Posted on 05/23/2023 9:32:10 AM PDT by MtnClimber
America's increased reliance on green energy in favor of coal and gas has a majority of the United States facing an "elevated risk" of summer power blackouts, according to a leading grid reliability watchdog.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) last week published its 2023 summer reliability assessment, which found that two-thirds of North America could face power shortages this summer during periods of extreme heat. That vulnerability, the watchdog group said, stems from America's increase in green power generation and decrease in fossil fuel power plants. While coal and natural gas plants can be turned on and off at the flip of a switch, green alternatives such as wind and solar rely on favorable weather conditions to operate at full capacity. If those conditions aren't met, power demand can outpace supply.
"The system is closer to the edge," NERC director of reliability assessment and performance analysis John Moura said last week. "More needs to be done."
Moura is far from the only expert sounding the alarm on America's unreliable power grid. Both state and federal officials in recent weeks have warned that high summer temperatures, combined with low nightly winds, could bring power blackouts across the country. "I'm afraid to say it, but I think the United States is heading towards a catastrophic situation," Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member Mark Christie said during a May Senate hearing.
Despite those warnings, President Joe Biden has moved forward with plans to accelerate U.S. coal plant retirements. With nearly half of America's coal power already set to disappear by 2030, Biden's Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month unveiled new standards that force coal and gas power plants to slash their carbon emissions by a whopping 90 percent between 2035 and 2040. In order to meet the near-impossible standards, those plants will...
(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...
Planned scarcity.
NOT TO WORRY. The important people saving us from global cataclysmic climate change will have 1000 gallon propane tanks running their massive generators to keep their air conditioners running.
Wow! Yer not playing around. We bought a 5500 watt duel fuel inverter generator that will power our whole 38 ft RV that is sitting up on our rural property. last week we installed a portable AC which pulls a lot less watts than the roof mounted AC that came with the unit. If things get bad we’re just going to decamp to the compound. When we build the new house up there we’ll put in a whole house generator.
It’s only a matter of time until the democrats close the spigots to natural gas. I have a 200 gallon propane tank on my off grid and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until EPA goons shut propane production too.
How long will the natural gas pipeline retain sufficient pressure once the diesel-powered pump stations stop working? I am thinking of a major natural disaster or war.
We are fortunate that we can tap lake water. But when the sewage stations stop, then there are problems.
I figured the generator will get us through periodic long outages, but not something major.
These Briggs & Stratton generators aren’t meant for 24x7 usage months on end.
Yep, when they kill NG, a propane conversion would be my next step. As you say, that is until these jerks shut down the propane plants.
Natural gas pipeline compressors are powered by natural gas fired combustion turbines. No diesel fuel,required.
But your point is valid. A pipeline rupture (like Nordstream 2) would put the pipeline out of commission. Or a missile strike on a compressor station.
When we ordered it, we specified 20 kW. I wanted to run everything — electric clothes dryer, AC, electric oven, and furnace blower. Order lead time was extended because of COVID. The manufacturer re-spec’s it to 26 kW while we had it on order without any price increase! So we were forced to take 26 kW. Too bad for us!
Well that will certainly do the trick. We’re building a fairly small house so we will likely only need 15-17kw. I guess an Onan or Generac.
That should be plenty.
We also installed “load shed modules” on the AC, dryer and oven. They prevent too many loads from getting powered up at once when the generator kicks in. They stage / sequence the loads so they don’t overload the generator and cause it to trip upon startup. You might want to look into them.
“Natural gas pipeline compressors are powered by natural gas fired combustion turbines”
What gets the natural gas to the “natural gas fired combustion turbines”? Are you saying the feed is entirely self-powered right out of the well with no external energy dependence at all? I find that hard to believe.
That’s a good idea.
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