
Texas sets single-day wind power record - matt2000
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/texas-sets-new-all-time-wind-energy-record/
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Cshelton
For those who do not know:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Interconnection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Interconnection)

Texas is the only state that has it's own power grid, owned by the state. The
stuff they are working on right now, including massive distributed battery
systems, solar, more wind, etc. will be the one of the most advanced renewable
systems in the world given the amount of power and consumption.

It's awesome to see how as 'relatively' small grid, operating on their own,
can make progress without all the bullshit. (See Nevada...that solar situation
is so fucked up.).

~~~
toomuchtodo
I'm actually both shocked and surprised how quickly Texas is transitioning to
renewables with their, ahem, political climate, but happy nonetheless!

Warren Buffet should be ashamed of Berkshire Hathaway's role in strongarming
the PUC in Nevada in NV Energy's favor.

~~~
bane
Texas is a great example of what happens in an almost uncontrolled free
market. With renewables becoming far cheaper, it makes sense that markets that
work off basic free market economics will adopt them. Texas is pragmatic that
way and often provides a very simple model for what it takes to get things
adopted without strong regulations forcing the matter.

It's a weird state only insomuch that it isn't like everywhere else and is
still fairly successful as a territory.

~~~
woah
Before we get too voluntary here, let's remember that wind power was developed
through heavy subsidies from many governments over the years.

~~~
bane
That's kind of the point. The heavy subsidies brought renewables into
competition with traditional energy markets in Texas, and voila, Texans (a
state not normally associated with renewables) started buying them up.

One thing that's not discussed too frequently about renewables is that the
operating costs are less variable than fossil fuel based systems. You have a
pretty good idea what the costs are going to be over the lifetime of an
installation and this helps with planning and deployment. Fossil fuel prices
are variable enough over 20 years that you can't plan more than a few months
out, or you need to have enough cash reserves in place to weather out price
spikes.

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nawitus
Not strictly related to wind power in Texas, but reminded me how at the same
time in Finland a few authorities recommended consumers to actually limit
their use of eletricity "for the common good".

The main cause was increase in wind power capacity in the last few years (as
there was practically no wind that day), coupled with very low temperatures
and problems with buying electricity from Russia.

It's kinda scary how a developed, modern country is suddenly close to
rationing the use of electricity.

~~~
mikeash
It amazes me how well the stuff works most of the time, considering that it's
a ridiculously just-in-time system where production must match consumption on
a second-by-second basis. No other industry is like this. I think we badly
need good storage solutions to decouple the two sides.

~~~
barney54
The lack of storage isn't a problem when you are using reliable sources of
generation such as nukes, coal, nat gas, and hydro. He problem is integrating
wind and solar into a system that is designed for reliable generation.

~~~
mikeash
It's still a problem, because it means you need to size generating capacity to
match peak demand, not average demand. It's a problem that can be (and is)
solved, but the solution is expensive, and when you misjudge the peak you get
brownouts or blackouts.

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Ocerge
I drove from Austin to Denver once. From Abilene to Texline it's pretty much
nothing but wind turbines...and that is a very long drive. It's pretty cool
that such an oil-driven state has a large amount of renewable energy.

~~~
Nicholas_C
I used to drive from my hometown around Austin to Lubbock for school. The wide
open country pocked with turbines was my favorite part of the six hour drive.

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dtornabene
You can actually see it. Driving country (state) highways, from ,say, just
west of Ft Worth, up to the border, hundreds of turbines. There's also a
factory in between Ft Worth and Denton where, I believe, some pieces of the
turbines are built and (I know) the larger section of the turbines are
assembled. It makes sense as well, especially to the west, where wind is a
near constant and there is _nothing_. Scrub from the central hill country to
the border with New Mexico.

~~~
sremani
That is one of the reasons why Facebook Data Center is in Ft.Worth, easier
access to Wind power.

~~~
mikeyouse
Wind power.. and tens of millions in tax credits.. It's crazy how much money
localities are dishing out to get a few dozen jobs. I get the competitive
aspect (if we don't, someone else will) but forum shopping is gross in just
about every manifestation.

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mmaunder
The charts further down the page give one a more realistic sense of how much
wind contributes as a whole. Natural gas dominates with 48% of power generated
while wind is around 12%. It's tough to beat heat sources driving turbines.

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maxerickson
I wonder if a growing industry will ever again set a single day power
generation record. Seems rather likely.

It might be more interesting to report when a new record is not set on the
expected schedule.

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ilvnvtoomuch
Its good to hear this from TX. I want to see wind installations grown, given
how affordable land is.

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drkrab
In Denmark, it was 42% for all of 2015;
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Denmark](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Denmark)

~~~
david-given
That's 42% of electricity only, though.

In 2013 (the last year for which the table in Wikipedia has data) they
consumed ~30 TWh of electricity --- but 200 TWh of fossil fuels. This'll be
heating and transport.

Heating and transport _always_ dominates energy consumption. Yes, generating
that much electricity via renewables is a very good thing. But electricity is
just a small slice of a much larger pie.

~~~
_delirium
How much of a dent it will make remains to be seen, but Denmark does have an
active plan to shift away from fossil fuels for heating. Installation of new
oil and natural-gas furnaces was recently banned, partly as part of the push
away from fossil fuels, and partly because of fears of Russian dominance over
gas supplies. In urban areas the goal is to get everyone on the district-
heating grid, which is fueled mostly by a mix of trash incinerators and
cogeneration with electric power plants. There's a medium-term plan to
opportunistically produce more of the heat from excess wind power, with hopes
that doing so will produce a "win-win" for electric-grid management by giving
grid managers an easy place to dump energy to smooth out short-term variations
in electric production.

Transport is another story. Lots of fossil fuels there, and probably not going
away soon.

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Animats
Wind gets even better going northward from the Texas panhandle up to Canada.
But there's no big load anywhere near there.

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MicroBerto
What, ahem, political climate would _that_ be?

Y'all think this state is full of idiots. Y'all are only half-wrong, and it's
still probably better than your state.

~~~
enraged_camel
I live in Texas and I'm as surprised as the parent. It's not that I think the
state is "full of idiots" as you say, but because the oil and gas industry has
the state by the balls.

edit: judging by the downvotes, apparently this is a controversial statement.
weird.

~~~
aaron695
I don't think you deserve downvotes for this comment.

But surly you'd be aware this is what the rest of the world thinks?

The first thing the world thinks of when they think of Texas is racist,
backwards, ultra religious people.

I'm surprised you'd be surprised of this?

~~~
krapp
People tend to be surprised when confronted with stereotypes about themselves,
especially when those stereotypes are untrue.

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andy_ppp
It's all those refried beans and smoked meats...

