Did Frozen Wind Turbines Impact the Texas Freeze? Here's the Data

 

Real-time data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that wind power collapsed as the winter storm swept across the state. 

To understand the graph, the very top line, beige, is natural gas power generation. Hydroelectric is the barely perceptible blue line at the bottom. Wind is the green line; coal is brown. Nuclear power is purple. 

The graph clearly shows all forms of power generation dipped, with wind power collapsing from Monday to Tuesday before recovering somewhat. Meanwhile, natural gas, coal, and nuclear power generation also dipped but continued generating power. Gas pipelines and a cooling system at the STP nuclear plant outside Houston did suffer the effects of the extreme cold. 

This graphic tells a similar story. Wind, again, is in green.

 

As the graph plainly shows, wind generation choked down but natural gas compensated. Coal and even nuclear power generation dipped. Solar generation has been negligible due to cloud cover and several inches of snow and ice. The cold has created extreme demand across the state. 

During most winter storms, the Panhandle, West Texas, and even North Texas around Dallas and above toward Paris may get cold but Central and South Texas could remain well above freezing. This has not happened during the current series of storms. 

The entire state is in a deep freeze, with snow appearing even on Galveston Island’s beach. Galveston averages lows of about 50 degrees and highs in the mid-60s during a typical February. It’s 37 degrees in Galveston as I write this, well below average. 

Austin has seen single-digit temperatures at night. To put all of this into some perspective, the storm that dumped more than six inches of ice and snow on Austin Sunday night would, by itself, have been a historic storm. It dropped more snow on the capital than any other storm since 1949. It was preceded by a major cold snap and has been followed by more extreme cold and then another ice and snow storm Tuesday night. 

Texas has not suffered a single historic winter storm over the past several days, but a series of them without any warming in between. It’s unlikely to get above freezing in the Austin area until Friday. Points north may stay below freezing for a couple of days after that. This is putting more demand on the grid.

GRTWT.