The Great Texas Blackout of ‘21

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That is an interesting stawman. But it seems more like a "red herring".

Alaska is a large state. It is 2 1/2 times the size of Texas. Alaska has many different climate zones. Alaska is a thinly populated state. Its three largest cities (Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks) combined have less population than the city of Arlington, Texas.

My brother lives in Fairbanks. Fairbanks is located in the middle of the state. It gets extremely cold in the winter and will drop down to -50 degrees F. Fairbanks is geologically located in a bowl. The pollution form automobiles and wood stoves collects in the winter producing quite a bit of smog. This is because there is almost no wind to blow the pollution away. It just sits and collects. So when you say that they operate windmills in the extreme cold of Alaska, this doesn't make logical sense because Fairbanks doesn't have wind in the winter.

The other two large cities of Anchorage and Juneau are located along the coast. They do not experience the extreme cold that Fairbanks experiences because they are next to the Pacific Ocean, a large heat sink. This is similar to the same mechanism that allows Vancouver B.C. to experiences mild winters. As you said:



So when you compare Texas and Alaska. Texas is getting 20% of its electricity from wind. How much does Alaska rely on windpower? In 2019, natural gas fueled 44% of Alaska's total utility-scale electricity generation and hydroelectric power generated 27%. Petroleum liquids accounted for 15%, coal was 11%, and other renewables—mostly wind and biomass—accounted for 3% of Alaska's generation. Wind farms are located primarily along the state's southern and western coasts and on the Railbelt grid.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration: Alaska

So in general, Alaska relies on only around one tenth the wind that Texas does for its electrical generation and these windmills are located along the coast and as a result do not experience the extremes of cold temperature.

it is plain that texas skimped on the maintenance of its grid in order to fatten the pockets of the executive suite and big investors. greed did that to them.

And those Billionaires' lobbyists ensured the legislation was written up as a win-win for the oil & gas industry.. low cost of installing & maintaining equipment that isn't winterized, and when it freezes up and fails - no big deal, demand goes through the roof and whoever's able to supply power gets to charge almost whatever they want for it.. hence the $10,000.00 power bills. A little collateral damage of 1-2 dozen people freezing to death is totally acceptable considering the profits to be made.