The New-Normaling of Blackouts

American Institute for Economic Research ^ | December 28, 2022 | Jon Sanders

[ProtectOurFreedom]

On Christmas Eve, 2022, in North Carolina, something happened that had never happened before in living memory. People across the state were alerted by their power company, Duke Energy, that there would be rolling blackouts in the aftermath of a severe (but “not exceedingly rare”) winter wind storm. At least 12 other states received similar and previously unheard-of warnings.

Before, rolling blackouts were a California problem, then they also became a Texas problem. Blackouts are spreading faster than even Imperial College London modelers would find believable.

Duke was still warning North Carolina customers of potential blackouts two days later. At this point there was nothing unusual at all in the weather, except that it was colder than normal. The only thing unusual was Duke’s warning, in combination with its thanking customers for conserving enough energy to avoid blackouts on Christmas Day.

It already seems as if people are being conditioned to expect talk of rolling blackouts whenever the weather outside seems frightful.

...rolling blackouts are not now, nor have they been, normal in the US. ...having to expect rolling blackouts going forward would be abnormal. Nevertheless, as utility providers and power grid monitors have recently warned, the more grids are saddled with intermittent, unreliable wind and solar facilities, the more unreliable they are becoming. They’re more prone to capacity shortfalls and blackouts.

The Biden administration is dead-set on adding more wind and solar generation to the grid, which requires shuttering existing, reliable power plants. Along with much higher electric bills, it means more rolling blackouts. Electric customers would be incensed, however, given their current expectation of power at the flip of a switch. There are only two ways to go: change the plan to destabilize the grid with politically favored renewables, or try to change people’s idea of normal grid operations.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The author goes on to talk about the steps that the "progressives" are using to create a "new normal" of scarce and unreliable "green" power and how to make people forget they once had reliable, affordable power. It reminds me a lot of the steps that communists use to take over a country (not without coincidence, for sure).

This is an brilliant piece and well worth reading. It will only take a few minutes of your time.

He concludes that before long people will have completely forgotten what it was like to have reliable, affordable power. Just like how we have forgotten how we once had a government that could be controlled, how the FBI served the interests of the people, how the military was a respected institution, and how people believed in their medical establishment.

Winston thought: “Was he, then, alone in the possession of a memory?”

With respect to that great achievement long ago of cheap, reliable electricity, how many of us in the new normal will even allow ourselves to remember it?

In a nutshell, the author is telling us what Orwell warned us about long ago...

[Paladin2]

This is Kr@p.

Let those who believe in catastrophic Gorebal Warning make the reduction in HydroCarbon burning to take care of their beliefs for ALL peeps and leave the rest of us alone to burn same as we wish.

Drill, baby Drill and build pipelines to keep HC prices low for us non-believers. [Afterall, HCs are organic and gluten free]

[blackdog]

Memphis is a third world utility with its MLGW. Linemen who can’t work on lines because they are unqualified. MLGW has to hire contractors to fix downed lines. All MLGW does is respond to the outage and then pass it on to their foreman.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Of course it’s crap. But they are following the same liberal prog playbook they always use and they will probably succeed. Where is the pushback? Who will stop them?

After a generation or two has passed away, nobody remembers what it was like to live in a free and productive nation of plenty.

[cherry]

why did you think they rushed to put in these “smart” meters.....they want control, they want us to suffer, they ae against us and so is the entire govt.

[packagingguy]

Well there’s a reason for MLGW not getting qualified linemen...they get held up at gunpoint. That just happened maybe a month or so ago.

Not worth the money if your life is on the line, so to speak.

[catnipman]

and it’s only gonna get worse, MUCH worse ... you can’t shutdown reliable gen capacity without replacing it with something equally as reliable and THEN outlaw combustion for transportation and heating ...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Yep. I’m 71 so I won’t be around much longer to see the worst of it, but really BAD stuff is coming.

Three quarters of our population is so brainwashed on “climate catastrophe,” is scared to death by it, and is so unable to think logically that they will gladly accept four hours of power per day as the “new normal.”

[MinorityRepublican]

Three quarters of our population is so brainwashed on “climate catastrophe,” is scared to death by it, and is so unable to think logically that they will gladly accept four hours of power per day as the “new normal.”

Especially Generation Z. And they are staring to vote. Millenials are a little better. Not that much.

[blackdog]

Yes I know of what you speak. It’s also about theft of utilities service. About two years ago they hired a sub contractor to replace all the water meters with smart meters relay controlled centrally. About 38% of the water service lines in my zip code were bypassed. Now if they turn off your electricity after 10 days they send out a guy with a hot stick to pull the fuse at the top of the pole. The hood rats use automotive jumper cables to bypass meters turned off.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

We had dinner with friends a couple months back and their 23 year old son was there. He is an absolute true believer that the world is ending and only “green energy” will save us.

I’m a career power engineer, so it was an interesting conversation looking in the mind of a Gen Z believer. There was no room whatsoever for pragmatic, evidence-based debate.

They do not want to hear that “green energy” is an impossibility until we get to nuclear fusion.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

The states where the power stays on consistently will be seen as the new “1st World”.

[MinorityRepublican]

I’m a career power engineer, so it was an interesting conversation looking in the mind of a Gen Z believer. There was no room whatsoever for pragmatic, evidence-based debate.

I bet you just nodded and pretended to agree with him.

[moovova]

....and I told them to stick...build more coal generating plants.

[who knows what evil?]

‘Rolling blackouts’ left hundreds WITHOUT water in East Tennessee over the past few days...TPTB are trying to blame the chaos on ‘frozen ground’ and ‘cold weather’. You know...like many states have during the season known as ‘winter’.

[NorthMountain]

If the "Electric Vehicle" crowd want to be taken seriously, they will loudly and regularly advocate building many more new coal, gas, uranium, and thorium powered generating stations. They will also loudly and regularly advocate major upgrades to the power grid, with particular emphasis on the "last mile" distribution to individual customers.

But they don't.

Some of them are jokers; idiots and ignorami who "think" electricity just comes out of the wall.

Some of them are thoroughly evil people who want to reduce us to living in misery and squalor, completely subject to their whims.

[mewzilla]

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/tennessee-valley-authority-plans-shut-coal-plants-by-2035-2021-05-03/

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Exactly. He’s a nice kid and we like his folks. I tried to ask thought-provoking questions about the future, but all he could do was regurgitate back the propaganda he learned at college. There was no sense picking a fight or getting hostile because there was no way to change his mind. So I was pleasant, nodded a lot, and tried gently to get him to look at things a different way.

I’m sure he came away thinking “Old coot, doesn’t know a thing.”

[Scott from the Left Coast]

“ and leave the rest of us alone to burn same as we wish”

Well, that would work…if we didn’t have a fascist government.

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

“”reminds me a lot of the steps that communists use to take over a country””

Before the Sandinista Commies took power in Nicaragua, there were thriving Farmers Markets in every large town and small village. Farmers came to sell and barter their products. The day after the commies took power, no farmer markets. All food became the people’s food and rationing was instituted. Blackouts are just rationing by other means.