Behind these supply disruptions, elected Republican officials have designated their culprit: the renewable energies . In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, State Governor Greg Abbott pleaded in favor of oil, and pointed the finger at the responsibility of wind turbines and solar panels in these cuts. He then reconsidered his words, explaining that the gas pipes had frozen.
Even the White House threw herself into the battle, denouncing the words of these elected officials. It must be said that in Washington, Republicans and Democrats are currently opposed to the “green new deal” that Joe Biden wants to launch.
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Strong demand, which exceeded the calculation of the peaks forecast for this winter, coupled with problems on the supply of natural gas but also on the operation of wind turbines and solar panels are, together, the source of these problems. “It seems that a large part of the production that has been decommissioned today is mainly due to problems on the natural gas network,” however said Tuesday Dan Woodfin, a senior official at Ercot, the regulator of Texan energy.
According to Ercot, Tuesday, 46. 000 MW of production had been arrested due to weather conditions. Of this total, nearly 47% came from thermal energy (natural gas, coal and nuclear ) and the 38 remaining% came from solar and wind power. He stayed, Thursday, 39. 000 MW of production in forced shutdown due to climatic conditions, including 20. 500 thermal energy.
Electricity consumption that exceeded forecasts
Electricity consumption in recent days has exceeded peaks that had planned for Ercot for this winter. In anticipation of the arrival of snow, Ercot had asked at the beginning of the week to the Texans to reduce their consumption, a measure which was not enough.
Moreover, this increase in demand could not be entirely compensated by the import of energy from neighboring states or countries, specified the CEO of the regulator on Tuesday. Texas has its own power grid.
In note released Tuesday, the US State Department of Energy also underlined also that “strong demands” on the electrical network, “cold temperatures” which caused the “frost ”Of natural gas, as well as“ frost ”on wind turbines impacted the network.
To heat themselves, some inhabitants resort to alternative methods, sometimes dangerous. The firefighters of Austin, the state capital,
intervened 24 times Tuesday, for carbon monoxide poisoning.