Is US ready to shut down power plants?

[GMDino]

(07-06-2023, 02:48 PM)Stewy Wrote: NOTE Below:  When I say liberal or conservative, I mean the extremists, representing the hugely vocal radical minorities of each group.  This post is not intended to speak  specifically to anyone HERE reading it, but is purely for informational purposes.

I thought I would give some perspective on some misinformation that circulates out there about renewables.

Texas Freeze  Feb. 2021 - ERCOT the Texas power grid failed during the days long hard freeze, which froze power plants and wind turbines.  This one created misinformation (if not down right lies) on both the conservative and liberal fronts.
Truth - nearly 40% of the power provided through ERCOT is not fueled by hydrocarbons, but by wind, solar and nuclear.  As a matter of fact Texas has the highest % of it's power generated by non-HCs in the country.
---  Abbot the idiot Republican governor of Texas blamed the Wind Turbines freezing on the failure of the grid, when in reality the Natural Gas power plants froze too.  The whole system was unprepared for the multiday sub 10 degree F temperatures.  But again Abbot is an idiot and a disgrace - IMO.  
---  Liberals in turn blamed the failure on the reliance on HCs, ignoring the frozen wind turbines and Texas' extremely high % of renewables.

Liberal Lie - Renewable sources are much less susceptible to adverse weather than HC fueled power stations.  They point to refineries going down (mostly after Katrina) during hurricanes as evidence, and of course the Texas Power grid.  Firstly, refineries don't produce power so that argument is apples vs. oranges and while the LA refineries were cleaning up (they were down 2-4 weeks), the rest of the US refineries picked up the slack.
--- Frankly this is one of the dumbest things I've seen recently, and there is no evidence to support, but multitudes to refute it.
- https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/articles/study-finds-hydropower-provides-reliable-electricity-even-during-historic - while this report (2021) says even in drought conditions the region can balance power load, the level of drought had become so severe, that two large hydroelectric dams were projected to shut down in 2024, but that was before the massive flooding and rains and snows of Winter 2023, which were not expected.  This is where Lake Meade was before the hugely unexpected Winter.  https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/30/us/colorado-river-lake-mead-drought-2023-climate/index.html  But nature saved us and it's a good thing.  But it just goes to show that renewables are NOT nearly as sustainable as HC power.  They're both needed to supplement each other and provide reliable energy.
- Solar Farm nearly destroyed by hail - https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/solar/solar-farm-pelted-by-giant-hail-as-severe-storm-ripped-through-nebraska/#gref - there's no repairing this.  The panels have to be replaced, which will be time consuming and expensive.  Hope they were insured.
- St Thomas solar farm destroyed 2017 by hurricane Irma - 4.5 years till operational again - https://stthomassource.com/content/2021/04/28/st-thomas-solar-farm-projected-to-be-back-online-before-years-end/

I could go on and on with the last point.  There are multitudes of examples.

A few things, and I'm not even arguing with you...lol. Your post just made me thing of a couple things I wanted to add.

The Texas grid had this happen before.  Didn't matter what the sources of energy were the providers didn't do the investments necessary to prevent it from happening again.  They also have a problem in the extreme heat every year (as California has occasionally) and I'd bet that the changes won't be made now either.

There is no denying that any mechanical thing can break down/be damaged.  Solar panels in the Arizona desert probably won't have a hail storm though. 

California has a nuclear plant built on a fault line.  Wind farms along coast lines can be hit with hurricanes.  As we invest more in those the items need to repair them and the technicians who know how to will be more prevalent and the time and cost to repair replace will come down also.

You mentioned the refineries.  My personal opinion coincides with yours in that we need a solid mix of all of them because to me when the refineries are hit oil price speculation soars and everything down the line follows as the backups are not that wide spread enough.

And everything above comes down to investments.  Something too many are wary to do.  And that doesn't even cover the national powergrid.