Stephen Moore
Much
of the Midwest and the Mountain States are seeing subzero temperatures and
blizzard conditions sweep through. As far south as Dallas, a polar vortex
has caused temperatures to dip into the 20s, with ice and snow. In parts
of Minnesota, temperatures dipped to near their lowest levels in a
century. There are now rolling blackouts in some parts of Texas because of
power supply shortages at a time when the deep freeze causes peak
demand.
Many
states are at a dangerous point of running out of energy at any price to meet
demand as the cold spell rolls on.
This
story isn’t so much about the weather as it is about a grand failure of public
policy. Because of the political left’s war on fossil fuels, and “renewable
energy mandates” that require 20 percent to 30 percent of a state’s power
supply to come from wind and solar power, the power grid is squeezed to the
brink. Wind and solar don’t generate much power when temperatures plummet.
The Center of the American Experiment,
a Minnesota-based think tank, reports: “Wind turbines are shut down when
temperatures are below -22° F because it is too cold to operate
them safely. This means it will be too cold for the wind turbines built by the
power companies to generate any electricity.”
It’s
worse than that, however. According to the Minnesota think tank, “Wind
turbines will actually consume electricity at these temperatures
because the turbines use electric heaters in their gearboxes to keep the oil in
the housing from freezing. During the 2019 Polar Vortex, wind turbines were
consuming 2 MW of electricity. Wind turbines are a liability on the grid
when the power is needed most.”
Solar
power is even less reliable in severe weather conditions. Snow and ice
during frigid temperatures often disable the panels. And when temperatures
drop way down at night — when the sun goes down — is when the energy for heat
is in highest demand.
Meanwhile,
natural gas has had supply problems too. Normally, natural gas is the most
reliable of energy sources, but some pipelines are freezing at the very time
demand is soaring. According to an
analysis by ZeroHedge, the mid-continent gas spot price
“exploded from $3.46 one week ago, to $9 on Wednesday, $60.28 on Thursday and
an insane $377.13 on Friday, up 32,000 percent in a few days” — something that
makes the rise in GameStop
stock look like child’s play. As the ZeroHedge article
explains, “there simply is nowhere near enough product to satisfy demand
at any price, hence the explosive move.”
What
we are experiencing is the “perfect storm” disrupting our energy supply and
creating an extreme stress test for the power grid that is being pushed to the
limits. Yet, there is one source of energy that is, thankfully, keeping us
from mass power outages and keeping the lights and the heat on: coal.
Longtime
energy expert Terry Jarrett, who
has served on the board of the national utility commissioners,
explains what is going on: “The Midcontinent Independent System Operator
(MISO) — which oversees power transmission in 15 states … is reporting that
coal is currently generating more than half of its overall electricity.”
Here
are the daily numbers during the big freeze in the 15-state Midwestern region:
Coal is producing roughly 41,000 megawatts of electricity; natural gas is
providing 22,000 megawatts; wind and solar are roughly 3,000 — or about 4
percent of the power. This points to the foolishness of states requiring
30, 40 or even 50 percent of their power to come from wind and solar. Even with
normal weather patterns, when wind and solar are working, coal-fired plants are
almost always necessary as a back-up when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun not
shining.
We
should have learned our energy lessons from Germany. In the early 2000s, the
Germans went all in on green energy and largely abandoned fossil fuels. It
caused massive price spikes throughout the country, and manufacturing began to
leave for nations with much lower power costs. Germany wisely ditched the
all-in green energy movement. Now as a polar vortex has hit Europe, the German
are getting much of
their energy from ... coal.
But
the environmental movement is succeeding in moving America in the opposite
direction on energy. Imagine for a moment that we had in place today the Biden
national goal of near-zero fossil fuel energy in America. Millions of
Americans might be facing power outages — no heat, no lights — in the middle of
blizzard conditions; power costs would soar.
What
is happening today across much of the country should be a wake-up call that
safe and reliable “all of the above energy” — including coal — isn’t just a
convenience. It’s a matter of life and death.
3 comments:
Still, such a claim runs counter to Mr. Abbott’s own role and that of his Republican predecessors, like Rick Perry and Mr. Bush, in overseeing the growth of renewable energy sources in Texas. Earlier in the week, Mr. Abbott himself attributed the power failure in part to freezing in natural gas transmission systems.
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“Those in the legislature and those in the executive branch of government have been spending too much time trying to run cities and counties and not enough tending to state issues,” said Sylvester Turner, the Democratic mayor of Houston.
“Those in the legislature and those in the executive branch of government have been spending too much time trying to run cities and counties and not enough tending to state issues,” said Sylvester Turner, the Democratic mayor of Houston.Credit...Thomas Shea/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Wind generation in Texas, which still accounts for a relatively small fraction of electricity production in the state, actually exceeded projections in recent days. ERCOT officials say limited supplies of natural gas, along with frozen instruments at the natural gas, coal and nuclear facilities that dwarf renewables in supplying Texas’ electricity, are the main factors in the crisis.
Still, prominent Republicans like Mr. Perry, the former Texas governor and energy secretary in the Trump administration, have blamed renewables. In a blog post on the page of Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, Mr. Perry sought to warn Democrats against trying to introduce greater oversight of the electricity industry.
The whole of the story:
"The lead reason for the lack of power" is "frozen power generation facilities." "An additional reason is lack of natural gas." That's what Gov. Abbott told Dallas-area ABC affiliate WFAA on Tuesday night, 2/16, describing how natural gas has frozen up and prevented manufacturers from extracting and shipping it to power plants and customers.
Sound to me like poor planning of conventional power sources and nothing to do with renewables.
It's hard to see how this disaster is an argument for more coal or that more green energy would lead to more power outages and higher prices - quite the opposite I think.
Actually this might be an example of where Texas's freedom to go it alone with its own grid led to more adverse consequences that were avoided in the more regulated rest of the US. Note that El Paso in Texas, but on the Western US grid has power. Maybe some civil servants do a good job. And maybe too much freedom is anarchy.
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