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22 Feb, 8 tweets, 3 min read
A tale of two places: TX vs. Alberta, Canada.

In TX, a spike in demand during cold temps led to devastating blackouts.

In AB, a spike in demand during *far colder temps* led to... very little disruption.

Why? AB has a reliable, resilient grid with 43% coal and 49% gas.

THREAD
The media want you to believe that TX's failure to handle spiking demand during cold temps proves that a fossil fueled grid can't handle such a challenge. They don't want you to know about Alberta, CA--where a fossil fueled grid handled a far bigger challenge with relative ease.
Alberta was far colder than TX last week.

Between Feb 14th and 17th, while Dallas, TX temperatures averaged between 10 and 25 degrees F, Calgary, AB temperatures AVERAGED between -13 and 16 degrees F!

Alberta's 43% coal, 49% gas grid performed spectacularly.
Alberta, like TX, experienced demand that spiked to record highs.

Why did AB handle it with relative ease, while TX plunged into frozen darkness?

Because AB has invested in reliable, resilient fossil fuel infrastructure--and little unreliable wind.

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…
Did Alberta succeed because it's connected to a national grid that bailed it out?

Nope: "Both [Texas and Alberta] have limited electrical connections to their neighbours, leaving it largely up to themselves to manage their reliability."

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…
Alberta can handle spikes in demand during ultra-frigid temps with an "isolated" grid because they have done what TX hasn't: create pro-reliability policies that lead to a reliable and resilient grid.

Alberta proves with 100% certainty that coal and gas plants can easily run in far more adverse conditions than TX had. That's why the anti-fossil fuel media do not want you to know the story of Alberta. Let's spread this story far and wide.
Let's also spread the story of how pro-wind policies made Texas unable to handle what Alberta handled easily.

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More from @AlexEpstein

Alex Epstein Profile picture
19 Feb
Q: Is the solution to TX's reliability problems to join the national grid and be regulated by the Federal government?

A: No, because the Federal government is pursuing policies that are even more anti-reliability than TX's. The solution is pro-reliability policies in TX.

THREAD
Many say the problem causing the massive TX blackouts is TX's insistence on being an independent grid, depriving it of ample power from local states as well as wise regulation from the Federal government. But joining today's Federal grid would make TX's problems far worse.
Texas is perfectly capable of having an ultra-reliable grid on its own. It is the size of a fairly-large country. Any weather challenges it has faced or will face have been easily dealt with by grids around the world using reliable and resilient nuclear, coal, and gas plants.
Read 20 tweets
Alex Epstein Profile picture
19 Feb
An energy engineer on @curryja's blog has written the best account of the TX blackouts so far.

It confirms my analysis that "the root cause of the TX blackouts is...policy that has prioritized the adoption of unreliable wind/solar energy."

THREAD

judithcurry.com/2021/02/18/ass…
"Who is responsible for providing adequate capacity in Texas during extreme conditions? The short answer is no one."
"[ERCOT doesn't] ensure that the resources can deliver power under adverse conditions, they don’t require that generators have secured firm fuel supplies, and they don’t make sure the resources will be ready and available to operate."
Read 18 tweets
Alex Epstein Profile picture
18 Feb
The head of the main oil/gas regulator in TX has released a statement confirming my analysis that "the root cause of the TX blackouts is a national and state policy that has prioritized the adoption of unreliable wind/solar energy over reliable energy."

facebook.com/WayneChristian…
"ERCOT was notified over a decade ago that TX power plants had failed to adequately weatherize....Instead of spending our resources making our grid more resilient, policy and spending has focused on mandating or subsidizing wind and solar to expand their presence on the grid.
"
Read 6 tweets
Alex Epstein Profile picture
17 Feb
Many people have asked me what I think of Twitter-promoted @JesseJenkins' account of the TX situation. Turns out he preemptively blocked me, but looking at his thread from another account I believe it's deliberately superficial, evading root causes that damn his favored policies. Image
Let's start with the simple truth: *the only real reason reliability has suddenly become an issue, everywhere*, is that policy now rewards unreliability and punishes reliability.

For much more on this read @MeredithAngwin's excellent "Shorting the Grid."
The primary goal of policies that reward reliability and punish reliability is to reduce CO2 emissions by the bizarre method of promoting unreliable solar and wind at the expense of reliable nuclear, as well as all other reliable power sources.
Read 12 tweets
Alex Epstein Profile picture
16 Feb
There is a lot of conflicting "information" about the TX blackouts. Here's the bottom line: the root cause of the TX blackouts is a national and state policy that has prioritized the adoption of unreliable wind/solar energy over reliable energy.

THREAD
For the last decade+ policy in TX and in the US has been focused on mandating or subsidizing as much wind and solar as possible. TX has bragged about being the biggest wind generator in the US.
The TX focus on wind has come above all at the expense of coal, which has the resiliency advantage (along with nuclear) of being able to store large quantities of fuel onsite; gas mostly requires "just in time" delivery from pipelines.
Read 20 tweets
Alex Epstein Profile picture
15 Feb
I hereby declare today Renewable Blackout Day, in which wind/solar propagandists turn off their power and heat--in apology to their victims in Texas.

Please invite people to participate via quote tweet. I invite @algore, @AOC, and Larry Fink.
Read 4 tweets

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