ERCOT CEO Interview

[Colorado87]

The Texas windmills that are frozen are because the windmill owner was too cheap to include a $5k motor heater with the purchase of the $1M windmill. In other states and countries, even Antarctica, windmills work fine in the cold because they have a motor heater. Wind, gas, coal, and nuclear can all work well in the cold but some owners cheap out and dont want to pay extra to design and build cold weather resilent systems and include cold weather components like motor heaters.

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This is not true. The cold weather option is extremely expensive it has to heat the blades as well as the motor. It also takes up to 20% of the power generated by the windmill. It’s so expensive that even in Colorado, a cold climate, most windmills do not hav wit installed. They simply shut them down in cold weather. It’s not an issue yet in CO but it will be in the next decade as they take several more cola plants offline with no plan to back fill the base load. The fact is the technology exists to use transition to green power but it is far more expensive than we are prepared to pay. Either everyone agrees to pay significantly more for power, we stop moving green so fast, or we continue to have these problems.


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[meltingfeather]

Or since 1983, or since 1989. I understand they weren’t around then, but surely not a hundred years ago.

I meant if we were to build and pay for extra double freeze proof generation capacity to plan for another event like this.

[BowhunterB]

This is not true. The cold weather option is extremely expensive it has to heat the blades as well as the motor. It also takes up to 20% of the power generated by the windmill. It’s so expensive that even in Colorado, a cold climate, most windmills do not hav wit installed. They simply shut them down in cold weather. It’s not an issue yet in CO but it will be in the next decade as they take several more cola plants offline with no plan to back fill the base load. The fact is the technology exists to use transition to green power but it is far more expensive than we are prepared to pay. Either everyone agrees to pay significantly more for power, we stop moving green so fast, or we continue to have these problems.


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This is not even taking into account that going totally green, at today's costs, would increase the average person's bill significantly. Probably 10-20% a month. Some of you may say no big deal, but the vase majority of people cannot even withstand that.

[Falling]

You do realize wind makes up only 16% of the grid, right? So percentage wise the failures are way skewed toward wind failure.


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Does not mean both sides did not fail, and contribute to the failure.
I totally get what you mean, but I still don't get to the conclusion : wind bad, oil/coal good.

I think oil,gas,coal,wind,solar,etc etc -- are all great. People failed us, not the energy sources.

[bdog14]

Does not mean both sides did not fail, and contribute to the failure.
I totally get what you mean, but I still don't get to the conclusion : wind bad, oil/coal good.

I think oil,gas,coal,wind,solar,etc etc -- are all great. People failed us, not the energy sources.

No, it just means that wind is MUCH less reliable in an ice storm.


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[Falling]

No, it just means that wind is MUCH less reliable in an ice storm.


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Yet coal/gas accounted for more of the failure.


I'd agree with:

Not weather hardening coal, gas, or wind/solar is MUCH less reliable in an ice storm.
See how all of them get the blame?

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[CoolHandLuke]

Yet coal/gas accounted for more of the failure.


I'd agree with:

Not weather hardening coal, gas, or wind/solar is MUCH less reliable in an ice storm.
See how all of them get the blame?

If we are 100% renewables by 2035... how big are the batteries going to have to be when the system completely fails?

We should invest in updating the current systems so they don’t fail again and scrap wind.

I worked in Wyoming on gas compression stations and all equipment is housed in insulated, heated buildings to keep it from freezing.

[Artos]

This!!

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[Draco]

The coal and gas failures were because of green energy promises of power not delivered that caused plants to be previously shut down. See how green energy is totally to blame.

[Falling]

The coal and gas failures were because of green energy promises of power not delivered that caused plants to be previously shut down. See how green energy is totally to blame.

Nope. Please show me the docs on the promises you mention. I'm sure this would be all over the news if true.

You are just making stuff up.

[meltingfeather]

WC is a typical politician doing politician stuff, skimming the surface and painting a skewed, agenda-driven picture.
I'm not for the renewables goal, but to paint coal and nuclear as reliable when outages at gas, coal, and nuclear fueled generation units contributed the majority to the loss of capacity is willful distortion. Also implying that 100% of renewable generation was down is inaccurate.
Trying to leverage this natural disaster to forward his agenda just kills credibility, unless you're already eating up what he's selling, in which case what's the point?

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[Killer]

I thought it was funny that Magness is an attorney. Makes perfect sense to me to have an attorney managing the the Texas Power grid.

[BowhunterB]

WC is a typical politician doing politician stuff, skimming the surface and painting a skewed, agenda-driven picture.
I'm not for the renewables goal, but to paint coal and nuclear as reliable when outages at gas, coal, and nuclear fueled generation units contributed the majority to the loss of capacity is willful distortion. Also implying that 100% of renewable generation was down is inaccurate.
Trying to leverage this natural disaster to forward his agenda just kills credibility, unless you're already eating up what he's selling, in which case what's the point?

You are twisting words as well. Coal and nuclear are reliable. If money spent on green energy had been used to weatherize fossil fuel units properly they would not have failed. Fossil fuel can supply the needed energy in winter. Wind and solar will most likely (if not surely) never be able to by themselves.