Frozen Wind Energy In Texas – Outages Happen, $ 9,000 Per Megawatt-Hour Electrical energy – Watts Up With That?
There is a “don’t mess with Texas” adage in the Lone Star state that originally started as an anti-trash campaign but has become something of a slogan for the harsh, no-nonsense way people live there. Now that dead wind turbines are polluting the state, the focus on using unreliable renewable energy in the name of “saving the planet” has literally “messed up with Texas.”
Ice storms knocked out nearly half of Texas’ wind power capacity on Sunday when a massive freezing condition blocked wind turbines across the state and sparked a power generation crisis.
Wind generation is the second largest source of energy in Texas, accounting for 23% of the state’s electricity supply last year, after natural gas, which accounted for 45% according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
ERCOT reports today that the spot price for electricity in Texas is currently staggering $ 9,000 per megawatt hour. Even in the summer months with high demand, 100 USD per MWh would be high.
Source: http://www.ercot.com/content/cdr/contours/rtmLmp.html
At the same time, freezing temperatures drove electricity demand to record levels, reported ERCOT, urging consumers and businesses to reduce their electricity consumption as much as possible from Sunday February 14th to Tuesday February 16th.
“We are seeing record-breaking electricity demands due to the extremely cold temperatures in Texas,” said Bill Magness, President and CEO of ERCOT. “At the same time, we are dealing with above-average power outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies for power plants. We ask Texans to take some simple and safe steps during this time to reduce their energy consumption. “
Source: http://www.ercot.com/news/releases/show/225151
A graphic provided by ERCOT shows the enormous gap between the supply and demand of electricity today:
Texas Electricity Demand vs. Supply Forecast. Source: ERCOT
Capacity is expected to lag demand by up to 20,000 megawatts today, while the National Weather Service in Dallas is forecasting record temperatures between -6 ° F and 3 ° F for Monday evening.
A map from poweroutage.us shows the extent of power outages in Texas. This shows that roughly 75% of the state has power outages in varying percentages, with a significant proportion having no power at all:
Approximately 75% of Texas has some power outage – source: poweroutage.us
ERCOT is currently putting rolling power failures into effect to prevent a complete breakdown of the power grid.
“ERCOT has issued an EEA level 3 because the electricity demand is currently very high and the supply cannot keep up. The reserves have fallen below 1,000 MW and are not expected to recover within 30 minutes. As a result, ERCOT has instructed broadcast companies to reduce demand for the system.
This typically occurs through rotating failures, which are controlled, temporary interruptions in electrical operation. This type of demand reduction is only used as a last resort to ensure the reliability of the entire electrical system. “
Source: http://www.ercot.com/eea_info/show/26464
It is sad and ironic that in a state known for its vast petroleum and natural gas resources, the lack of reliability of wind power brought the state to its knees during a time of crisis, much like California did during record heat in 2020 has experienced where wind and solar energy could not keep up with demand and were on the verge of collapse.
The folly of pursuing renewable energies as a means of containing “climate change” is evident in Texas today. When will politicians wake up and realize that renewable energies almost always equate to unreliable energy?
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