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Texas Blackout
It has been three weeks now since the Texas blackout and unreliable energy propaganda machine has been very busy and reasonably successful. Their position is wind and solar are not the cause of the blackout, it was solely due to inability of fossil fuels and nuclear to respond to the cold. This is a false narrative as reality shows.
A brief description of the grid is necessary to understand the impact of wind and solar. The country has seven Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO) to monitor the grid. The Texas RTO (ERCOT) grid is the only one that lies solely within on state. Each RTO operates somewhat differently but all have the same essential characteristics. The RTO operator does not own the generating equipment or the transmission lines, it is strictly an operating company that measures the power demand and directs companies to dispatch power. It tells the companies which machines to operate and at what power level. If it directs the companies correctly, the grid is in balance, if it directs the companies wrongly you get Texas.
Wind has 23% of the installed power on the Texas grid and it supplies anywhere from 1% to 42% of the Texas electricity. The amount of electricity constantly changes due to wind speeds and electricity demand. ERCOT expected wind to provide about 6% of the demand just before the black out. ERCOT completely misjudged the electricity demand and did not order sufficient natural gas turbines to operate. As the cold increased, it became difficult to increase electricity supply from the operating coal, gas and nuclear plants due to cold induced problems. The coal, gas turbines and nukes were producing electricity but not enough; meanwhile the 6% from wind disappeared. The wind was not blowing! At best, 1% of the wind electricity was being generated. The lack of wind and solar, the demand increase because of the cold and the inability to maximize electricity generation due to the cold  produced the blackout.
The wind and solar advocates blame the blackout solely on the inability of the fossil fuel and nuclear plants to provide the required electricity. They claim this failure proves wind and solar would have prevented the blackout. The logic is nonsensical. If the entire grid was supplied with wind and solar, the blackout would have been much greater and much longer. 100% wind and solar guaranteed a 100% blackout. ERCOT did a poor job, but wind and solar guaranteed an even worse outcome.
Energy Fun Fact #1
If global warming is causing cooling, perhaps we should have global cooling and then the world will warm up. Adding heat and increasing cold violates the second law of thermodynamics which is heat flows to cold, not cold to hot. I guess the Law of Kerry supersedes Law of Thermodynamics.
What makes this nine (9) year prediction to disaster any more accurate than all the inaccurate ones in the past
Energy Fun Fact #2
I have been to New Zealand and it is a beautiful country, scenically it is like living in a resort. Adding thousands of wind turbines and their transmission lines will turn it into a junk yard.
Politically, the impact will be even worse than the visual rot. It will turn New Zealand into a beautiful prison. When the Kiwi’s accept being told when they can wash their clothes, they will soon learn their energy access will depend upon their political beliefs and actions.
This plan of load management also shows the falsehood of the second part of the anti-fossil fuel narrative, which is it is easy and cheap to replace fossil fuels. Wind is free thus it is cheap. Reality intrudes. Wind is free but the equipment to capture it is expensive and part of the capture price is losing the convenience of using energy when you want to use it.
Here in New Jersey, a recent Op-ed supporting the (NJ) Murphy Energy plan identified the same load management restrictions must be imposed here. See my Blog on the Liberty and Prosperity website for details.
Energy Fun Fact #3
New Zealand Climate Commission Accused of Carbon Accounting Tricks
But then maybe the change to unreliable energy is all talk.
Energy Fun Fact #4
https://www.bayjournal.com/opinion/forum/it-may-be-time-to-reconsider-nuclear-energy-options/article_ca36fa90-776e-11eb-983a-4740d6e3d2d3.html
This article accurately describes the importance of energy density and land use. A nuclear plant saves miles of land from solar panels. Do you prefer trees, animals, swamps and grass to observe and walk through or miles of solar panels?
Nuclear advocates make a mistake by implying nuclear’s most valuable attribute is producing carbon free electricity. It is not, the most valuable attribute is producing large amounts of electricity when required. This is reliable energy and requires relatively little land to do so. Carbon free energy may or may not be valuable; that is still to be determined. The land requirements are very vital.
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