Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadywood
Hey, I resemble that remark!
I was actually there in Texas on the day Houston experienced a 10 degree day and a million homes were destroyed by broken water pipes. My CLOSING was supposed to be on that day! Instead, I spent it with a small generator, running around like a mad man with drop lights and space heaters, trying to keep my house in a sell-able condition.
And why was I forced to do this in the "Energy Capital of the World"? I can tell you this -- it had nothing to do with Texas' "private" grid.
It was because the electricity for the 4th largest city in the country is provided by a NUCLEAR GENERATOR THAT COULDN'T SURVIVE A 10 DEGREE DAY. The cooling water froze so they had to shut it down! How stupid do you have to be to get your energy (in the middle of the oil patch!) from a power plant that becomes a bomb if you don't shut it down on a 10 degree day?
But the rest of the Texas grid might have been able to pick up the slack if 25% of the oil-fired capacity hadn't already been replaced with WINDMILLS in West Texas THAT ALSO FAILED (in the Permian Basin, for crying out loud!)!
As one who lived it, I can testify that the dumba-situde of relying on "alternate clean sources of energy" in the middle of the oil patch is what caused the Texas power disaster!
|
" it had nothing to do with Texas' "private" grid."
Actually, it had
everything to do with Texas' arrogant "private grid" model. Power companies are incentivized into maximizing profits, by foregoing common sense maintenance & construction practices (for both green and gas plants), like many other countries around the world (along with northern U.S. states), that get a lot colder than Texas has ever seen and have no problems with their wind turbines. Also being the only state without reciprocal agreements to share power should something happen, it left an already vulnerable grid without an easy way to solve a short term weather issue.
A couple of links that provide some actual facts.
Access Denied
Fact check: The causes for Texas’ blackout go well beyond wind turbines | Reuters