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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The wind turbines froze, but so did everything else. Thermal plants actually, at least as of yesterday morning, accounted for more of the missing demand than wind. It's not a renewable issue but an overall infrastructure issue.[/quote]

This is misleading. Many of the green energy folks in Texas are making this argument. First, as a percentage of available capacity, more renewable energy is offline than thermal. Second, investment in thermal infrastructure has basically dried up in the past 5-6 years as wind and now solar have commanded dollars.    Thermal has its real problems, but renewable advocates need to be honest about what is happening here. Intermittent actually means intermittent. [/quote]

Let's be honest then.  The VAST majority of down power plants are fossil fuel ones.  Wind isn't a substantial part of winter energy production in Texas.  Wind turbines are used in freaking Antartica.  The wind turbines in Texas were not weatherized.  Texas doesnt keep backup power plants running which means they can't handle demand surges.  Had Texas been connected to the national grid then they could have handled the demand surge.

The elecrical grid does need a variety of sources.  Redundancies are important.  Green power cannot be one hundred percent until battery storage technology is improved.  That's all true but has absolutely nothing to do with this manmade catastrophe.[/quote]

Thermal infrastructure has been underinvested in in Texas for the better part of the past decade while renewable has soaked up dollars. Coal capacity (second best performing in this type of weather behind nuke) has been cut in half.  Natural gas power gen has seen minimal investments. Meanwhile, the state’s population has exploded over the past twenty years. Hint, less thermal capacity expected to serve more people is not going to be a recipe for success.

There is no national grid. Please come back when you understand that. We have regional grids and interconnection isn’t as simple as running an extension cord across the Red River. And, not for nothing, the neighboring regional power coordinator is also going through rolling black outs.

I’m not arguing against renewables as part of a generation portfolio. I am arguing for honesty that this isn’t as simple as wishing a green transition occurs and you’re done. There is a reason why power authorities in Massachusetts are arguing that people will need to get used to living without home heating.... [/quote]

Then start being honest.  There are two grids + texas and quebec for the US and Canada.  Referring to the two grids as a national grid is more honest than calling two grids a series of regional grids.  The nat gas and coal plants froze.  That's the primary cause along with the demand surge.  Both would have been handled by the basic steps that the rest of the country uses.  If texas was connected to one of the two national grids then the demand surge would not have been the issue it became.  Had there been backup power plants online, like happens in the rest of the country, the demand surge would not have been as much of a problem.  Had weatherizing been done the freeze would not have been as much of a problem.

Texas repeatedly chose to spend less in order to save money today.  By doing this they knowingly put themselves and their grid at risk.  It's tragic that people have to suffer because of those choices but this is the reality.  It has nothing to do with green power.  [/quote]

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