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8 thoughts on “WATCH: The politics of keeping the lights on”
Mark
I’m an electrical engineer in Texas specializing in power generation and distribution.. The wide scale power outages would not have been prevented or even lessened by the implementation of solar panels. They’re pretty much useless when covered with snow and ice, which was the case here.
Energy storage ( Li ion being pushed by manufacturers ) which is needed to make solar useful, is enormously expensive and has a relatively short lifetime. The amount of batteries needed to sustain power during an extended shutdown of generation like we saw would take all the manufacturers in the world a few years to produce, and the cost would be hundreds of billions
That’s terrific for the battery suppliers, but it’s not a. practical solution. for any government with finite resources.
The politics pushing solar are being pushed by lobbists for the manufacturers in the alternative energy industry,, who constantly have their hands out for tax exemptions and other taxpayer funded grants.
Solar is predominant in California- its grid is collapsing because of its insistence on implementing a power source that is useful for supplemental purposes, but not as a primary supply of power. .
Why solar and wind producers think they should get a premium for their production seems to be hubris. Their power is better than other facilities (usually coal)? Only in their mind. It is “green” arrogance. How much of their infrastructure was subsidized? I do not doubt there being a “fix” in with a government agency. That is pretty much all they do from my observation-roll over to the current leading pressure group.
More and more evidence is arising that power suppliers are being forced to rely on these “green” sources. As a result the suppliers face an unstable grid due to supply fluctuations from cloud cover, night, or periods of calm. In these events power suppliers will not have a stabilizing base power source or are unable to access a means of increasing supply from more conventional, reliable sources (coal, gas, nuclear, etc, as a generation source. The dirty secret is that many of the “zero carbon” states purchase their stabilizing of peak energy supplies from neighboring states using coal or other fuel sourced generation.
Oregon, in particular, is headed for ruin as laws now demand soon even blocking the purchase of conventionally generated power when “green” sources fail to be sufficient. The two coal generating stations (Boardman and Centralia) are already shut down and suggestions of natural gas conversion were shouted down by the Greens.. Hydropower isn’t even considered a “renewable” source and there is a hard push to eliminate hydropower from the Klamath River.
Apparently, the answer is to build batteries to store the excess power produced by wind and solar and erect massive solar farms to destroy winter elk and deer habitat. There was a study in Britain as to the feasibility of keeping their grid up with battery back up. The amount of battery storage required would involve the construction of a battery infrastructure requiring more cobalt to build the batteries than known World reserves. Not to mention the documented use of child labor in Africa in the mining of Cobalt.
The answer would be a system of the modular nuclear generation sites such as in France. However, green radiophobia immediately rises up to create unwarranted fear blocking a viable solution.
Already the U.S. is well-behind a great number of the industrialized with the amount of electrical blackout time per citizen per year. Until we stop basing our future energy needs on lollipops and unicorns (wind and solar) and become rational we will be faced with an electrical supply that will continue to devolve toward Third World status,
Sharyl, on a related subject, I heard today that Gov Abbott requested emergency authority from Pres. Biden to allow full generation of all generating plants across the state of Texas in anticipation of the winter storm. The info I heard that Biden only gave approval for about 25% of the Texas counties. Can you confirm this? And since when does a governor have to ask the president for permission to temporarily go to full power when a storm is imminent? And, btw, whatever happened to global warming?
The title mentions the problem and any solution involves removing the problem.
Politics determines whether we have power available to meet our needs, not Common Sense.
If “Pro” is the opposite of “Con”, what is the opposite of Progress?
Our problem with petroleum products began when the decision was made to purchase Middle Eastern Oil instead of use domestic reserves. We never needed foreign oil. Our leaders saw no problem with sending Trillions of Dollars to the Middle East with nothing in return at the expense of our economic well=being. Can anyone say? Massive Deficit.
You would think enough damage would have been done to our economy, but then Congress compounded the problem by limiting the construction of new refineries. I believe the most recent refinery was opened for production in 1979. I know several are under construction but I don’t know if any are operating yet. I believe some of them have been fighting bureaucratic red tape for 20 years. Bureaucrats created and turned loose by Congress.
If “Pro” is the opposite of “Con”, what is the opposite of Progress?
Everything that happened in Texas is a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.
“We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and our banks destroy the economy.”
—Chris Hedges :
Sharyl,
Again thank you for providing both sides of the story. That is what journalism is supposed to be. I will take a quote from Richard Feynman out of context, but nonetheless it unquestionably applies: “….(government) owes it to the citizens from whom it asks its support, to be frank, honest and informative, so that these citizens can make the wisest decisions on the use of their limited resources. For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.” God Bless you for your work.
I am all for green energy entering the market smartly, however killing 6 gigawatt of coal generation in Texas because of mandates from the Obama/Biden administration. Texas is paying the short sighted price.
I’m an electrical engineer in Texas specializing in power generation and distribution.. The wide scale power outages would not have been prevented or even lessened by the implementation of solar panels. They’re pretty much useless when covered with snow and ice, which was the case here.
Energy storage ( Li ion being pushed by manufacturers ) which is needed to make solar useful, is enormously expensive and has a relatively short lifetime. The amount of batteries needed to sustain power during an extended shutdown of generation like we saw would take all the manufacturers in the world a few years to produce, and the cost would be hundreds of billions
That’s terrific for the battery suppliers, but it’s not a. practical solution. for any government with finite resources.
The politics pushing solar are being pushed by lobbists for the manufacturers in the alternative energy industry,, who constantly have their hands out for tax exemptions and other taxpayer funded grants.
Solar is predominant in California- its grid is collapsing because of its insistence on implementing a power source that is useful for supplemental purposes, but not as a primary supply of power. .
Why solar and wind producers think they should get a premium for their production seems to be hubris. Their power is better than other facilities (usually coal)? Only in their mind. It is “green” arrogance. How much of their infrastructure was subsidized? I do not doubt there being a “fix” in with a government agency. That is pretty much all they do from my observation-roll over to the current leading pressure group.
More and more evidence is arising that power suppliers are being forced to rely on these “green” sources. As a result the suppliers face an unstable grid due to supply fluctuations from cloud cover, night, or periods of calm. In these events power suppliers will not have a stabilizing base power source or are unable to access a means of increasing supply from more conventional, reliable sources (coal, gas, nuclear, etc, as a generation source. The dirty secret is that many of the “zero carbon” states purchase their stabilizing of peak energy supplies from neighboring states using coal or other fuel sourced generation.
Oregon, in particular, is headed for ruin as laws now demand soon even blocking the purchase of conventionally generated power when “green” sources fail to be sufficient. The two coal generating stations (Boardman and Centralia) are already shut down and suggestions of natural gas conversion were shouted down by the Greens.. Hydropower isn’t even considered a “renewable” source and there is a hard push to eliminate hydropower from the Klamath River.
Apparently, the answer is to build batteries to store the excess power produced by wind and solar and erect massive solar farms to destroy winter elk and deer habitat. There was a study in Britain as to the feasibility of keeping their grid up with battery back up. The amount of battery storage required would involve the construction of a battery infrastructure requiring more cobalt to build the batteries than known World reserves. Not to mention the documented use of child labor in Africa in the mining of Cobalt.
The answer would be a system of the modular nuclear generation sites such as in France. However, green radiophobia immediately rises up to create unwarranted fear blocking a viable solution.
Already the U.S. is well-behind a great number of the industrialized with the amount of electrical blackout time per citizen per year. Until we stop basing our future energy needs on lollipops and unicorns (wind and solar) and become rational we will be faced with an electrical supply that will continue to devolve toward Third World status,
Sharyl, on a related subject, I heard today that Gov Abbott requested emergency authority from Pres. Biden to allow full generation of all generating plants across the state of Texas in anticipation of the winter storm. The info I heard that Biden only gave approval for about 25% of the Texas counties. Can you confirm this? And since when does a governor have to ask the president for permission to temporarily go to full power when a storm is imminent? And, btw, whatever happened to global warming?
The title mentions the problem and any solution involves removing the problem.
Politics determines whether we have power available to meet our needs, not Common Sense.
If “Pro” is the opposite of “Con”, what is the opposite of Progress?
Our problem with petroleum products began when the decision was made to purchase Middle Eastern Oil instead of use domestic reserves. We never needed foreign oil. Our leaders saw no problem with sending Trillions of Dollars to the Middle East with nothing in return at the expense of our economic well=being. Can anyone say? Massive Deficit.
You would think enough damage would have been done to our economy, but then Congress compounded the problem by limiting the construction of new refineries. I believe the most recent refinery was opened for production in 1979. I know several are under construction but I don’t know if any are operating yet. I believe some of them have been fighting bureaucratic red tape for 20 years. Bureaucrats created and turned loose by Congress.
If “Pro” is the opposite of “Con”, what is the opposite of Progress?
Everything that happened in Texas is a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.
Kevin,
This explains the PROBLEM :
===========
===========
“We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and our banks destroy the economy.”
—Chris Hedges :
https://www.activistpost.com/2021/02/the-second-virus.html
-Rick
Sharyl,
Again thank you for providing both sides of the story. That is what journalism is supposed to be. I will take a quote from Richard Feynman out of context, but nonetheless it unquestionably applies: “….(government) owes it to the citizens from whom it asks its support, to be frank, honest and informative, so that these citizens can make the wisest decisions on the use of their limited resources. For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.” God Bless you for your work.
I am all for green energy entering the market smartly, however killing 6 gigawatt of coal generation in Texas because of mandates from the Obama/Biden administration. Texas is paying the short sighted price.