Texas is apparently going the way of South Australia which was the wind leader in Australia. They blew up their last two coal stations and now a few years down the track they have become an economic basket case, partly due to the cost of power and partly due to the instability of the frequency and voltage caused by the fluctuating wind and solar inputs without the stabilising effect of big coal generators. During the day the grid is flooded with rooftop solar so the wholesale price is negative and a lot of wind and field solar is curtailed.
Every night they burn a lot of gas and most nights they import coal power from the neighbouring state of Victoria.
The problem is that nobody took account of severe wind droughts, periods with next to no wind for periods of days (weeks in Europe) across continental areas. Prudent farmers check the reliability of the water supply before they purchase the property or undertake intensive cropping but the wind farmers paid no attention to the reliability of the wind.
The meteorologists did not issue wind drought warnings, the wind farmers did not ask or check and the results are becoming clear in Britain and Germany and in Texas.
Actually all the grids in the Western world with net zero policies are in place are going the same way and the pace is accelerating with the rise of AI, electric vehicles and other kinds of electrification.
Australian investigators documented wind droughts as they affected the supply of wind power over a decade ago but nobody took any notice at home or abroad despite the best efforts of Jo Nova on her blog and the energy realists of Australia with a campaign of briefing notes directed to politicians and journalists.
Wind droughts could have been the most important discovery of the 20th century to avert the suicidal quest for green power but the Australian work came later and it is still not having much impact.
Before the presidential election, the United States was conceivably only one Democrat administration away from catastrophic failures in all of the grids, and even with the state of emergency declared to help coal, there is still a lot of work to be done to overcome the regulations that were designed to kill coal and gas.
It remains to be seen whether the the new regime can enable the country to escape from the jaws of the "wind drought trap."
Yes, President Trump was elected just in time to avoid catastrophic failures in our power grids. He will sign an executive order today to bring back coal-fired power generation. Unfortunately, many retired coal facilities cannot be revived because they have been dismantled or it is too costly to reopen them. However, things are finally moving in the right direction. Thanks for the comment and references, Rafe. Ed
Awesome summary here. I too have wondered about the lack of VARs and rotating inertia on the grid with inverter-based generation sources. That’s just one of many issues but the highlighting of the wind droughts is an insight.
Once the government makes incentives, the pigs come feed at the trough. Then they eventually dry up. Shocker.
Now that it is OK to speak the truth about wind and solar as total failures, we will see power grids get more aggressive about the damage they are doing. Unfortunately, the subsidies are enshrined in the Inflation Reduction Act, and it won't be easy to eliminate them, but I think it is necessary. President Trump will figure out a way, I'm sure. Thanks for the comments, B Apple. Ed
Texas is apparently going the way of South Australia which was the wind leader in Australia. They blew up their last two coal stations and now a few years down the track they have become an economic basket case, partly due to the cost of power and partly due to the instability of the frequency and voltage caused by the fluctuating wind and solar inputs without the stabilising effect of big coal generators. During the day the grid is flooded with rooftop solar so the wholesale price is negative and a lot of wind and field solar is curtailed.
Every night they burn a lot of gas and most nights they import coal power from the neighbouring state of Victoria.
The problem is that nobody took account of severe wind droughts, periods with next to no wind for periods of days (weeks in Europe) across continental areas. Prudent farmers check the reliability of the water supply before they purchase the property or undertake intensive cropping but the wind farmers paid no attention to the reliability of the wind.
The meteorologists did not issue wind drought warnings, the wind farmers did not ask or check and the results are becoming clear in Britain and Germany and in Texas.
Actually all the grids in the Western world with net zero policies are in place are going the same way and the pace is accelerating with the rise of AI, electric vehicles and other kinds of electrification.
Australian investigators documented wind droughts as they affected the supply of wind power over a decade ago but nobody took any notice at home or abroad despite the best efforts of Jo Nova on her blog and the energy realists of Australia with a campaign of briefing notes directed to politicians and journalists.
https://www.flickerpower.com/index.php/search/categories/general/list-of-briefing-notes
Wind droughts could have been the most important discovery of the 20th century to avert the suicidal quest for green power but the Australian work came later and it is still not having much impact.
https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/the-late-discovery-of-wind-droughts
https://open.substack.com/pub/rafechampion/p/we-have-to-talk-about-wind-droughts
Before the presidential election, the United States was conceivably only one Democrat administration away from catastrophic failures in all of the grids, and even with the state of emergency declared to help coal, there is still a lot of work to be done to overcome the regulations that were designed to kill coal and gas.
It remains to be seen whether the the new regime can enable the country to escape from the jaws of the "wind drought trap."
https://www.flickerpower.com/index.php/search/categories/general/escaping-the-wind-drought-trap
Yes, President Trump was elected just in time to avoid catastrophic failures in our power grids. He will sign an executive order today to bring back coal-fired power generation. Unfortunately, many retired coal facilities cannot be revived because they have been dismantled or it is too costly to reopen them. However, things are finally moving in the right direction. Thanks for the comment and references, Rafe. Ed
Awesome summary here. I too have wondered about the lack of VARs and rotating inertia on the grid with inverter-based generation sources. That’s just one of many issues but the highlighting of the wind droughts is an insight.
Once the government makes incentives, the pigs come feed at the trough. Then they eventually dry up. Shocker.
Now that it is OK to speak the truth about wind and solar as total failures, we will see power grids get more aggressive about the damage they are doing. Unfortunately, the subsidies are enshrined in the Inflation Reduction Act, and it won't be easy to eliminate them, but I think it is necessary. President Trump will figure out a way, I'm sure. Thanks for the comments, B Apple. Ed