Wind & Solar Generators Couldn’t Care Less When You’re Freezing In The Dark
Solar panels smothered with snow and ice produce nothing; wind turbines frozen solid during breathless, frigid weather produce even less (they actually consume power from the grid to run heating systems meant to prevent their internal workings suffering permanent damage).
So, if you’re sitting freezing in the dark, don’t expect wind and solar power generators to come to your rescue.
No, if the lights and power are on this winter, then you ought to raise a glass for the gas, coal and nuclear power generators separating you and your loved ones from a date with hypothermia and, ultimately, the morgue.
Hundreds died during the Big Freeze that hit Texas in February 2021, thanks to a complete collapse in wind and solar output. Thousands more would have died, but for the reliable output delivered by coal, gas and nuclear plants.
As this piece from Alberta attests, the wind and solar industries couldn’t care less whether you freeze to death when winter bites.
Some things look great on paper until they are tested with the cold, hard reality.
For years, the province of Alberta, Canada looked like a decent place to build large scale wind projects. Alberta has wide open, windy spaces. So, in the name of fighting global warming (AKA raking in government subsidies) wind developers built nearly 4,500MWs of wind capacity as of January 2024. Solar’s installed capacity sits at 1650MWs for a combined wind and solar capacity of just over 6100MWs.
In January of 2024, Alberta’ wind turbines faced one of their most serious tests to date: a Polar Vortex pushed artic air down through Canada and into the United States. Temperatures plummeted, sending Alberta’s grid demand sky high.
CBC news reported on Friday January 12th that “Just before sunrise in Edmonton, temperatures hit lows of –37C (-34.6F), breaking a daily record of –32 (-25F) set in 1998.”
And it got colder.
On Friday night going into Saturday (13th) at Edmonton International Airport, temperatures dropped to -45C (-49F) by 10pm (according to weather.gov.ca).
As astute readers may know, a grid consumes electricity as it’s produced. If Alberta needs 12,000MWs of power, it has to produced 12,000MWs of power at the same instant (more or less). If the real-time supply and demand gets out of whack, the ‘pressure’ on the grid drops, forcing grid operators to call on other generators, force customers to reduce demand, or initiated rolling blackouts.
And no grid should run at 100% capacity. A grid should keep some capacity in reserve. If your largest plant suddenly runs into trouble and has to be pulled offline, you want more than enough standby capacity to plug that gap. And, even the best generators might struggle to provide maximum output during extreme weather. So, to safely operate, a grid wants to keep some standby capacity, well in excess of peak demand.
During the polar Vortex, Alberat’s grid demand skyrocket, hitting 10,000, 11,000, and more than 12,000MWs of demand. To supply that demand, Alberta’s gas plants have run hard, and the province had to rely on imports.
Of course, at night, Alberta’s 1650 MWs of solar were completely useless.
And wind output failed too. On the night of Jan 12-13, during the record-breaking cold temperatures, wind output stood at only 14MWs at 2115hrs. That wasn’t the lowest either. Early in the evening, wind output stood at 8-10MWs. But 8MWs would barely show up on the chart. So, we’re going with output at 2115hrs.
No, that’s not an exaggeration. Basically, Alberta’s wind was missing when the grid needed it most.
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French Farmers Vow To Continue Protests
French farmers have vowed to continue their tractor protests “for as long as necessary” while laying the blame for growing rural anger at the feet of the European Union’s ‘green’ agenda and the globalist government of President Emmanuel Macron.
Building off the momentum of the political gains from farmers in the Netherlands last year and the recent uprisings seen across Germany — not to mention decades of tractor protests already seen in France — French farmers said that they plan to continue shutting down motorways with their tractors at least until the end of the week and maybe even longer if the government fails to heed their demands.
Near Toulouse, hundreds of farmers have been blocking a highway in both directions since last Thursday afternoon, while similar protests have been staged across the country.
Arnaud Rousseau, the president of the FNSEA agricultural union said according to Le Figaro: “I can tell you that from today and throughout the week and for as long as it is necessary, a certain number of actions will be carried out.”
“The anger that is being expressed is not new… what farmers want is to restore a form of dignity to their profession, it is to talk about the questions of income and competitiveness. That is the whole subject of the daily exercise of the profession: how with the over-administration and the European variations of a certain number of rules, we are no longer in line with what is happening,” he continued.
Principally, the farmers are calling for their way of life to be respected by elites in Paris and Brussels.
However, in terms of concrete measures, they have called for a reduction in onerous ‘green’ regulations from the EU and from their government, which recently raised taxes on agricultural fuel.
The French farmers have also expressed anger over unfair competition, with food produced with cheaper labor and lax standards undercutting their prices, including from Ukraine, which the EU gave tariff-free access to the single market last year.
This has been further compounded by a lack of enforcement of laws surrounding the annual negotiation of prices between supermarket chains and farmers.
While recently installed French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has promised to make announcements on initial changes to agricultural policy within the week, it is unclear if the government will be able to restore trust with rural communities ahead of the upcoming European Parliament elections in June, in which farming is set to become a key political issue throughout the bloc.
As has been the case in the Netherlands and Germany, the populist right in France has aligned itself with the farmer protest movement.
The President of National Rally, Jordan Bardella, said that his party is the champion of the farmers while visiting wine growers over the weekend. In contrast, Bardella said: “Macron’s Europe wants the death of our agriculture.”
Bardella declared that the farmers’ anger is a “cry of a French people who do not want to die, who are attached to their social model, who are attached to their countryside, to their rural life.”
https://principia-scientific.com/french-farmers-vow-to-continue-protests/
**********************************************End the chimera of ‘green jobs’ tomorrow at the expense of real jobs today
The rush to net zero presents a severe threat to industries that have long been the lifeblood of our economy.
Grangemouth Refinery should be celebrating its centenary year in 2024, as Britain’s longest producing oil refinery. Instead, skilled workers at the Falkirk plant face months of worry, after the owners announced in November they will convert the site into an import terminal by 2025 with the loss of 400 jobs.
Instead of adding value to the economy and providing well-paid jobs to British workers – as well as supplying 70 per cent of Scotland’s petrol demand – we will instead ship fuel from abroad, supporting foreign jobs whilst further hammering the UK’s balance of payments. All the while doing nothing to reduce global emissions.
These developments are payback after years of neglect. Whilst the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill is a welcome yet belated attempt to maximise our own resources, it comes after clobbering North Sea operators with debilitating windfall taxes that cratered investment.
Our attitude towards energy security has bordered on dangerous indifference.
By failing to develop shale gas or rushing the closure of reliable fossil-fuelled power stations, we have lumbered ourselves with some of the world’s highest power costs, whilst subsidising intermittent renewables. And we impose some of the world’s highest carbon costs through the UK Emissions Trading Scheme on our industry, whose main competitors in China, India and the Middle East operate under no such burdens.
Furthermore, Grangemouth’s owners pointed directly to the “decline in demand for the type of fuels we produce” as key to their decision to close. The ideological obsession for battery vehicles at all costs can therefore be directly tied to the survival of British industry. Indeed, responding to a parliamentary debate on Grangemouth recently, ministers seemed happy to embrace the “managed decline” of a once proud sector, without considering the ramifications for our standard of living if the EV utopia fails to materialise.
This shameful acceptance of decline from a Conservative government would previously have been unthinkable. The only thing that can be said for the Government’s approach is our opponent’s policies offer even more insanity: “crocodile tears” from the SNP and Greens after years of undermining Scottish industry, and Labour’s eco-zealotry amounting to unfunded billions for the impossible promise of being a “clean energy superpower” by 2030.
Ask people most affected by the “green transition” where their preferences lie, however, and common sense prevails. When given a choice between energy independence or net zero, a recent survey of Scottish voters by pollsters Redfield & Wilton showed 58 per cent prioritising energy security, more than double those wanting net zero.
It is time we accept the same realism as these voters. We cannot burden industries with excessive costs that foreign competitors avoid, whilst expecting them to continue operating in the UK. Nor can we recklessly pursue a transition to EVs by diktat, which ordinary consumers do not want, on the chimera of “green jobs” tomorrow at the expense of real jobs today.
The closure of Grangemouth Refinery is a tragedy, but it is also a wake-up call. I could write in similar terms about the proposed closure of our remaining blast furnaces on the back of high energy costs and more net zero zealotry leaving the UK as the only G20 country without the ability to manufacture virgin steel. Do we continue down this path to ruin? Or do we finally wake up and prioritise true British energy security?
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BP attacked by investor over ‘irrational’ switch to clean energy
BP is facing fresh demands to scrap “irrational” net zero commitments championed by former chief executive Bernard Looney, after an activist investor claimed they have left shareholders £40bn poorer.
The FTSE 100 oil giant was on Monday accused of pursuing an unrealistic strategy by Bluebell Capital Partners, the investor that has taken a minority stake in BP after previously taking on blue chip heavyweights Glencore and Danone.
In a 30-page letter, Bluebell called on BP to scrap its commitment to scale back its oil and gas business by a quarter this decade, halt investment in renewable energy schemes and rewrite its net zero targets to clarify they will be achieved “in line with society”.
Bluebell argued that the targets will artificially constrain BP and leave it at a disadvantage compared to rivals such as Shell and ExxonMobil, which have made no such commitments of their own.
It added that BP’s investment in renewables such as solar and wind are failing to generate strong enough returns.
The activist is also demanding that BP returns an extra $16bn (£12.6bn) to shareholders this decade, and urged the oil giant to sack a board director with links to fund giant Blackrock, which it branded “a world champion of ESG inconsistency and hypocrisy”.
Blackrock has been one of the most vocal supporters of so-called environmental, social and governance investment principles, but has faced criticism over claims that it has prioritised progressive views over investor returns.
Bluebell said BP’s true worth was “at least 50pc more” than its stock market value, which stood at about £80bn on Monday, but had been dragged down by the “ill-conceived” strategy.
Giuseppe Bivona, partner and chief executive at Bluebell, said he spent the day speaking to BP shareholders, as he warned that too many companies were making unattainable green commitments to appear politically correct.
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My other blogs. Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM )
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Jim Hansen and his twin
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