Huge Rain Returns To All Of Texas -- October 23, 2015; The Williston Wire; Slicers And Dicers; Texas Sets Wind Record

Updates

Later, 7:06 p.m. Central Time: after posting the note below regarding the PBS News story on wind turbines, a reader sent me this note (again, why I love to blog; the things I learn). FuelFix is reporting:

The Texas electric grid hit a new record for wind power use early Thursday, as the state continues dominating the rest of the nation in wind farm growth.

At 12:30 am Thursday, the main Texas grid operator reported that nearly 37 percent of demand was met with wind power. The Electricity Reliability Council of Texas, which manages nearly 90 percent of the state’s electric needs, said it used 12,237.6 megawatts of wind power at the time. That bested a previous record set on Sept. 13 of 11,467 megawatts.

A megawatt powers about 500 typical Texas residences during periods of normal demand.

The new record came the same day as the American Wind Energy Association reported Texas accounted for nearly half of the nation’s wind power growth in the third quarter of the year. Texas added 771 megawatts of wind generation in the third quarter and, nationwide, about 1,600 megawatts were put online. Texas now has about 16,400 megawatts of wind power, according to the AWEA, which is about 10,000 megawatts more than the second and third windiest states, California and Iowa. [Boone Pickens was ahead of his time; came out for wind too soon; couldn't get the transmission lines built.]

Texas is expected to exceed 20,000 megawatts next year. Further growth after 2016 may depend on whether Congress extends the production tax credit for wind projects.

The wind association praised recent project announcements like SunEdison saying it will build the 300-megawatt South Plains II wind farm northeast of Lubbock to power Hewlett-Packard data centers, and Monday’s announcement that EDF Renewable Energy will build a 123-megawatt wind project north of Dallas to power Procter & Gamble plants that make its laundry, dish-washing and other cleaning products.

Some companies are even studying ways for wind to power the production of oil and gas. Norway-based DNV GL has partners with Exxon Mobil Corp., Statoil and others on the “WIN WIN” joint industry project to use floating wind turbines to power offshore oil and gas production. [Too bad XOM is saying "goodbye" to California; the state and XOM could have been great partners. LOL.]

Original Post

 

Be sure to check out Hurricane Patricia at this site, "Winds." (This is a dynamic link; it will change over time.)

The city of Houston, TX, is being told to expect as much as a foot of rain from this hurricane which will moderate to a tropical storm over the weekend as it heads for southeastern and eastern Texas later this weekend.

The weathermen and weatherwomen on local television are being advised to take their medication to moderate their "enthusiasm." They are almost jumping out of their clothes reporting all this rain.

Meanwhile back in the Bakken, from The Williston Wire:

The City of Williston, North Dakota, has entered into a partnership with Buxton to strengthen the city's retail development strategy. Buxton's advanced consumer analytics will reveal the best retail options for the community and also help city leaders to better understand the differences between business visitors and tourists. By partnering with Buxton, Williston will utilize the same advanced consumer insights relied on by retailers for site selection decisions.

The City of Williston is getting ready to open new office space in Downtown Williston. The Williston Development Center will be ready for move-ins beginning November 9, 2015. The building, located at 113 4th St. E., is most commonly known as the former Hess Corp building. The two-story site has been completely renovated to make room for the Williston Planning and Zoning Department and Department of Building Safety on the second floor. Williston Economic Development, the Small Business Development Center, Williston Convention & Visitor Bureau and Tri County Regional Economic Development Association will be housed on the main floor.

Williston residents are invited to attend the ribbon cutting for the Main Street Reconstruction project on Thursday, Oct. 29 at 2 p.m. The celebration will be held at the intersection of Main Street and 4th Street. Representatives from the North Dakota Department of Transportation, City of Williston, Knife River, DowlHKM, Williston Area Chamber of Commerce and Williston Downtowners Association will participate in a short program. The Main Street Reconstruction project replaced and improved under and above ground infrastructure in Downtown Williston.

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PBS News Hour Had A Segment On Slicers And Dicers 

October 23, 2015

PBS News Hour had a segment on slicers and dicers. It turns out only "older" wind turbines kill migratory birds; new turbines don't. LOL.

One slicer and dicer is known to have killed one eagle each year for ten years. It was torn down, but the 149 wind turbines on the same farm are still standing. The US government now allows wind turbines to kill up to five eagles every year, or something like that.

Bottom line: wind energy has not one redeeming factor. That was always true and will always remain true. Great Britain figured that out.