Duke was still warning of potential blackouts two days later, when there was nothing unusual in the weather, except it was colder than normal. The only thing unusual was Duke’s warning, in combination with thanking customers for conserving enough energy to avoid blackouts on Christmas Day.
It seems people are being conditioned to expect talk of rolling blackouts whenever the weather seems frightful. To be clear: they are not now, nor have they been, normal in the US. Still, as utilities & grid monitors have warned, the more grids are saddled with wind & solar facilities, the more prone to capacity shortfalls & blackouts they become.
The Biden admin is dead-set to shutter existing, reliable power plants & add more wind & solar generation to the grid. Along with much higher bills, this means more rolling blackouts. However, given their current expectation of electricity at the flip of a switch, customers would be incensed. There are only two ways to go: change the plan to destabilize the grid, or try to change people’s idea of normal grid operations.
Changing people's ideas of normal we've seen before…Remember the “new normal” of reordering lives in dealing with COVID? Almost three years later, people wonder if the next cold & virus season might prompt fresh rounds of lockdowns, mask mandates, school closures, and worse. All these concepts were plain unthinkable before 2020.
Following is an outline of the new-normalling process, in general:
- It’s not happening; everything is normal. If it were happening, it would be really bad. Those who say it’s happening are trying to scare you.
- It’s not really happening. This was a unique set of circumstances not to be repeated. If it were actually happening, it would be really bad. Those who say it’s happening are trying to scare you, and they ought to be silenced.
- OK, yes, it happened, but those who keep harping on that are just out to scare people and not focus on solutions.
- It is happening, and you should expect it to keep happening. Those critics saying it’s because of our policies are trying to scare you from seeing that we’re actually providing the solution, and we need to press ahead.
- Yes, it’s happening, and we’re glad! You should be, too. It’s pushing us toward a solution. The people telling you it’s bad are trying to divide society, because they’re scared we have the solution.
- It’s happening, and that’s proof that the change we’re bringing about is working. People saying it’s bad are trying to drag our society back to the Dark Ages. They are spouting misinformation and should be denied any public forum.
- This? Anyone who says it never used to happen is lying. You only think you remember when it didn’t happen. This is all normal.
With respect to that great achievement long ago of cheap, reliable electricity, how many of us in the new normal will even allow ourselves to remember it?
FULL STORY
