Posted on 02/20/2021 7:44:24 AM PST by madison10
Knowing Michigan’s weather, DTE makes sure the equipment is able to handle temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius... Knowing Michigan’s weather, he said DTE equipped their wind turbines across the state with what are called “cold weather adaption packages.”
He said that provides heat in the turbine to prevent them from freezing up and failing to operate.
Almost exactly two years ago, in 2019, Michiganders dealt with a Polar Vortex that brought bitter, cold and record temperatures.
While the situation was certainly not as drastic as what our neighbors to the south are experiencing, energy companies did ask their customers to lower their thermostats and minimize their electricity usage. That was a direct result of a fire at a Consumers Energy gas compressor station in Macomb County.
At that time, DTE shared “DTE Gas did not have a shortage in 2019. This was a Consumers Energy issue that stemmed from a fire at one of their facilities. In fact, DTE Gas aided Consumers Energy with additional supply to address that shortage.”
One type of energy they didn’t have any concerns with? Renewable.
In 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, renewable energy made up a little more than 6-percent of Michigan’s energy. 60-percent of that energy was generated by wind turbines.
“We’ve been very happy with our wind investments,” Harwood said. “They’ve operated very well for us. The first one came online in 2012. And, we’ve been adding projects online almost every year since.”
Harwood said wind energy, combined with solar energy from DTE’s solar panels installed across the state, powers half a million homes.
And, DTE plans to double that energy generation, powering one million homes, with new projects over the next 2 years.
While the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow, Harwood shared these sources of energy do not pose any serious challenges.
Something he said the 2019 Polar Vortex confirmed for DTE.
“With respect to our renewables, I think if anything else, it was, it was just a verification that the cold weather packages and the preparations that we had designed into our systems, actually worked very well and gave us confidence that we were on the right track,” he said.
Because, despite what we may think, the solar panels actually operate more efficiently in cold weather.
“As long as there’s, there’s a little bit of light that gets to the panel, even through a snow layer, it’ll generate a little bit of heat,” he explained. “And that heat will, within a day or so, slide that snow right off the panel. And so we don’t we don’t have any, you know, maintenance activities where we send people out to, you know, brush snow off a panel. It pretty much takes care of itself.”
Which is why, on top of these energies being safer, cleaner and better for the environment, Harwood said wind turbines and solar panels are the future.
“We don’t do projects in communities that don’t want the project. There may be a few people here and there that are opposed to it; but if the community generally is supportive, then, then we’re interested in coming there and building a project,” Harwood said. “These packages include additional heating components for hydraulic and lubrication oil systems and in other critical components; but, you know as a result, our turbines have been operating very well over the last few weeks, and last few days,” Harwood said. “And even if you go back to the Polar Vortex in late January a couple years ago, our wind fleet operated just as expected, right through that with no issues.”
My TDS suffering brother is constantly telling me how much better Michigan is than Alabama.
Yikes! I’m in Texas and haven’t ever seen a water softener installed.....outside.
Every one that I’ve seen are inside garages.
It isn’t better by any stretch. Just different. Our government here is way too leftist currently.
I have friends in northern Alabama whose only weather complaints are of the oppressive, hot summers.
A similar set of conditions hit north Texas in 2011. Not once in a century.
But no one expected them to do the stupidest thing - turn off power to natural gas wells as “industrial” and then be surprised they didn’t have gas for homes or natural gas power plants.
Agree. I do not think it is dependable enough on its own. A strong windstorm would take any of those out fast.
So what provides the heat? And at what cost.
Whole article sounds like a salesman's pitch.
Wind and solar should only be used when it is economically feasible, without gummint handouts.
If wind and solar can compete with gas, coal, nuke then I'm all for it.
I don't give a fat rat's ass about the murder of millions of birds, but why can't I shoot hawks?
There are more protected hawks in W PA than there are doves or robins {slight exaggeration}.
Drove up US-127 in October... The ugliness of the windmills is overwhelming ....
Yes, they look awful and they do kill birds. They look bad from MI81, too.
Environmentalists must be conflicted: animals/nature, or Green Energy, which one wins?
It IS a salesman’s pitch. DTE wants more money.
https://www.abc12.com/2021/02/18/dte-energy-seeking-11-increase-to-natural-gas-rates/
The Adirondack Mountains in NY State also have alot of windmills towering over the scenic trees. Wonder how the tree huggers feel about that look.
More fun with windmills;
snip-
“An increase inambient temperature, wind, or solar radiation may cause sheets or fragments of ice to loosen and fall, making the area directly under the rotor subject to the greatest risks. In addition, rotating turbine blades may propel ice fragments some distance from the turbine—up to several hundred meters if conditions are right.”
This is from a wind turbine manufacturer.
One of the points our paid experts made when a local group I was associated with made when we successfully fought off a (foreign owned) complex in my backyard
What cinched it though, was forcing them into a Property Value Guarantee
The went running away the day after that passed our zoning board
Phoenix gets cold from time to time but not the bone chilling cold Texas just went through. I worked in Canada for a few years. You would get freeze warnings. In Phoenix a freeze warning means cover your plants. In Canada it men’s exposed skin can freeze in 10 minutes.
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