Rofl at all the MSM articles trying to explain how frozen wind turbines aren't to blame for what's happening in TX

1  2021-02-18 by UpvoteIfYouDare

I literally just want to know what percentage of total wind power generation was lost because of inadequate weather-proofing. These fucking morons are so eager to try to control the narrative that they are getting in the way of inquiry into how to improve Texas wind power generation.

The MSM is so fucking stupid.

44 comments

6  Galatians_416 2021-02-18

This is agendaposting, but since I agree, I'll let it slide

There is absolutely nothing I hate more than journos

4  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

Actually, it's not. I want to know about wind turbine failure because I'm genuinely interested in how much of a difference weather-proofing could have made. These idiots are so fixated on their narrative that they impede honest inquiry. The same happens when trying to look up subjects that rightoid media has been crowing about recently. American media is just that stupid, except only the MSM is trying to market itself as representing the views of a wider swath of the country, so they're an easier target.

2  Galatians_416 2021-02-18

It seems the freezing weather fucked up all energy sources, not just the turbines https://www.bbc.com/news/world-56085733

On Tuesday, the state's principal energy supplier, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (Ercot), said the freezing conditions had led to:

30GW being taken offline from gas, coal and nuclear sourcesa

16GW loss in capacity in wind and other renewable energy supplies

And this, it said, had severely curtailed its ability to satisfy a peak demand of 69GW over the past few days - a surge even greater than anticipated.

If texas wasn't retarded and wasn't the only state to have its own seperate power grid, other states could've probably bailed it out of this situation lol

Texas is the only state in the US with an independent power grid, meaning it is largely dependent on its own resources.

In normal times, this works fine because Texas is a large producer of energy, both fossil and renewable, and can provide enough for its population and export to other states.

But when its infrastructure is under strain, for example during a cold-weather event, most of the state cannot link up with other grids around the US to make up the shortfall.

3  The_White_Light 2021-02-18

peak demand of 69GW
demand of 69

nice.

-2  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

Jesus Christ, you're even doing it.

I know that cold weather fucked up energy sources across the board. I want to know about wind power specifically.

3  Galatians_416 2021-02-18

Bruh idk what to tell u, of course if they made sure the turbines didnt freeze (idk how), the situation would be better

1  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

Being connected to the energy grids of neighboring states that were also dealing with winter storms would not have saved Texas. The overwhelming cause of this is a lack of winter infrastructure.

I want to know about the turbines because that is a far easier metric to gather, considering one can literally just count the number of operational turbines.

5  RIPGeorgeHarrison 2021-02-18

Actually, it does work that way because federal regulations of electric grids only applies to the ones that cross state lines (and ERCOT is entirely contained within Texas). Had they been connected to one of the two main electric grids in the country they would have had to follow rules about weather proofing their power stations and what not.

So yes, had a system that was literally designed to avoid federal regulators not been used, this probably would not be a problem.

-1  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

That's not the same argument. Having better infrastructure would have helped much more than drawing on power from neighboring states. What specific federal regulations would have compelled them to implement sufficient weather-proofing? I doubt federal regulation would have been near enough. The key issue is that Texas has not faced weather like this in a very long time, well before the development of much of its current infrastructure.

4  RIPGeorgeHarrison 2021-02-18

They were faced with weather just like this 10 years ago and were warned it could happen again in fact, but ERCOT didn’t do anything about it

4 million people without power just like this time.

1  [deleted] 2021-02-18

[deleted]

-1  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

No, that storm was not nearly as wide-ranging as this one.

1  AntiLuke 2021-02-18

Not as wide ranging, but still exposed the unaddressed weakness.

2  Galatians_416 2021-02-18

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/frozen-wind-turbines-texas-power-outages-b1802596.html

Texas wind farms typically generate a total of 25,100 megawatts of energy, the Austin-American Statesman reported. On Sunday turbines accounting for 12,000 megawatts had iced over, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the state’s power grid, confirmed

So about 48% lost bc of bad weather-proofing, is that what you wanted to know about ?

3  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

Yes lol. That's actually more than I thought. I figured maybe 25% at most was lost.

2  Galatians_416 2021-02-18

Turbines can be equipped with packages that allow them to continue working in freezing temperatures. However the modifications are costly, according to Wind Power Engineering, and therefore seldom made in locations where they are unlikely to be needed.

It seems they never thought this scenario would've ever happened

3  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

I've lived in Texas for a little under 30 years and this is, by far, the worst winter storm I've ever witnessed. The closest I remember was a storm back in 2014 that knocked power out in a couple areas for a night.

For a state that has not really dealt with something of this magnitude for decades, and with a technology that has only really gained momentum over the past decade, it's somewhat understandable.

3  Galatians_416 2021-02-18

little under 30 years

Ok boomer

0  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

Tbf I've only lived outside of Texas for maybe 4 years of my life in terms of total time.

1  Arachnotron69 2021-02-18

Yeah, you went to college out of state at the same time an ice storm knocked out the power of 20% of the state ten years ago. Same areas were affected too.

1  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

The 2011 storms did not hit the entire state with such severity. The only way shit gets done about stuff like this is when a large majority of the constituency is affected. I.e., you have to light a fire under a lot of asses to renovate the infrastructure across an area as big as Texas to cover an edge case. This is probably a big enough fire.

1  [deleted] 2021-02-18

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1  WeWuzKANG5 2021-02-18

Wind turbines run fine worldwide in Arctic temperatures, wonder what happened to the ones in Texas...

1  adminsare55IQ 2021-02-18

There have been articles about this exact thing.

Basically, wind turbines had little to nothing to do with it and other power sources failed in even more extreme ways:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fact-check-renewable-energy-not-blame-texas-energy-crisis-n1258185

If anything the media is to blame for pushing the bullshit narrative about "frozen turbines."

The reason people are firing back in relation to the turbines is because almost right away a bunch of poorly educated conservative grifters started trying to blame wind turbines when in reality wind turbines had almost nothing to do with it.

This isn't even getting into the fact trying to blame wind turbines for freezing is like trying to blame the roads because the government didn't salt them.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which plays the role of traffic cop for Texas' energy providers, directing energy from producers to distributors, predicted that this winter would see wind produce about 7,070 megawatts at peak load times. By the council's own daily figures, wind power in Texas has produced between 4,415 and 8,087 megawatts at peak times since the storm began.

By contrast, the state's "thermal fleet" — mostly natural gas, but also including coal and nuclear power — has been down significantly more, leading to a shortfall of 30,000 megawatts, the council told the local news outlet WKYC.

About 56 percent of Texas' energy comes from natural gas, just under 24 percent comes from wind, 19 percent from coal, and almost 9 percent from nuclear energy.

"About a third of our thermal fleet is offline," said Joshua Rhodes, a research associate at the University of Texas in Austin who specializes in the power grid. "We typically count on about 90 percent of it being available during a peak event."

"From freezing gas wells and gas lines, to depressurization of our natural gas infrastructure because so many homes and businesses are calling for gas at the same time, we just don't have enough fuel," he said.

1  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

I know why they're "firing back". I'm tired of it and I think it makes them look stupid. The people that want to blame wind turbines are going to do so regardless.

1  adminsare55IQ 2021-02-18

You can't let rightoids spew their bullshit unchallenged.

1  Leylinus 2021-02-18

It's contrary to the agenda I've come to expect from him though, so it's radically centrism.

2  onafriday 2021-02-18

Imagine caring about poors or Texans lol

Also Houston is a shithole

1  respaaaaaj 2021-02-18

I mean the issue is that the Texan electric grid in general doesn't have a whole bunch of regulations that the national one does, including weather proofing for freak weather, like say snow in Texas. People should be pointing out that and making fun of claims that it was only wind power when natural gas and nuclear plants got fucked too, but people would rather kneejerk mock fossil fuel lovers than Texans in general for some weird reason.

1  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

Pretty much. Texas has a fucking stupid pseudo-privatization setup. They should stop jerking off to their moronic conception of the free market so much and just accept that a natural monopoly requires sufficient regulation and public control.

3  respaaaaaj 2021-02-18

Btw there are ways to weather proof solar and wind power production as basically every state north of Texas already does (same with other power sources). This is pure self inflicted wounds in the name of owning the libs and regulators

3  wizdumb337 2021-02-18

solar panel weatherproofing

1  Hamalama 2021-02-18

too much work, I just cover mine with trash bags whenever they are outside all day. But remember folks these panels are not meant to be left unattended for too long, they need lots of love and attention! ☀🌞☀🌞

1  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

This is pure self inflicted wounds in the name of owning the libs and regulators

No, it's self-inflicted wounds because of cost-saving measures. Do you really think the goal is to "own the libs and regulators", lol? It's about money, plain and simple.

2  pepperouchau 2021-02-18

why not both

3  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

Typically the "fuck the libs" impulse stems from said "libs" inability to comprehend the fact that stuff costs resources.

1  idio3 2021-02-18

As do lifeboats on ships, despite a fairly decent chance that they'll never end up being used at all. Nonetheless - they're still put on them for some reason...

1  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

Did you reply to the wrong comment?

1  idio3 2021-02-18

I don't think so?..

"libs" inability to comprehend the fact that stuff costs resources.

Well... lifeboats cost resources too, right? I don't want to take the side of libs on pretty much anything, if I can help it, but in this case - the resource argument is a bit ridiculous...

1  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

I was speaking much more generally.

1  adminsare55IQ 2021-02-18

You know what else also consumes a lot of resources?

1  Tobyghisa 2021-02-18

If anyone ever doubts that a lot of americans are dumb on economic matters, remember that someone downvoted the comment above

2  UpvoteIfYouDare 2021-02-18

No, I think they're downvoting because I'm a contrarian pain-in-the-ass.

2  Galatians_416 2021-02-18

They don't dare