Warnings of Power Shortages This Summer, Wyoming Has The Answer

Last summer California had to restart several natural gas power plants in order to provide enough electricity to the energy-starved state.

It turns out those wind and solar farms were as unreliable as California were told they would be. The state had to bring several natural gas plants back online due to a power shortage, after they tried going all wind and solar for their energy supply.

California actually asked electric car owners to please not charge their cars during the energy crunch. Some news outlets tried to "fact check" and say that the state never asked that of electric car owners, but, in fact, they did. See a story about it here.

But California is not the only state having problems with the reliability of wind and solar.

From California to Texas to Indiana, states have all been warned by electric-grid operators that wind and solar power-generating capacity are not able to keep up with demand.

Putting up more wind farms will not solve the problem.

It's about being able to generate power than that power is needed.

Electricity providers are warning that rolling blackouts will occur over the peak periods of this summer.

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, which oversees a large regional grid spanning much of the Midwest, said late last month that capacity shortages may force it to take emergency measures to meet summer demand and flagged the risk of outages.

America has been shutting down traditional power plants run by natural gas and coal. Wind and solar are not able to provide the reliable energy that they once did.

Wind turbines cannot provide power when it is too hot, or too cold to turn, or if there is not enough wind or too much wind. Solar cannot provide much on cloudy days or at night.

But traditional power sources can provide anytime, all the time. They can even be turned up when more power is needed, like during a cold snap or a heatwave.

We have the answer right here in the state of Wyoming. Yet even Wyoming power plants are slated for retirement as more wind farms are being built.

Unlike nations such as China, America burns coal and natural gas in a clean and environmentally friendly way. Wyoming power plants do not have "smokestacks." They have STEAM STACKS.  What comes out of them is clean.

Most importantly, what comes out of those power plants is reliable.