Leen Weijers’ Post

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VP Engineering at Liberty Energy

“I only drink when it rains or when it doesn't rain”, was supposedly uttered by Mick Jagger.  Similarly, US power outages occur when it rains and when it does not rain. It wasn’t like that in the past. The US electricity grid, as reported by DOE data (https://lnkd.in/gAni-G8A) was quite reliable and totaled only about 50 power outages a year during the early 2000s. More recently, however, when ignoring an increasing number of vandalism cases, weather-related and non-weather related outages have both been on the rise to total about 300 power outages a year. When it rains it pours. If you are a climate-change zealot seeking your monotheistic cause for all our problems, you jump on the weather-related outages to confirm you are right. But why are these outages increasing when experts like Roger Pielke Jr. report that the IPCC does not see extreme weather events increasing? And what do you do about the non-weather related increases in power outages? Some point to a grid that is getting older. But is it getting older faster because necessary upgrading is ignored in lieu of all-out spending on weather-dependent electricity sources? I have pointed to a good correlation (https://lnkd.in/gsrZ_Tzf) between outages and an increasing percentage of weather-dependent electricity sources. Every % of unreliable power addition leads to about 35 more outages every year, but alas – correlation is not causation. What do you think is the cause of the increasing number of US electrical power outages? #grid #electricalgrid #climate #climatechange #energy #energytransition #blackout 

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146 of the 2023 events were related to theft or vandalism. (causes are listed in the tables). That is 146 of 270 non-weather related events. So a little more than 50% of the non-weather events were deliberate events that caused major outages. Also note it may not be clear elsewhere, that these are major outages where thousands or more people are impacted. On any given day there may be 50 or more local outages per million customers for things like vehicles hitting a pole or other utility equipment, a backhoe breaking into a conduit, tree falling on a line. None of these smaller outages are reported in these tables.

Doug Hartmann

Creator at Hart Bioenergy Pty Ltd

3mo

Funny how fossil fuel fanatics are constantly trying to make a link between RE and grid reliability. The deep Australian experience is that RE has made the grid more reliable, as is the Scandinavian, and German experience. German chart shows clearly that the building of RE capacity has decreased the number of grid outages over the past 18 years.

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Doug Sheridan

Research, Analysis & Opinion | Energy • Economics • Policy | Free Enterprise + Markets

3mo

Really interesting. Who authored this chart?

Steven L. Thomson, PE

Energy Industry Veteran and Independent Consultant

3mo

Do power outages need to be normalized to grid output?

Steve Feeney

Business Owner at Steve Feeney Consulting

3mo

Simple, really. Elitists believing 0.04% atmospheric carbon dioxide is a “climate emergency”. Twenty years ago, Ohio generated more electricity than we do now (EIA data). How can that be? Most of the coal plants were shut down, that’s how. Now that the power hog AI is upon us, what are we going to do if the Elites have their way with saving every last scrap of data in their data junkyards? What would you expect from the trillionare club? Of course, ask us peons to pay for their enormous power requirements! Remember when google invested millions in solar energy? How’d that work out for them? Maybe Amazon can move to Germany to set up their data junkyards. Ohh…that’s right. Business is leaving Germany. Huh! Why is that? One guess. Hey Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook… build your own electrical grid for your data junkyard, and don’t ask me to pay for it, and stay off prime farmland while your at it. Stop trying to steal our electricity for 15 cents per KWHr. Here’s an idea. Why not build your data junkyards in the California desert. Plenty of good sunshine there. Oh yeah, their electricity is 75% above the US average, and kept low by importing 30%. Hey Boys - bite the bullet, babe.

Steve Hill

CEO, AIMS LLC. (Premier Houston based Engineering: Co) favorite FEED contractor with Majors O&G for FLNG, FPSO, FSRU and CCUS project definition and PM execution. A trusted Eagle Scout.

3mo

Well written and factural naritive; Wind and Solar investments need to stop in favor of grid repairs and bringing more thermal and nuclear power plants on line for base load.

The grid is stressed, without the historical extra margin of dispatchable power. 💡🤠

Kenneth H.

Lead Integrated Planning Coordinator

3mo

Renewables are 100% unreliable. We need to embrace the Reliable Portfolio Standard coupled with sound economic and risk analysis. It required mental midgetry to abandon such.

Roger Keese

Experienced Professional; operations mgm't, technical engineering, client support

3mo

Wind & solar is the "DEI" of electricity generation.

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