Local news paper indicated that about 1/3 of the wind generator fields in TX are out of operation due to freezing. Of course this is an unusual cold weather situation in TX but at the some time that is when they are needed the most. Rumor has it the nuke, coal and natural gas electric plants are unaffected by the bad weather.
While I love to bash on many of the green energy initiatives, a significant number of "conventional" power plants also had issues and shut down due to the cold weather. Apparently, "winterizing" power generation equipment costs money and isn't needed often enough to ensure that power companies in Texas do it. This same scenario happened in 1989 (when there were no windmills) and again in 2011. Texas generally has enough non-green generation capability to supply power even if none of the windmills were operating, though the cold weather also increased demand to well above normal. In this instance, pretty much all forms of power generation are suffering from lower than normal generating capability - coal, gas, and even nuclear. The amount of power generation that is offline is greater than the maximum peak capacity of all wind generated power (which is generally not available in the winter, due to seasonal winds).
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/02/texas-power-grid-crumples-under-the-cold/Various issues are apparently to blame. Examples reportedly include:
Water cooling systems, especially radiators, froze in the extreme cold, preventing water flow and leading to a loss of cooling to the generating systems.
Diesel fuel for generators gelling in the cold, resulting in no fuel flow
Low temperatures causing problems with the supply of natural gas to generating stations (most likely causing issues with the pumps)
Mike
