Seems that Green is not always good.

[rjwilliams11741]

The ice on an airplane wing analogy is correct although ways have existed for years de-ice the aircraft wing as there are now ways to de-ice wind turbine blades. You may wish to do a little research on the 150 turbine Lac-Alfred wind farm in Quebec Province about 250 miles northeast of Quebec City. They use an Ice Prevention System manufactured by Wicetect that utilizes a patented carbon fabric heater technology that is applied to the directly to the wind turbine blade. They certainly experience temperatures that are at least as harsh as the current Texas temperatures and continue to provide power to their customers without significant problems. My understanding is that retrofitting required removing the blades but new construction is no problem. Throughout history innovators have in the overwhelming number of cases found ways to overcome the kind of problems you cite. You may wish to check the system out at www.wicetect.com. I also agree that the price of natural gas is quite high right now but here in northern Nevada where NV Energy provides electric service they use a mix of solar, wind and fossil fuel and contract ahead for winter gas so they don't get hit with high prices on the spot market. By the way the wind farm in Nevada in about 30 miles east of Ely in northeast Nevada at 6500 ft. altitude, definitely cold in the winter and it seems to keep on ticking.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Any system can be made to fail if you don’t engineer it for the environment it will need to operate in. And, any system can be made to succeed if you engineer it properly for its operating environment.

The wild card is money! It costs more money to do it right the first time. And, it costs a lot more money to do it over again to make it right! For some reason, the bean counters never figure that out!

TJ

 

[Kevin D Pem]

again it is not the cold it's the ice, a problem not often seen in the west.

 

[Retired]

The weather event that Texas is experiencing happens how often in Texas?

Its easy to armchair quarterback what the utility should have done isnt it?

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

The weather event that Texas is experiencing happens how often in Texas?

Its easy to armchair quarterback what the utility should have done isnt it?

Not at all. If you are OK with millions of people being without power for several days in unusually cold weather conditions, no "armchair quarterback[ing]" needed,

The real problem, however, is the Texas decision to go it alone and not be connected to any regional power grids in case of unusual circumstances. This is evidenced in El Paso, one of the few Texas cities that is connected to a regional power grid. They are not having the massive outages most of the rest of Texas is experiencing.

If the people of Texas are happy with the situation they have, no reason to "armchair quarterback" it. If not, Texans will have to decide how to fix the situation. It is up to them; no one else.

TJ

 

[Kevin D Pem]

but it is time to armchair quarterback. After all this displays the real argument to The Biden plan. imagine the whole country with less fuel to go around.

 

[rjwilliams11741]

I’m sure this will get taken down but what BS.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

For the most part, this thread has been confined to the practical aspects of the power problem in Texas. Let's keep it that way!

TJ

 

[Retired]

Its not always possible or economically feasible to plan for every possible contingency. Im pretty sure Sioux City Iowa does not have a tsunamis evacuation plan.

Sioux City probably does have emergency plans for severe winter weather of the type that Texas is currently experiencing.

A study of weather in the state of Texas shows that in the past 125 years there have only been a few events of cold winter weather outside of "normal" for the locality.

The past decade, Texas has slowly and quietly been disassociating itself from the overreach of the federal government. I suspect there is a long term plan, yet to be revealed.

 

[rjwilliams11741]

For the most part, this thread has been confined to the practical aspects of the power problem in Texas. Let's keep it that way!

TJ

Thank you.

Its not always possible or economically feasible to plan for every possible contingency. Im pretty sure Sioux City Iowa does not have a tsunamis evacuation plan.

Sioux City probably does have emergency plans for severe winter weather of the type that Texas is currently experiencing.

A study of weather in the state of Texas shows that in the past 125 years there have only been a few events of cold winter weather outside of "normal" for the locality.

The past decade, Texas has slowly and quietly been disassociating itself from the overreach of the federal government. I suspect there is a long term plan, yet to be revealed.

Having been involved in disaster planning, not only for the company I was working for, but the regional areas advisory board for disaster planning as well one plans for a 100 year event if such and event is possible. The possibility of a tsunami in Sioux City is infinitesimal but the cold and ice event has been deemed a 30 year event. Tying in to the Federal grid is IMO an easy way to accomplish this. IMAO Texas’ lack vision and arrogance came back to bite them in the rear end.