in it's gaseous state.

What happened is hundreds of thousands of people's generators kicked in.....and they mostly run on natural gas.....so the pressure dropped from all of the generators turning on when the electricity shut off.

I think they should make it a felony to build a home that doesn't have a fireplace.

 

[Delldude]

Yeah....frozen gas lines. It would take -297 degrees Fahrenheit to freeze natural gas in it's gaseous state.

What happened is hundreds of thousands of people's generators kicked in.....and they mostly run on natural gas.....so the pressure dropped from all of the generator turning on when the electricity shut off.

I think they should make it a felony to build a home that doesn't have a fireplace.

I believe the problem was water from condensation.

 

[mudwhistle]

I believe the problem was water from condensation.

In a pressurized system?
Did you pull that one out of your ass?

Natural gas or, or freon, either one, while under pressure will remove moisture from a system.
If the system loses pressure then you can get moisture in the system over time if there are leaks. But not if the system is closed. If you put the system on a vacuum and open your valves to the air it will suck in moisture. But since when has natural gas lines been put at a vacuum.

 

[Delldude]

In a pressurized system?
Did you pull that one out of your ass?

Natural gas or, or freon, either one, while under pressure will remove moisture from a system.
If the system loses pressure then you can get moisture in the system over time if there are leaks. But not if the system is closed. If you put the system on a vacuum and open your valves to the air it will suck in moisture. But since when has natural gas lines been put at a vacuum.

Well where I live, in the coldest times, condensation causes freeze ups in the lower areas of a pipe system.
The pressure you refer to is something like 3-10 PSI.

 

[Foolardi]

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?

No way will wind and solar ever be feasible like Natural gas and oil.
First one huge reason.It has to be hooked up like what was done for
cyber optic cables and Internet and other uses.That means thousands and
thousands of miles of digging and some form of cable.Think early Ma Bell.

I saw a story today that the type batteries used for most high end Electric
cars require an almost Immoral degree of digging.
- Is driving an Electric Car Immoral ? -
" You dig up 500,ooo pounds of the earth's crust for just
one battery. "
Plus electric car batteries are dangeous.In a crash if they
get lit { cause a fire } they are very hard to put out.
Tesla is saying they will use weaker { half the power }
batteries in their new cars.Plus Lithium Batteries do not
handle cold climates { like in Canada } very well.
I was gonna say like Lawrence Welk.Famous band maestro
and accordian player.

 

[Foolardi]

Once "done with oil"(petroleum, and natural gas) what raw material do you propose to use to make all the 'plastics' and 'artificial products' those two carbon resources provide @ 98% of ???

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.

 

[mudwhistle]

Well where I live, in the coldest times, condensation causes freeze ups in the lower areas of a pipe system.
The pressure you refer to is something like 3-10 PSI.

Any pressure is enough to keep moisture out of the system.
If you have leaks you'll notice it coming out of the ground....or smell it in the area.
If you suspect you have a leak you can get it tested and they'll tell you if you have one. They shut off the gas at the meter and put a vacuum pump on your system. If they discover a leak they just put some dye in the system and try to track it down by putting it under pressure again. We also had a detector that worked on sound....and in HVAC systems we also had one that detected refrigerants.

 

[Delldude]

Any pressure is enough to keep moisture out of the system.
If you have leaks you'll notice it coming out of the ground....or smell it in the area.
If you suspect you have a leak you can get it tested and they'll tell you if you have one. They shut off the gas at the meter and put a vacuum pump on your system. If they discover a leak they just put some dye in the system and try to track it down by putting it under pressure again. We also had a detector that worked on sound....and in HVAC systems we also had one that detected refrigerants.

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?

 

[Concerned American]

Two things:

1. These power events are serving to drive home the fact that our power grid is not anywhere near up to the task of taking on the enormous overhead of 300 million added EV cars needing charged when it is already taxed just meeting basic energy needs.
2. Biden in his own backhanded way in starting this war with Russia has only served to defeat his own climate agenda as now nations all around the globe are realizing how energy vulnerable they really are and that they need to go A LONG way farther in shoring up their basic gas and oil supplies to keep the lights on first before they can seriously think about going any farther with windmills and solar panels as an "ideal" alternative.

Wind turbines didn't fare so well in Feb. 2021--they weren't much help at all in that weather event.

 

[mudwhistle]

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?

Nothing....for it to be used as a fuel all of the water has to be removed....so there's nothing to freeze.