Thank the green-energy cult for major blackouts this summer

New York Post ^ | June 5, 2023 | Glenn H. Reynolds

[george76]

Summer’s coming. That means sunshine, swimming, cookouts — and blackouts.

That’s the warning from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.

According to NERC, at least two-thirds of the country is at risk for major power outages this summer.

This extends to most everyone west of the Mississippi except for Texas.

Texas and much of the Midwest will be fine, the report says, so long as we don’t experience hot, windless summer days.

Well, that’s a relief. When do we ever get hot, windless summer days in Texas and the Midwest?

Part of the problem is the steady removal of fossil-fuel plants from the grid.

...

These plants are supposed to be replaced by renewables — wind and solar — but wind doesn’t work on windless days, and solar doesn’t keep your air conditioning running on steamy nights.

The Wall Street Journal reports the Environmental Protection Agency has made things worse with new nitrogen-oxides rules from its recently finalized “Good Neighbor Plan, which requires fossil-fuel power plants in 22 states to reduce NOx emissions. NERC predicts power plants will comply by limiting hours of operation but warns they may need regulatory waivers in the event of a power crunch.”

The Journal notes, “The EPA claimed the rule wouldn’t jeopardize grid reliability, but then why would power plants need waivers to prevent blackouts?”

Why indeed?

There are other technical problems, too: Faulty solar inverters are in widespread use, and these can fail and make grid problems worse.

...

if the people running things wanted to make ordinary Americans’ lives worse, what would they be doing differently?

[gundog]

Most greenies are just useful idiots. The cabal behind them is worrisome.

[No name given]

May that cabal burn forever!

[Jeff Chandler]

No no no NOOOOO!!!!

It's Global Warming™, silly.

[ConservativeInPA]

Does anyone think leftist greenies sitting in sweltering heat because of a blackout will consider a paradigm change? Will it take people dying? Or will this simply cause confirmation bias and they will double down on lunacy and illogic?

[hanamizu]

I’m old enough to remember when limited electricity was the hallmark of a third-world nation...

[brownsfan]

The stupid drones around me would be upset, but they’d take their orders from their tv and blame Trump and Republicans.

[Ex-Con777]

During the blackout, greenies can power their house with their EV car battery.

An average EV battery is 70kWh. That yields 600 amp hours of energy. Assuming the battery was fully charged and you can drain it to zero (not going to happen), then you can power your house for 5 hours.

Just don’t plan on driving to work the next day.

SMH

EC

[Texas resident]

“if the people running things wanted to make ordinary Americans’ lives worse, what would they be doing differently?”

Rush said this about obama.

[Dilbert San Diego]

These enviro extremists oppose nuclear power. Nuclear produces zero of the dreaded greenhouse gases. Yet they oppose nuclear. Nuclear could solve a lot of our energy problems, if only we were building more nuclear plants. From what I hear, we are retiring nuclear plants but not replacing them with new nuclear facilities.

[Rummyfan]

if the people running things wanted to make ordinary Americans’ lives worse, what would they be doing differently?

Once you realize they - TPTB - hate you, things are much clearer.

[FlyingEagle]

Thank you for listing the reasons why we will never ever own an electric car nor electric stove top.

[Tell It Right]

During the blackout, greenies can power their house with their EV car battery.

Not this EV owner. Ain't gonna happen. One reason I have both an EV car and a gas pickup is so our mobility isn't dependent on just one energy source. The EV car will still be good in case a large power outage keeps gas pumps from working. With 20kW of solar, 92kWh of battery storage (not including the EV), and many simple energy improvements done to the house to make it not need as much power to keep us comfortable, then in the spring, summer, and fall I almost always have more power than we need and don't pull much from the grid anyway.

And if the grid goes down during a few days in a row of rain (read: little solar power), I can park the EV for a while and depend on the gas pickup (if at least one gas station has backup power) so I'm not using up home solar power to drive the EV.

None of that works well, though, if you do the EV and solar thing thinking it's saving the world or whatever. It works that well only if you're in a good situation for it (i.e. good climate, have good position for solar array, the kind of driving habits conducive to taking advantage of the benefits of an EV, etc.) and if you do the math and tweaking like someone trying to make himself somewhat self-reliant on energy. Global warming isn't the enemy you have to prepare against. The control-freak Dims, who base their energy policies on the warmageddon cult, are the enemy you have to prepare against.

[Da Coyote]

Any state that experiences blackouts due to greenturds will be forgiven if their populations seek out and “handle” each and every gubmit official backing renewable energy. We shall leave the definition of “handle” to those who capture the leftists. Enough of this. Take charge and make “them” cower in their safe spaces. Until they have to come out.

[jdt1138]

This is how the EPA initiated the huge blackout in Texas February of 2021. The EPA told ERCOT that if they wanted to run the power plants at 100% that cost would be THOUSANDS per KWH.

I did a lot of research and it comes down to the new communists appointed EPA director writing that letting in Feb 2021.

The ‘news media’ blamed ERCOT for not having connections to other grids but that is just not true. Texas is interconnected in several places including to Mexico. The winter cold was causing the same problems in the adjacent states and there was no spare capacity to share.

This is how the communists oppress and control on a large scale and it works.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

...NERC predicts power plants will comply by limiting hours of operation but warns they may need regulatory waivers in the event of a power crunch.

Not long ago, utilities figured out on their own with minimal government interference how to run their systems to deliver highly reliable power at low cost. Then the government got involved and in 2023 you need to go get a special dispensation from the GD government to run your plant in a "power crunch."

With normal GD government efficiency and "it's not my job" attitude, it'll take ten weeks for the GD government to approve a utility "regulatory waiver request." So get ready for ten week outages before your lights come back on.

There is NOTHING in the USA that the GD government won't ruin or destroy.

In the 70s, I worked in poor, developing countries that had intermittent power. The GD government is absolutely determined to take us backward 100 years.

I spent 30 years helping design, build, start-up, and run reliable power plants. I'm so PO'd that these bastards are impoverishing all of us.

[metmom]

I’m old enough to remember when limited electricity was the hallmark of a third-world nation...

It still is.

[hecticskeptic]

Aw right... let’s say that there are indeed going to be blackouts this summer. And if that happens, the spot price for electricity in some locations is going to go through the roof, no? What is the investment vehicle for betting on that happening? Who is already betting on it and just waiting and hence, who is going to get rich when the blackouts happen? This has always looked like the entire ‘green energy’ crap is a grandiose scheme of manipulation to make a bunch of people very rich.... the only questions are the exact details of how the manipulation will unfold.

[Bonemaker]

How about hottest summer on record and 90 day brown out in northeast?

[Zathras]

Phoenix gets most of its power from hydro and nuclear.
Unless CA steals all of it.