US Grid Needs Fossil Fuels, Not Wind

DECEMBER 27, 2022

By Paul Homewood

 

Just to follow up yesterday’s post on the Texas grid, here are two charts for the US as a whole.

The first show how total demand increased by more than 100,000 MW during the cold spell, just before Christmas.

The second illustrates how US wind power output (green) decreased by about 50% in about 24 hours at the same time demand was peaking

Heavily subsidized Wind is an expensive, loose cannon, acting on it own, without regard for daily electricity demand.

2022, Eastern Time(1)

2022, Eastern Time

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/gridmonitor/dashboard/electric_over...

 

This destroys the idea, the wind is always blowing somewhere, and that all you have to do is distribute surplus power around the country to meet demand.

That was total BS when first uttered by idiots, and it still is TOTAL BS.

And without gas and some other dispatchable sources, how would that loss of wind power and simultaneous surge in demand, ever have been reconciled?

Gas Power Saves Texas From Blackouts, As Wind Power Collapses Again!

DECEMBER 26, 2022

By Paul Homewood

 

 

Over the weekend the US declared a Grid Emergency in Texas, as temperatures plummeted.

 

image

image

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/texas-power-prices-spike-more-165...

 

The emergency order from the US Energy Department allowed the state’s grid operator to exceed certain air pollution limits to boost generation amid record power demand in the state.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, whose service area includes 90% of electric customers in Texas, requested the emergency order Friday, warning it may need to resort to blackouts. TRANSLATION  – fire up more coal and gas plants!

Fortunately a repetition of the blackouts last year was avoided. But as we can see, it was gas power which came to the rescue, as wind power collapsed to virtually nothing at the same time as demand surged:

2022, Central Time

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/gridmonitor/dashboard/electric_over...

Texas has installed 35,000 MW of wind capacity, but output was running below 5,000 MW throughout Saturday, and down to 2,000 MW for much of the day.

This certainly was not due to lack of wind, quite the opposite in fact.

Whether wind power collapsed, because of the winds being too strong, or because of freezing up, we will eventually know. But either way, it was a weather related issue.

Thankfully, ERCOT was able to call on ample gas power plant capacity, both to replace the loss of wind power and meet surging demand, which peaked at 74,000 MW, about 15,000 MW more than normal!!!

Without that gas power, Texas would have faced another catastrophe.

You can forget about importing power from other regions as well, because the Arctic weather covered about two-thirds of the US, so there would have been no surplus electric power anywhere.

In the basement, 88 million ballot, Joe Biden still wants 30,000 MW, mostly FOREIGN, OFFSHORE wind turbines by 2035.

Their high capital cost, paid for by borrowed money, and their high electricity cost/kWh would make the US less competitive WRT Europe (as Europe intended all-along), would benefit big European wind companies, and again screw American ratepayers and taxpayers big-time.

How many millions of Americans will be "energy poor", after Biden's handlers get their way?

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Comment by Willem Post on December 28, 2022 at 8:04am

Increased natural gas and fuel oil storage capacities near gas/oil power plants are needed, to ensure continuous electric service during cold period, when natural gas is diverted from power plants to building heating

Comment by Dan McKay on December 27, 2022 at 4:54pm

New England is burning more than 2 million gallons of oil per day to keep the electricity flowing and according to the Office of the Public Advocate it is because "There is no pipeline gas available" 

Oil is the last stand for ISO-NE electricity 

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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