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Millions in Texas lose power during winter storm
More than 4 million people in Texas are without power. Two people are probably due to the freezing temperature. (February 16)
AP
The claim: Frozen wind turbines are to blame for the eclipses in Texas after a winter storm exploded the state
After a winter storm this week left millions of Texans without power, the state governor, conservative media experts and internet users blamed wind turbines frozen by Arctic temperatures.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told Fox News host Sean Hannity that his state’s power problems are an accusation of the Green New Deal, a proposal that has not yet been accepted. Fox News host Tucker Carlson said the state’s power grid failed because windmills froze.
Photos of installed wind turbines also worked on social media, as the demand for power exceeded even the worst-case scenarios envisaged last fall.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in a Facebook post, which was shared nearly 9,000 times, that appointments in the state commission should be fired from the state and that more infrastructure for coal and oil should be built.
“We must never build a wind turbine in Texas again. The experiment failed miserably,” he wrote. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But wind energy and other renewable sources make up only a fraction of the power generation in Texas, which is mostly dependent on thermal energy, such as oil and natural gas, to power the state.
Texas Electric Reliability Board officials this week told reporters that the amount of thermal power offline due to the storm was about double the amount of renewable sources.
Texas is more powered by coal and natural gas than wind and solar
Wind turbines got an extraordinary share of the blame compared to the amount of power they generate for Texas.
ERCOT’s most recent report shows that wind generated about a quarter of the energy in Texas in January. Throughout 2020, it was a slightly smaller part of the state’s energy image.
However, according to reports, natural gas and coal represent about 60% of Texas’ energy generation. Nuclear energy, another thermal source, adds another 12%.
The Texas Tribune reported Tuesday that an ERCOT official said about 16 gigawatts of renewable energy generation went offline, compared to about 30 gigawatts of thermal energy.
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ERCOT officials said the gas suppliers, who are not equipped to handle icy temperatures, were the main culprits for the outages, according to the Texas Tribune.
Without the watts he would get from the suppliers, the state could not handle a load that exceeded the winter forecasts for November.
On the morning of February 17, about 30 gigawatts of thermal power was not yet offline – more than double the 14 gigawatts that ERCOT considered in its most extreme scenario, according to Jesse Jenkins, an engineering professor at Princeton University.
Texas turbines not prepared for extreme cold
Critics of renewable energy have released several photos of icy wind turbines, but experts say this is to be expected in Texas, where it was not built to withstand icy temperatures.
“It’s actually pretty simple: these temperatures in Texas are not typical temperatures,” said John Naughton, director of the University of Wyoming’s wind energy research center.
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in parts of Texas were more than 25 degrees below normal.
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While turbines built into colder climates are overwintered to handle extremely low temperatures, those built in Texas would be built to handle the typical weather in the region, as it has an extra cost associated with its preparation. for an unlikely drop in temperature.
“They are far beyond normal temperature,” Naughton said. ‘Wind turbines, like other things, contain liquids, air conditioning and heating. But they are designed for the environment. ”
About half of the state’s wind capacity was offline Sunday due to freezing turbines in west Texas, according to the Austin American-Statesman, but strong winds from the winter storm turned coastal turbines faster and generated more power to offset the losses. compensate.
Our rating: Missing context
The claim that frozen wind turbines are to blame for eclipses in Texas is DISSOLUTING CONTEXT. While some wind production is offline in the state, it is losing much more generation through thermal sources that provide the most power in Texas. Some wind turbines are frozen, but this is because turbines in Texas are not built to withstand exceptionally cold temperatures, just like turbines in colder climates where wind production is used.
Our sources for fact checking:
- The Washington Post, February 17: “Texas government, Greg Abbott, blames wind turbines, Green New Deal policy for interruptions. Critics call it ” a lie ”.”
- Fox News, February 16: “Tucker Carlson: Texas ‘Great Climate Disaster Is On Its Way’
- Electric Reliability Council of Texas, November 5, 2020: “Seasonal Assessments Show Adequate Generation for Winter and Spring”
- Facebook, February 16: Post for Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller
- The Texas Tribune, February 16: “No, frozen wind turbines are not the main culprit for power outages in Texas”
- Electric Reliability Council of Texas, accessed 17 February: Generation data and reports
- The Texas Tribune, February 16: “Texas relies heavily on natural gas for power. It was not yet ready for the extreme cold”
- Twitter, February 17: Jesse Jenkins, Professor at Princeton University
- University of Wyoming, Visit February 17: Biography for John Naughton, Director of the Wind Energy Research Center
- National Weather Service, visited on 17 February: temperature deviation from the average map of the last seven days
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