Half of Texas Wind Turbines Freeze, Hurting Electricity Output

Brietbart ^ | Febuary 15.2021 | JOEL B. POLLAK

[Hojczyk]

Nearly half of the wind turbines in the state of Texas froze in recent winter weather, hurting state power supplies, according to state authorities.

Nearly half of Texas’ installed wind power generation capacity has been offline because of frozen wind turbines in West Texas, according to Texas grid operators.

Wind farms across the state generate up to a combined 25,100 megawatts of energy. But unusually moist winter conditions in West Texas brought on by the weekend’s freezing rain and historically low temperatures have iced many of those wind turbines to a halt.

As of Sunday morning, those iced turbines comprise 12,000 megawatts of Texas’ installed wind generation capacity, although those West Texas turbines don’t typically spin to their full generation cap

The outlet noted that the loss of power was largely offset by the fact that the remaining turbines were spinning quickly because of strong winter storm winds.

[Parmy]

Gee! Who would have foreseen this? Can’t make this stuff up.

[Joe 6-pack]

A good day in Texas if you’re an eagle or a falcon.

[Psalm 73]

"We just need to see if we can somehow make use of that black, gooey stuff Jed Clampett found."

And if only Texas had some....

[mylife]

I know a guy in Maine with 2 wind turbines. One took him a year to get balanced and online.

He says in optimum conditions they provide 25% of his energy needs

[blueunicorn6]

That’s it!

We take all of the windmills to the airport!

[polymuser]

“...change the weight of the oil in the reduction gears every winter...”

With the installation of “cold weather packages” which provide heating to turbine components such as the gearbox, yaw and pitch motors and battery, some turbines can operate in temperatures down to -30C.

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/energy-sources-distribution/renewables/wind-energy/wind-energy-cold-climates/7321

[Campion]

Sounds like a lot of these wind turbine failure stories boil down to poor engineering, not a problem with wind turbines per se. Bearings that can't handle the torque, systems that don't have heaters to handle cold weather, etc. This is all stuff that heavy equipment manufacturers figured out decades ago. If you can build a semi that can drive to the north slope of Alaska, you can build a wind turbine that will run in Texas in the winter.

[Beowulf9]

You have to be more optimistic! HALF of them DIDN’T freeze. 🤪

[Dilbert San Diego]

I don’t think they could have a show like Beverly Hillbillies today. The joke of the sitcom, that somebody struck oil and became wealthy, would offend the sensibilities of the liberals who run Hollywood. So the premise of the show would be rejected out of hand.

[sasquatch]

Don’t know about nat. gas but propane’s vapor pressure
hits zero around -40 deg.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

Meanwhile, the good news is when the electric power goes off in the house, the inhabitants can huddle in their Tesla to keep warm. (s)

[crusty old prospector]

Gas wells are being shut-in because they all make salt water and when the tanks fill up because no trucks can haul it off, the party is over. Pipelines are having issues with compressors going down. Just a matter of time before the power plants start having issues.

[Deaf Smith]

You go to YouTube and see vids of some poor sap, dangling below a helicopter while deicing wind turbine blades.

[revetment]

Half empty. Half full. Inquiring minds want to know what that glass is half-full of. It ain’t water...

[polymuser]

Wow, global warming is really terrible!

[mylife]

All common sense engineering to overcome extreme variables.

Still, wind and solar are a joke.

[BobL]

What’s important here is NOT whether they work when demand is highest, but THE MESSAGE that they send to the world, which is that Texans care (about sustainability).

[beethovenfan]

I find this rather hilarious. We have wind turbines because of GoreBull warming (allegedly). Now they’re freezing because of a lack of GoreBull warming.

[polymuser]

Some wind turbine deicing vids:

https://youtu.be/1Nws9odq7S8

https://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/drones/a19601013/de-icing-wind-turbines-is-easy-with-a-giant-drone/

https://youtu.be/eO-1tBwS_sY

[stylin19a]

As of Sunday morning, those iced turbines comprise 12,000 megawatts of Texas’ installed wind generation capacity,although those West Texas turbines don’t typically spin to their full generation cap
...
The outlet noted that the loss of power was largely offset by the fact that the remaining turbines were spinning quickly because of strong winter storm winds.

Is it even possible to cover the loss of 12k megawatts, by having the rest spin faster? and for how long ?