Wind and solar power too often leave Americans out in the cold when severe weather hits
Forget whiteouts. Winter storms are increasingly causing blackouts, which put lives at risk.
This grim reality is an unintended, yet predictable, consequence of America’s mad dash to reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. Governments and utilities are trying to meet this goal by rapidly replacing reliable electricity sources with wind and solar.
Turns out, wind turbines freeze and solar panels often don’t get sufficient sunlight during harsh winter conditions. So even though we’re building more solar and wind capacity, we can’t trust it to supply enough electricity in the worst conditions.
The resulting shortages couldn’t come at a worse time − when people are desperate to heat their homes. Yet this crisis will become only more common and painful.
Cold and clouds led to drop in wind and solar energy production
The latest proof came from massive winter storms that hit much of the United States and Canada in recent weeks. Power outages spread from the East Coast to the Upper Midwest and beyond.
Many of the outages were caused by downed electric distribution lines. Yet, in other cases, freezing temperatures and heavy cloud cover led to lulls in wind and solar generation, making it difficult to keep the lights and heat on.
Is our compassion frozen? As folks freeze to death in the Midwest, an Ohio pastor is charged for offering shelter
Consider Texas, where residents were told (again) to use less electricity during recent storms to prevent blackouts. It’s a tacit admission that the state’s grid, which depends partly on wind and solar power, can’t keep up with electricity demand when temperatures drop. And sure enough, wind and solar electricity supply dropped to a fraction of what it could provide.
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Yet, in its rush to cut emissions, Texas has shuttered the coal plants that keep working even when wind and solar fall short. More reliable energy sources could provide a buffer of continuous power that residents need during winter storms. Without them, Texas’ electricity grid is precariously balanced during cold snaps.
In 2021, the last time this happened, 210 Texans died during the resulting blackouts. Thankfully, there have been no fatalities this year, but only because the storms haven’t been as bad. And since Texas has built more wind and solar in the past two years, the threat of life-threatening outages remains high.
A similar crisis played out in Alberta, Canada. The province is the country’s biggest oil and gas producer, but it is increasing its reliance on wind and solar power while closing coal plants to meet a “net-zero electricity system by 2035” target.
During recent frigid weather, wind- and solar-generated electricity initially couldn’t help the grid keep up, so authorities asked residents to conserve as much power as possible. The province barely avoided rolling blackouts, but Alberta still plans to rely even more on wind and solar energy. Next time, residents may not be as lucky.
Even Hawaii is learning that wind and solar power can’t keep the lights on. Winter rains recently knocked out two power generators, and heavy clouds and light winds meant there wasn’t enough electricity to make up the difference. The result: Hawaiian Electric ordered rolling blackouts.
The 2022 closure of Oahu’s coal plant is almost certainly a contributing factor, yet Hawaii continues to move toward its mandated goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045.
States adopt aggressive clean energy goals
These winter blackouts should be a wake-up call, but more and more policymakers are rushing to put their citizens at risk.
In my home state of Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently signed a law that mandates 100% clean energy by 2040. We will have to build tens of thousands of unreliable wind turbines to meet that goal while closing the most reliable power plants in use.
How do we solve climate change? America needs to use more electricity, not less.
That will mean disasters during winter storms and spells of hot weather. I estimate that Michigan is on track to see regular blackouts that could last for the better part of three days.
Vulnerable people, like the elderly and the sick, are especially in danger when the power is out for that long. They need the lights on and the heat running, but then so does every person and every business in Michigan.
Michigan’s energy targets are a “test case for the country,” according to Laura Sherman of the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council, but the state’s experience will be far from unique. Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and 23 states already have a 100% clean energy goal, and President Joe Biden has called for all of America to do the same.
It will only get harder to keep the electricity flowing when the biggest storms hit, and when they inevitably do, more and more people will be at risk.
It’s ironic that in their fight against climate change, our leaders are putting our lives at the mercy of the climate.
Jason Hayes is the director of energy and environmental policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Are wind, solar power reliable in winter? Why we can't count on them
