☕️ Texans cranked up the heat... 2021-02-16
The Canadian $ went up overnight, probably because of the increase in prices for crude oil.
Clip source: ☕️ Frosty
Texans cranked up the heat...
And the power grid buckled. Spot prices for electricity on Monday jumped a ridiculous 3,466% from Friday, hitting the cap put in place by regulators. About 5 million people across the region suffered power outages thanks to surging demand and lots of supply being taken off the market.
- About half of wind turbines in Texas were inoperable on Sunday. Like Uggs, they don't function so well in moist winter conditions and freezing rain.
- You're probably thinking, "nbd...Texas is a powerhouse for fossil fuels, not renewable energy." But wind power is actually the fastest-growing source of energy in the state's power grid. It recently overtook coal as the state's No. 2 energy source after natural gas, and last week supplied 42% of total power.
The storm is hammering oil output, too. The largest oil refineries in North America shut down their operations due to the weather yesterday. 3+ million barrels/day in output have been taken offline, more than half of the 5.8 million barrels/day typically produced in the Permian region of Texas and New Mexico.
Zoom out: The arctic chill + stimulus hype + added tensions in the Middle East pushed oil prices above $60 a barrel, the highest since early in the pandemic.
