the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the polar vortex seems to have thrown ice water on Governor Murphy’s promotion of alternative energy .On November 19, 2019 Governor Murphy signed Executive Order #92. This order effectively raised New Jersey’s offshore wind goal from 3,500 megawatts by 2030 to 7,500 megawatts by 2035 – more than double the initial goal. This new goal will deliver clean, renewable energy generation needed to meet the State’s goals of 50% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% clean energy by 2050. A schedule for offshore wind solicitations through 2028 has been developed and can be found here.
Much of the Midwest and mountain states are seeing subzero temperatures and blizzard conditions as the polar vortex sweeps through. As far south as Dallas, the temperatures dipped into the 20s. In parts of Minnesota, temperatures dipped to near their lowest levels in a century. In Texas, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is warning of “rolling blackouts” due to extreme cold.
Green energy to the rescue, well not quite the Center for the American Experiment, a Minnesota-based think tank have reported , that “Wind turbines are shut down when temperatures are below -22° F because it is too cold to operate them safely (see the figure below). This means it will be too cold for the wind turbines built by the power companies to generate any electricity.”
It’s worse than that. The Minnesota think tank reports: “Wind turbines will actually consume electricity at these temperatures because the turbines use electric heaters in their gearboxes to keep the oil in the housing from freezing, which would cause damage to the turbine. During the 2019 Polar Vortex, wind turbines were consuming 2 MW of electricity. Wind turbines are a liability on the grid when the power is needed most.”
Solar power is even less reliable in severe weather conditions. Frigid temperatures are often associated with bright sunny skies, but the temperatures drop way down at night – you know, when there is no sunlight. Also, snow and ice often disable the panels.
A state of emergency has been declared in Texas as the power grid is experiencing a systemwide failure this morning. Icy winter conditions froze half of the state’s wind turbines, reducing electricity supply just as the cold led to a record surge in demand. 3.7 million customers are without power.
These are facts, Democrats don’t concern themselves with that. It’s all about feelings!
Another fact is that wind and solar power projects are subsidized by tax credits in addition to depreciation deductions. Without these tax credits, these projects would not be foot economically. I am not against government providing credits to support specific industries or portions of a particular market in order to achieve specific strategic goals. What I do hold in contempt are those who advance the “green energy concept” with a lack of full transparency on costs. Not saying we should not offer to subsidize products and certain industries from a policy perspective. But to claim something is green, cheap, and reliable, is simply not the case.
“Temperatures below -22deg” … it is so rare that actually happens that I really don’t see the issue here, aside from technological growth and job creation scare Ridgewood blog…
Windmills , “technological growth” ,yea that’s the ticket
The Texas disaster should be added to the list that includes the California meltdown last summer when the wind died and there was a massive black/brownout. There will be more and I’m sure NJ will be included at some point, probably when some nor’easter or hurricane has winds so high that they have to shut down the wind farm to save the rotors. Solar doesn’t work at night or in cloudy weather and wind is unreliable. If the greens were truly interested in emission free energy, they’d support nuclear generation, but to do that, they’d have to be serious about the emission problem. The green religion is more important to them than that.
You’re all tilting at windmills !
you live in a former Dutch Colony , and you think windmills are modern technology ???
written in 1605 and 1615 , its very modern , next they will think of putting sails on ships
them Dutch were smart ,if you think the windmills are cool, try the beer
there is an article on the blog today on “gnomic sequencing” , sounds like the blopger, Pj , the staff or who EVER is not scared on technology
Move to Midland Park you might learn something
The beer is good
Windmills ,technological growth you must be a politician
Why doesn’t the wind power in Canada face these issues? Stop the fear mongering.
https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/energy-sources-distribution/renewables/wind-energy/wind-energy-cold-climates/7321
The Canadians figured it out ,they know about cold weather
What if it is barely wind turbines that are the problem? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-16/frozen-wind-farms-were-just-a-small-piece-of-texas-s-power-woes
Yep, this has nothing to do with wind turbines.