Welcome to the 3rd World - Rolling Blackouts Continue

This is why having diversified power grid generation capability is so important. Right now, most of the US's green energy generation capability is frozen solid during a period of the highest demand experienced ever in decades thanks to the worst string of freezing, sub-zero temps since the '80s. For the record, I was a kid then and lived through that string too.

Here's live updates for rolling blackouts in the KCMO area.

If you have an update string to add for you area, please do so. Knock on wood, we haven't experienced a blackout yet, but that may be due to being in the same area as a hospital, so we may luck out. Others have lost power randomly and suddenly for between 30 and 60 minutes at a time. I understand this is going on all over the Midwest.

Things are a little more complicated than just frozen windmills. The natural gas infrastructure in Texas has frozen too. Between the two, the power grid is stressed to breaking. Sure would be nice if we balanced our energy portfolio a bit with some coal and nuclear, wouldn't it?

More than 2.5 million people in Texas are currently experiencing rolling blackouts as temperatures remain in the single digits in many parts of the state. The Lone Star state is currently short of electricity because half of the Texas wind fleet (the largest in the nation) is iced over and incapable of generating electricity. Additionally, the natural gas infrastructure Texas has become so reliant upon has also frozen up.

Texas’s experience highlights the perils of becoming overly reliant upon wind, solar and natural gas because these energy sources are not as reliable as coal or nuclear power during extreme weather conditions.

Look, no one is against the greener sources of energy where and when they work, but no one wants to sit in -15 degree weather freezing their butts off, either because the windmills can't turn and the natural gas won't flow. Sometimes, you need to have some fallbacks to keep you going.

Texas is getting wrecked. Just got a text from a Colonel I used to work for. He's really worried his water pipes are gonna burst and there's no way a plumber can get out there. Can you imagine if everyone's pipes burst?

a reply to: ketsuko

The only green energy that's reliable today is hydro and nuclear.
Some day people will understand that.

a reply to: ketsuko
It seems like both sides get into this all or nothing mindset just to be different from the other side. And who suffers for it? Yeah, you guessed it.

originally posted by: Klassified
a reply to: ketsuko
It seems like both sides get into this all or nothing mindset just to be different from the other side. And who suffers for it? Yeah, you guessed it.

And I'm not so sure that the conservative side is fully all or nothing so much as when they get power it appears that way because they're playing catch up with the what the other side has done.

We go 4 to 8 years of all green, all the time, and we got those enormous windfarms while the rest of the energy portfolio was neglected to attacked and driven out, so when Trump got in, it was all coal, oil, nat. gas, nuke, etc., because those forms of energy were decaying and shriveled and needed serious attention to prevent them from dying.

Most people I know of who write about it have zero issue with wind and solar where they are practical and they do have their uses, but they aren't as widely practical as the left wants to believe they are in their current incarnations.

a reply to: ketsuko


twitter.com...

a reply to: IAMTAT

Wind operates at half capacity on average already.
I wonder if he means half of the turbines that operate at 50% capacity are not operating at 0%?

a reply to: ketsuko
You're talking balance and common sense Kets. You know those concepts are lost on those at the DC level, along with that other word...responsibility.

a reply to: ketsuko

Ah the 80s, i grew up at the end of the cold war era myself.

Seem to remember plenty of power cuts in the UK back then, down to the miners' strikes if memory serves.

A viable robust power grid should be the domain of every first world nation if we are honest.

We will learn our lesson sharpish should another Carrington Event manage to hit the magnetosphere, which lets face it, is in the post.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: ketsuko

The only green energy that's reliable today is hydro and nuclear.
Some day people will understand that.

I've always been a big nuclear fan.

Greeny is trash, waste of money and still dependent on oil, is a lie, is no green in the green energy but waste of tax payers money.

It is been proven, but nobody listens.

I am in the south it is cold baby, but thankfully we got real energy no fake green one. Thank god.

I feel sorry for all those states that are now freezing and not heat to keep them warm.

Blame it on global warming.

Nothing says 'GO GREEN"...like burst water pipes in Texas.

Oh...that's right...The Left hates pipelines.

Sorry, about the people suffering. But it's not all bleak for some of us little guys in the energy biz.
And there's fresh powder at Taos.

www.worldoil.com...

originally posted by: olaru12
Sorry, about the people suffering. But it's not all bleak for some of us little guys in the energy biz.

I thought you were in the film industry?

So how's Agenda 2030 working out for you folks in Texas?
Aren't you breathing better with carbon emissions reduced?
Take a deep breath and say "ahhhhh" as you freeze your ass off.

a reply to: Charliebrowndog
Biden promises pipeline to deliver hot air from Washington to free the wind turbines from ice.

a reply to: ketsuko

I was just talking to the Mrs. about this last night; we noticed most of the world was close to/or below freezing.

Athens Greece was like 38 degrees....
parts of Mexico were freezing

Even as far south as Honduras (in the jungle) was 40s

At least the new administration can warm us with their *unity*

Interesting times indeed, I’ve got a buddy pretty high up at DTE, I’ll call home about the power situation and report back.

Husband just had to suddenly facilitate an online meeting for his work. The gal who was supposed to is up in Iowa. Their school will not be hit by blackouts so they are in, but the bus will not come to where she lives as she is too close to the school. So she has having to walk her kids to school. It's only 2 blocks, but two blocks in -20+ degree weather with the added wind chill. Meanwhile, she might get back and find her house in a rolling blackout.

We are being told in this area that they hope the rolling blackouts will end by 11am, but they won't know for sure until early afternoon. And they can't give anyone any warning because the power companies only get maybe 10 minutes or so warning themselves.

Lived in Dallas, Texas area from 79' to 97' and had rarely experienced any outages other than occasional T-Storm putting branch's across lines - never had problem in winter even with many ice storms and last long-term cold snap in the eighties.

That was using TP&L with no so-called reliability commission ERCOT or ties to a variable commodity market middle men sucking up rate payer money along with private operators - the "public" utility system worked fine until enronization.

Now in Alabama Southern Co. Service area which is old style utility hybridized with gas turbine peak load plant operators but has same pressure to shut coal fired base plants in favor of NatGas which eventually will result in same failures as Texas grid is experiencing in another decade if trends continue. (I use the utility power as my peak/backup instead of primary source)

Seeing a decline of society and its systems in general I lost trust of my well being at mercy of corporations and other large organizations and took action 10 years back.

Now reaching near total independence from grid power with food being the next item to attack on independence front with same goal of making the traditional food sources as backup and utilize as conservation of my base resources.

Thinking events like this will only add to people getting more independent thinking and living as its aptly showing full dependence on technology may be fatal. I believe the tech should be used to make things easier but not replace good old fashioned common sense and preparedness.

the GREEN movement as proposed by government and corporate interests are nothing short of slavery IMHO.