Cool picture. Too bad it was taken years ago in Sweden and shows a helicopter crew training to de-ice a windmill with hot water.
I have to admit, this whole windmill thing was compelling at first but the facts have shown it to be kind of hollow. First of all, windmills failed at a much lower rate than other Texas fuel sources like gas and nuclear.
Additionally, all these sources would have failed less if they had been equipped for colder weather. So why weren't they? Sure, Texas doesn't get a lot of weather like this but this certainly isn't the first time it has happened. These "storm of the century" things sure seem to be happening a lot - three times in the last thirty or so years by my count. I mean, we are dealing with a public utility here and it seems that they should be building them a little more robustly, doesn't it. But why would they? That stuff costs a lot of money and would really cut back on the profitability of the shareholders. I can only think of one reason why they would bother to build gas and nuclear plants - and windfarms for that matter - that are suitable for use in cold weather; regulations.
Oh, but those are bad. I forgot.