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Claims that an image shows a helicopter de-icing a wind turbine in the state of Texas have circulated online as a winter storm left millions of people without power in the southern United States. But the photo was taken in Sweden years earlier, and although some American politicians have used the blackouts to criticize renewable energy, electricity from fossil fuels accounted for the bulk of the lost production in Texas.
“In Texas today… A helicopter using fossil fuels, spraying de-icer, made with fossil fuels, to de-ice a wind turbine, manufactured using fossil fuels, that is supposed to produce clean energy without using fossil fuels,” says a February 15, 2021 Facebook post that includes the image of the helicopter and the wind turbine.