We have to talk about wind droughts

In February 2021, the grid in Texas had a near-death experience on a windless night during severe cold weather when the inadequately winterised gas supply underperformed. Hundreds died while the grid hung by a thread, narrowly avoiding a complete blackout which would have killed many thousands.

ANYONE FOR DUE DILIGENCE?

Checking the security of the supply chain would appear to be the most elementary due diligence required before building infrastructure like dams for irrigation, industrial plant and windmills attached to the grid.

Failure of due diligence in the case of infrastructure for harvesting wind power calls for serious research in the light of the costs incurred by the failure to do it. I am not aware of any major research along those lines apart from an unfunded project by the Energy Realists of Australia, a bunch of retired engineers with assistance from Ben Beattie and also Aidan Morrison at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney.

Through 2020 and 2022 this group sent a battery of briefing notes to all the state and federal lawmakers, plus a long list of journalists

The loyal and hard-working staffers ensured that hardly any of the politicians saw the notes and the journalists may have read them but apparently they decided that the readers and listeners didn't need to know about them.

Lets hope that generous grants become available to find out why the meteorologists of the world, didn't get around to issuing wind drought warnings. That could start with the World Meteorological Organization which is in a dangerous liaison with the UN Environmental Program.

Watch that space when the Trump administration gets serious about wind droughts and especially the wind drought trap which threatens all the states and nations that are committed to the net zero crusade.

This warning predated the US election.