Climate Brink of Absurdity
Climate Alarmists are getting desperate.
Climate Alarmists do themselves no favors by making absurd claims. Case in point is the recent Climate Brink article which claims that “Renewables don't need expensive backup power on today's grids.” The author doubles down by comparing anyone pointing out that the sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow to a “Flat Earther.”
The Climate Brink attempts to change the laws of physics by introducing the concept of Net Load and cherry-picking data from 8/16/24 (or 8/24/24 - the article text conflicts with their graph) for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
Net Load, the Climate Brink helpfully tells us “represents the amount of electricity that fossil fuel plants need to provide, and we calculate it by subtracting renewable energy production from the total electricity demand.” In the graph above, the area between the two plots represents the power contribution of green energy. This green power is relatively constant throughout the chosen day with a nice boost in the afternoon when ACs throughout Texas strain against the blistering heat.
It was a brave choice for the author to choose Texas to make their point. In 2021, the state of Texas experienced 10 days of rolling electric blackouts which led to the deaths of at least 246 people and caused over $300B in damages. Among the major causes of this disaster is that a large percentage of the renewable power was not available due to the extreme cold of Winter Storms Shirley and Uri. Furthermore, ERCOT said in December 2024 that rolling blackouts would likely be required if similar conditions would occur again. Yikes!
So why pick Texas for trying to make the illogical argument that Renewable Power does not require backup? Wind! Texas is home to 26% of the US wind generated electric power. Unlike Solar generated power, the other highly subsidized and growing “renewable” electric source, wind generated power CAN BE relatively constant throughout a 24-hour period. The central argument of the Climate Brink piece completely falls apart for solar power - which is zero at night (duh).
Wind generated electricity has many big problems, and the biggest is where to put it. Even before the November 2024 Republican sweep of all 3 branches of the Federal government, wind power projects were facing widespread opposition. Around 20% of the Biden era wind projects were already facing cancellation, due in large part to the very large public subsidies necessary to make these projects “viable.”
Texas has over 39,000 megawatts (MW) of potential wind power but as Texas electricity supplier BKV Energy reports:
On an average summer day Texas wind turbines may generate anywhere between 5,000 to 10,000 MW
Therein is the fundamental flaw with wind power - even in the ideal setting of Texas, the wind doesn’t always blow and even when it does blow, wind speeds are frequently below the minimum speed needed for maximum rated output.
Thus, there really is no need to spend much time talking about the poor economics of wind power, or how large, efficient wind turbines are not suitable for most locations. Texas is projected to need 65,000 MW of additional electricity in the next 6 years.
The vast majority of that new power will be pure fossil fuel power or renewal power with fossil fuel backup. The scary alternative is that Texas, and all other states that have legislatively mandated a high percentage of new electric power be renewable, will have Third World reliability in its power grid. The irony is that the logical reaction (already happening) of many individuals and businesses is to install inefficient, CO2 belching, fossil fuel-based backup generators.
The whole thing is a fabricated lie to raise taxes and launder money. No different than the "ice age" and running out of "fossil fuels" in the 1970's with gas lines and rationing. All of it, just like Covid, are manufactured lies to steal your wealth and reduce your freedom.