Be careful for what you wish for....
Every time a discussion comes up over energy, all I hear is "we need more alternative energy sources - wind, solar, conservation!). That's all we need to do and stop with the drilling off the coast, drilling in ANWR, adding more refineries, adding more nukes.
Well, when you rely largely on a renewable resource that makes itself unavailable (until it renews itself), this is what can happen:
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A drop in wind generation late on Tuesday, coupled with colder weather, triggered an electric emergency that caused the Texas grid operator to cut service to some large customers, the grid agency said on Wednesday.
Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said a decline in wind energy production in west Texas occurred at the same time evening electric demand was building as colder temperatures moved into the state.
[snip]
System operators curtailed power to interruptible customers to shave 1,100 megawatts of demand within 10 minutes, ERCOT said. Interruptible customers are generally large industrial customers who are paid to reduce power use when emergencies occur.
[snip]
As Liberals are wont to say "Celebrate Diversity!".ERCOT said the grid's frequency dropped suddenly when wind production fell from more than 1,700 megawatts, before the event, to 300 MW when the emergency was declared.
Especially when the wind blows when and where it wants to.....
*****
Heh!
And for some additional jocularity of the wind sort, head on over to our friend DCE's.
