Here is the reality of gas plants alone: “PJM faces greater reliability threats in winter because natural gas plants – the backbone of its generation – frequently face fuel supply constraints and mechanical freezing during extreme cold, according to analysts at consulting firm ICF International,” as noted here.
Per Google AI:
“Coal is often considered more reliable than natural gas during extreme, prolonged cold weather because it can be stored on-site at power plants, insulating the fuel supply from real-time logistics failures. In contrast, natural gas infrastructure can suffer from “freeze-offs” at wellheads, and pipeline capacity can become constrained, leading to severe supply shortages during peak demand. However, this is not absolute; both coal and natural gas plants are vulnerable to cold-related mechanical failures, and both accounted for roughly three-fourths of generating capacity lost during the 2021 Texas winter storm.
Why Coal Often Performs Better in Extreme Cold:
- On-Site Storage: Coal plants typically maintain weeks or even months of fuel supply on-site, which is already delivered and unaffected by frozen pipelines.
- Reduced Supply Chain Risk: Coal does not depend on immediate, real-time transportation during a storm to remain operational.
- Stable Pricing: Unlike natural gas, which can experience price spikes and scarcity during cold snaps, coal acts as a “ballast” for the grid.
Why Natural Gas Struggles in Severe Cold:
- Freeze-offs: Extremely low temperatures can cause water in natural gas to freeze inside pipelines and at wellheads, blocking the flow of fuel.
- Systemic Failures: Natural gas systems rely on electricity to compress and transport gas; if power fails, the gas supply fails, creating a feedback loop of outages.
- “Just-in-Time” Delivery: Natural gas is delivered on-demand. When demand surges for both heating and electricity, infrastructure can become overstrained, limiting supply to power plants.”
Solar is totally useless in severe winter weather events, and should be totally dismissed for baseload electric.
Reliable electric is a life and death matter during cold weather events. We cannot afford to cave in to the Net Zero agenda of closing our coal plants like the Campbell, as illustrated in our current winter weather conditions.