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DISINFO: Wind and solar power are useless, Texas an example

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

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Bill Gates Climate Conspiracy theory

DISINFO: Wind and solar power are useless, Texas an example

SUMMARY

Millions of Texans found themselves without electricity, with so much of the state’s wind and solar energy producers rendered useless during an unusually severe snow and ice storm.

RESPONSE

Pro-Kremlin disinformation related to renewable energy production, which is sometimes coupled with narratives about climate change, following the narrative that global warming is a "hoax" perpetrated by special interest groups like green business that stand to benefit from climate hysteria.

The widespread electricity failure in the American state of Texas was largely caused by freezing natural gas pipelines, not by wind and solar power palnts producing insufficient amount of energy. Prooduction from coal and nuclear plants dropped as well. A similar phenomenon played out in Kansas and other states.

According to Dan Woodfin, a senior director at ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas):

“About 61% of that power loss comes from thermal (coal, nuclear, gas) plants shutting down. Wind makes up just a fraction — 7 per cent or so, by some estimates — of the state’s overall mix of power generation.

According to Sam Newell, head of the electricity group at the Brattle Group, an energy consulting company that has advised Texas on its power grid:

"Wind was operating almost as well as expected, ..., It's an order of magnitude smaller" than problems with natural gas, coal and nuclear energy

See more similar cases in our database relating to energy as well as other claims that Greta Thunberg is a mouthpiece used by the lobbyists of green energy giants; or that Ukrainians will disappear due to global warming; or that environmentalists are overjoyed by the fear around covid-19 as they see it as an opportunity; or that climate change is not such a big concern for citizens; or that the West invented the “climate hoax” to stop Russia’s economic development.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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