On KOA, Independence Institute's Caldara inaccurately claimed "rolling blackouts" in Texas, blamed wind power

Summary: Newsradio 850 KOA's Jon Caldara on March 3 read from a February 27 Reuters article about a drop in electrical power in Texas and asserted inaccurately that parts of the state went into "rolling blackouts" because "the wind stopped blowing." Caldara cited the article in arguing against Colorado's renewable energy mandates, saying, "get used to stories like this one." In fact, as news reports made clear, there were no "rolling blackouts," and the problem occurred partly because multiple traditional power plant operators failed to provide the amount of electricity to the grid that they had promised.

Summarizing a February 27 Reuters article on his March 3 Newsradio 850 KOA broadcast, Independence Institute President Jon Caldara falsely claimed that parts of Texas "[went] into rolling blackouts ...[b]ecause the wind stopped blowing." In fact, Reuters reported that after a "drop in wind generation" late on February 26, Texas electric grid operators "curtailed power to interruptible customers," which the article described as "generally large industrial customers who are paid to reduce power use when emergencies occur." Further, Reuters reported that according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the problem occurred in part because "multiple power suppliers fell below the amount of power they were scheduled to produce" that day.

The Houston Chronicle in a March 1 article described the incident as "Texas' near miss with rolling blackouts."

Caldara cited the Reuters article in arguing against Colorado's renewable energy mandates, which he characterized as "be[ing] demanded, required, forced at gunpoint to electric companies, saying, 'This is how you will produce your product, with pinwheels,' " adding, "for those of you who think that bureaucrats can make those calls better than engineers, get used to stories like this one."

From the March 3 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Jon Caldara Show:

CALDARA: There was this great story that I've for, well, since February 27th, that I've been meaning to get to you, and all of a sudden all these "eco" stories just started piling up. I figured, now's a good time to do it. This comes out of Reuters. Dateline Houston -- that's in Texas, if you went to a government school:

"A drop in wind generation late on Tuesday, coupled with cold weather, triggered an electric emergency that caused the Texas grid operator to cut service to some large customers, the grid agency said on Wednesday. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said a decline in wind energy production in West Texas occurred at the same time of the evening electric demand was building as colder temperatures moved into the state. The grid operator went directly to the second stage of an emergency plan. According to the statement, operators curtailed power to interrupt customers to shave over a thousand megawatts of demand within 10 minutes."

Let me just put this into English for you. For those of you who are, who think you know more about how to create electricity than, say, oh, I don't know, engineers -- and I'm talking to the people who voted "yes" a few years back to demand, quote, "renewable energy" be shoved down the throats of Colorado energy producers, and then in the last session voted to double that mandate, so that even more electricity be demanded, required, forced at gunpoint to electric companies, saying, "This is how you will produce your product, with pinwheels" -- for those of you who think that bureaucrats can make those calls better than engineers, get used to stories like this one.

In case you missed the gist of this story, there were blackouts in Texas. Why? [makes blowing sounds] The wind stopped blowing! It happens sometimes! The wind stopped blowing, therefore the pinwheels stopped turning, therefore there were blackouts. You see, this is what happens when you put your power system on things that aren't reliable. You see, when you have a coal-fire plant and demand for electricity goes up, what they do is, they shovel more coal into the fire. When you have a water power plant -- a dam -- you know what they do? They let more water out, it spins the turbine more, and you get more power. When you have a nuke power plant, they dip the rods in a little bit further, it gets hotter, it spins the turbine more, you get more power. When you have a bunch of crazed environmentalists dictating power policy -- how to create a product -- what you have are a bunch of pinwheels that don't move unless a whole bunch of environmentalists run outside and start blowing on them. So they had to go into rolling blackouts in Texas. Why? Because the wind stopped blowing.

Contrary to Caldara's claim that "rolling blackouts" occurred, Reuters reported that according to ERCOT, the operator of the Texas electric grid selectively interrupted power to customers that participate in an emergency plan:

Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said a decline in wind energy production in west Texas occurred at the same time evening electric demand was building as colder temperatures moved into the state.

The grid operator went directly to the second stage of an emergency plan at 6:41 PM CST (0041 GMT), ERCOT said in a statement.

System operators curtailed power to interruptible customers to shave 1,100 megawatts of demand within 10 minutes, ERCOT said. Interruptible customers are generally large industrial customers who are paid to reduce power use when emergencies occur.

No other customers lost power during the emergency, ERCOT said. Interruptible customers were restored in about 90 minutes and the emergency was over in three hours.

Reuters further reported:

ERCOT said the grid's frequency dropped suddenly when wind production fell from more than 1,700 megawatts, before the event, to 300 MW when the emergency was declared.

In addition, ERCOT said multiple power suppliers fell below the amount of power they were scheduled to produce on Tuesday. That, coupled with the loss of wind generated in West Texas, created problems moving power to the west from North Texas.

The Chronicle similarly reported that ERCOT had avoided rolling blackouts in a situation that was "complicated when a number of traditional power plant operators failed to provide the amount of electricity to the grid as promised":

Texas' near miss with rolling blackouts Tuesday night may appear at first blush to be a sign of the failings of wind power -- more than 80 percent of the state's wind turbine energy went offline when a North Texas cold front stilled the air.

But the state's grid operators say a problem they could normally handle was complicated when a number of traditional power plant operators failed to provide the amount of electricity to the grid as promised.

The details behind the close call may seem esoteric, but it's an important distinction to make in a state where wind power is the fastest-growing source of new projects and the margin between power supply and demand grows tighter.

Colorado Media Matters has noted a previous instance in which Caldara misrepresented issues related to House Bill 1281, legislation enacted on March 27, 2007, that, as the Rocky Mountain News reported the following day, "requires utilities to get 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources such as the sun, wind or biomass by 2020 -- double the goal of 10 percent by 2015 set by Amendment 37, which voters passed in November 2004."

—E.B. & J.F.B.