Green Energy Failure In Texas Pokes Holes Through Dem Narrative, Nature Always Wins
It's a rough day for the green energy crowd as officials work to thaw out the energy-producing wind turbines that froze following last night's storm in the Lonestar state. Millions are without power in Texas after a historic winter storm blasted the state over the weekend, creating freezing conditions that have made the roads dangerous and knocking out nearly half of Texas' installed wind power generation, according to TheBlaze.
Texas grid operators who spoke to the Austin American-Statesman said freezing rain and historically low temperatures caused wind turbines in West Texas to freeze to a halt, knocking out some 12,000 megawatts of energy production. Wind farms in Texas typically generate up to 25,100 megawatts of energy, almost half of which is currently out of production as the state works to thaw out the turbines, the report shows.
"This is a unique winter storm that's more widespread with lots of moisture in West Texas, where there's a lot of times not a lot of moisture," said Dan Woodfin, senior director of system operations for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the nonprofit corporation that manages the power grid. "It's certainly more than what we would typically assume."
The frozen turbines come as low temperatures strain the state's power grid and force operators to call for immediate statewide conservation efforts, like unplugging non-essential appliances, turning down residential heaters and minimize use of electric lighting.
There is a bit of irony in all of this because as officials work to restore power they're forced to use nasty fossil fuels as Fox consultant, Luke Legate so eloquently pointed out:
"A helicopter running on fossil fuel spraying a chemical made from fossil fuels onto a wind turbine made with fossils fuels during an ice storm is awesome," Legate wrote on Twitter.
A helicopter running on fossil fuel spraying a chemical made from fossil fuels onto a wind turbine made with fossils fuels during an ice storm is awesome. pic.twitter.com/3HInc2qKb9
— Luke Legate (@lukelegate) February 15, 2021
An Arctic air mass causing the chill extended southward well beyond areas accustomed to icy weather, with winter storm warnings posted for much of the Gulf Coast region, Oklahoma and Missouri, the National Weather Service said.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state's grid operator, issued an alert asking consumers and businesses to conserve power, citing record-breaking energy demands due to extreme cold gripping the state.
"We are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units," the agency said.
Nature always wins...