Officials in the state of Texas are worried the emergency measures taken Wednesday to avoid blackouts may not be enough. The utility operators urgently need the wind to start operating the windmills or things might get worse. Reuters News has more:
(Reuters) – Texas’s power grid operator on Wednesday took emergency measures to avoid rolling blackouts as soaring electricity demand threatened to outpace available supplies amid a stifling heatwave.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the grid that serves more than 26 million customers, initiated a rarely used emergency program that is triggered when supplies fall below a critical safety margin.
Earlier, ERCOT had urged residents to cut power use during the hottest hours of the day and warned of a risk for rolling blackouts. Residents were asked to turn up thermostats, defer the use of high-power appliances and turn off swimming pool pumps.
The emergency notice came after ERCOT began paying suppliers an average of $5,000 per magawatt hour to keep generators running. That price is the highest the grid operator pays. “They were pulling a lot of levers to avoid going into emergency operations and rolling blackouts,” said Doug Lewin, president of consultants Stoic Energy LLC. (read more)
Call me Captain Obvious, but in addition to the population migration, it looks like Texas imported California’s energy policies. The sustainable energy isn’t sustainable. However, on a positive note, their state ESG score is improving.
Electric Vehicles my azz!
I read a great comment yesterday that I completely overlooked in the past. How are the 10s of millions of apartment dwellers supposed to plug their sh!tty experimental clown car toys in? No garages!!
Excellent point. Think about the huge urban centers with people living there in apartments and then also incoming floods of vehicles of workers. Some of those workers who commute can easily drive 45-60 miles one way. Are the parking garages going to have a charger for every spot???
Do these people have any idea the size of the infrastructure needed to support these chargers? Each one requires 240V/60A (load is about 12 kW) and with a building full of people (say 100 tenants, not that big of an apartment building) all using the chargers for their Teslas at night, with average of 3 hours for a charge-up, the electrical infrastructure for that arrangement is over 1 MW just for the car chargers and the tenants’ power bill? Let’s just say they’re not going to like the extra $150-200/mo on that bill. Of course, these flakes expect it to be free (to them), so somebody (like you, taxpayer) will probably pick up that tab, you know, to “save the planet” and all.
The electrical grid it bursting at the seams now. Can anyone say “rolling blackouts”?
Wait for it…
This is literally frightening. Have the Dems even presented any numbers demonstrating that this could work? Are the media asking questions about how it will work??
According to the Green New Deal-ers apartment dwellers are the bottom of the barrel and thus, will get a tax credit to buy a bicycle and a helmet just to show that “they care”.
Oh I like it ~sarc~
However there will be a lot of takers who believe this and the fairy godmother.
I have said same thing about communities that hold annual festivals or events which thousands of tourists travel distances to attend.
Another excellent example. And not even festivals, just regular travellers. Is every hotel going to have a charger in every parking spot? What about shopping centers? Universities?
I don’t have a clue, but I can assure you that they’ll expect the power to be free (to them). That is the mentality of that group of kooks.
They really don’t want everyone buying electric cars. Our grid can’t support it. The next step will be trillions for trains in addition to more virus lockdowns.
Bingo!
They’re not supposed to own cars. They’re only supposed to take public transportation.
“You will own nothing and be happy”
the whole idea is NO CARS
well, for the peons
The problem with woke lefties is: REALITY!
With the anticipated agenda, we will NOT own cars.
First people can’t afford electric vehicles. Teslas, Chevies, Fords, and other EVs cost $50,000-$75,000. After 3-5 years you have to replace the batteries on these EVs. That’ll cost another $22,000-$30,000 (and depending on inflation). So, your EV is now costing you $75K-$100K.
There aren’t enough charging stations nationwide for EVs. So, forget cross-country or long-distance travel. Car companies have lied about the distance a charge will last. Recent surveys show that car companies claimed 400 miles on a charge, but customers were complaining they got less than 200 miles on a charge. Wait times in certain areas to re-charge an EV can be up to 3 hrs. and then another hour to charge your car if you’re not home and have a charger in your garage. And, let’s not talk about how when you’re in an accident in an EV, and the battery breaks open (it’s 1300 degrees F. at that point), the car catches fire immediately & explodes in seconds, while you’re trying to get out.
I’m wondering how many leftists actually believe that the cost of electricity won’t go up exponentially when they replace 300 million combustion engine cars with EV’s? Are they really this stupid?
More nuclear and natural gas driven power plants.
Coal is not the answer.
But we can’t afford to shut them down
They are being shut down because they are not competitive economically.
Which? LNG? Biden has to allow pipelines to move the gas.
Coal for sure. I think all three. Mass I’ve amount of fossil fuel generators are being retired in Texas because the renewables outcompete them, economically.
Because the government is overtaxing it and over-regulating it. The worst thing we could have done was make a Dept. of Energy under Pres. Carter. It still hasn’t made us energy independent. President Trump had us there, and he was talking about dismantling the Dept. of Energy because it does nothing and has a lot of dead wood employees on the federal dole.
Anyone with a brain knows the most economical source of energy should be used. If that is coal. use it. Nuclear is great if you can prevent the greed from subverting the implementation. In the present political climate that is not possible. We are being guided by ideological idiots and total greed.
Plus, the technology needed to control emissions even from coal exists and can be applied without increasing costs to consumers. The smog and and rain issues were real. Those issues needed to be rectified and I have no issue with clean air initiatives.
What governments are doping is completely eliminating the emissions control technology path via impossible regulations that do not move the clean air needle one bit and mandating the alternatives while not actually evaluating the very real damaging environmental impacts as well as energy grid draw of those alternatives.
Anyone with a brain knows the measuring cohort is most Economical AND RELIABLE.
Greed is not the domain of any single energy platform, coal, nuclear, fossil, green. Greed plays in any market oriented delivery method.
Nuclear is the most reliable of all. Not even close.
https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/nuclear-power-most-reliable-energy-source-and-its-not-even-close
And your source is from the gubbermint?
Ha,ha,ha
right?! because the entire US government is evil and racist and should just be thrown out along with the constitution!
/s
it’s an article posted on a .gov website. that doesn’t mean it is policy or even the gubbermint “line”. what about current policy/attitudes towards nuclear make you think that the government is pro-nuclear (in the context of energy)?
Feel free to post your own source link so we can evaluate your opinion.
Thanks in advance.
Water is the most renewable energy from dams they want to shut them down
The coal powered generators are built and sitting idle. Coal is a great answer.
Well said
Texas has the free-est market in the country for electricity. And coal is getting trounced on cost.
And one of the cheapest.
Yes. That’s the biggest part of the problem here. If you only look at cost, renewables rule the Texas market.
New load is flocking to Texas because the renewable electricity are so cheap. But reliability doesn’t come automatically.
Jeff, we need you to stand in front of an idle windmill and blow your dribble.
Nuclear power was the obvious way out. However another moron democrat named Jimmy Carter banned it’s expansion. He did so by just signing an executive order.
Many corporations had invested huge sums of capitol in anticipation of America expanding nuclear energy production. All that investment was lost.
Ronald Reagan rescinded Carter’s order but no one will invest in nuclear again as they could lose all of their capitol with one president signing an order.
So Jimmy Carter made sure we would never expand nuclear power production.
Note that Obama has done the same thing with the Keystone pipeline. No one will ever invest in it again because a president can just shut it down at will.
I think the move “The China Syndrome” had a large influence on people at the time. America turned away from nuclear at that point.
The problem with Texas and Nuclear Power is water. You have to have a sufficient and consistent supply of cooling water to operate a nuclear plant. NatGas and Coal are the most immediate options.
Cooling water isn’t a problem in Texas. We have over 3,300 miles of coastline.
that’s 3x what Cali has.
Please, reconsider your comment. … Coal is ‘Solar Power’ as our Coal is just ~stored sunlight. [So many Big Thinkers say] …… As an added thought, the big thinkers also think, = our Sun is also a big Fusion Nuclear Reactor. ….. Life depends on Sunlight [a product of the big Nuclear Fusion Reactor in the Heavens].
God bless America.
Ha,ha,ha yes china is following your advice
Why not coal?
It cheap abundant naturally occurring and the technology is available And in actual practice for cleaning/scrubbing flue gas.
If china can why cant we?
Using All Sources of energy the correct answer!
Working in a coal mine!! Tennessee Earnie Ford!! Coal!!!! We need more coal!!!
Tell that to the Chinese, the Indians, and the Russians, and any up and coming 3rd world nation in Southeast Asia or Africa.
U CuSS is right about Nuclear Power. ~But, the problem with Nuclear Power is the ~potential hazards of radiation. …
……….Americans have been propagandized against Nuclear Power for Electricity Generation. The nuclear power plant accidents have been exaggerated to deceive people. The worst accidents in the World have occurred at facilities with a connection to nuclear ~weapons. … Nuclear Power used to generate electricity can be made as safe as humanly possible.
Nuclear Power is the most reliable energy source, and it’s not even close 3/24/2021. [Energy.Gov] The article explains the reliability of nuclear power.
GGHD = Our modern civilization depends on electricity. The ~lives of billions of people in world depend on reliable electricity.
I’m NOT a socialist[ I’m a Trumpster!. …. But maybe, the USA should consider having the US Navy assume control of ~reliable electricity generation in America. The US Navy has a lot of institutional knowledge, and experience with nuclear power. [I had a trade school teacher that taught the virtues of US Navy control of ALL the Nuclear Power Plants.]
…….. Electricity is a modern needed utility. There is a government involvement already in generation and transmission of electricity. … We already choose to have our governments operate, water systems, sewerage disposal systems, highways, Post Office, police departments, fire departments, our Militaries. etc. = Reliability is one goal with government control.
Reliability and low cost are the virtues of Nuclear Power for Electricity Generation. The power plants can be located away from population centers (If the ‘fears’ of potential radiation cannot be swayed.). … America has been bamboozled into giving up on Nuclear power.
Our Declaration of Independence.
” … all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men … ‘
Stupid, stupid, stupid. The march of folly.
Texas is a facade. It’s all hat and no cattle taken over by rhinos decades ago. Take a look at their property tax structure.
“Take a look at their property tax structure.”
I view it as a state income tax by another name.
There is a difference between property tax and income tax. Property tax is paid on the possible value of your assets if you sell now. If you don’t sell you still pay. Income tax is paid on your actual earnings. In hard times you still pay property tax at the good times rate. If you have no income you don’t pay. The Texas defense of property tax is a huge lie.
You’re right. It’s especially hard the elderly on fixed income, as they tend to get taxed out of their home. You never really own your property. I have a 90yo aunt living in a small house on 2 acres that she and my uncle bought in the 70s, and is now valued nearly $1M. She’ll never move, as it has too much sentimental value.
Texans are really going to be mad next January when home values decline, yet they’re paying taxes on the value of the property when it was at its peak earlier this year.
WRONG !!!!
Do you actually live in Texas and do you know how to READ your property tax report???
The value of property taxes are LIMITED in 4 ways:
First: The value taxed is pegged to the value that the OWNER TAXED the previous year AND NOT Market value. If you are a new owner then you are SOL as your taxed value when then be “assessed” by the county.
Second: The increase in property value taxed cannot be increased by more than 10%.
Thirst: Tax rates cannot be increased by more than 2%.
Fourth: If you are over age 65, you get a substantial property tax REDUCTION.
I do not like the fact that taxes increase year over year even per the 4 points made above but understand the topic before you blather on.
This is basically how it works in OK also as long as you file for the homestead tax exemption. 7 years ago we bought a ranch house on 10 acres that has a 3 acre pond on it (and since expanded the acreage) for $167k. Our assessed tax was based on the purchase price, and the assessed tax amount has increased only 2% per annum even though the original 10 acre property has a value of $317k now (supposedly). So it’s gone from about $1k a year 7 years ago to just over $1100/yr today
Even with those limitations, the tax can keep increasing.
Property taxes are ALWAYS a tax on unrealized income.
10% increase on property tax value year after years is quite a bit “thirst”. $56k increase in property tax value over a 3-year period for my little homestead is rediculous. Who is really benefiting?
That is a 10% increase on the value of the PROPERTY Taxed. The tax RATE is applied to that number…so you need to multiple that $56K x TAX RATE, where i live that would be about 2% or about $1,120 increase over 3 years.
The actual tax rates cannot change more than 2%. The tax rates are assessed county by county.
Name your poison … property tax, VAT, Sales Tax, Income Tax…
Do your want police?
Do you want a fire department?
Do you want a water supply piped to your house?
Do you want sewage piped away from your house?
etc. etc. etc.
What “public” services do you not want??
None of it is free.
Then again folks could live in states, RED and BLUE, that tax “all the above”:
Income
Property
Sales
et al
The Texas property tax system is not perfect but I will take it over a state with income, sales, and property taxes.
Texas could easily fix the problem:
Right now, Texas SF homeowners pay dispropriatel share of the tax burden.
Commercial property owners have a system rigged in t heir favor. County assessors are not equiped to accutately assess market value of complex income properties.
I am in the commercial RE business. Commercial real estate is grossly under assessed relative to market value.
With MLS, local assessors know what a home sells for; not same in commercial markets.
My in laws lived and owned a home In Horseshoe Bay TX, then rented in Austin for awhile and here in North Dallas. So they did not own a home for about 10-12 years. We got them into a home a few years ago and their property taxes were still fixed based on what they paid 25 years ago when one spouse turned 65.
That loophole in the +65 Exemption no longer exists. They were grandfathered in somehow……..
A great loophole if you could take advantage of it..
You cannot get away from property taxes. With an income tax you get taxed on what you earn. Earn less, pay less. The same with sales tax. Buy less, pay less. The same with gasoline taxes, buy less pay less. BUT with property taxes they get you in good times in bad. You cannot cut your consumption in order to owe them less. YOU HAVE TO PAY or else you lose your home. Every other tax on the little guy can, to some degree, be lessened based on consumption.
Moved to Texas from Illinois. Property taxes are approximately 1/2 of what I paid in Illinois, and no state income tax.
Not perfect, but better than what I left.
but that was because of valuation, right? I’m paying 2.2% every year. It’s enraging
Depends on which county you live in as to how much you pay in property tax. Angelina county is 2X what you pay in Nacogdoches county where Harris county (Houston) is 6-7 times higher at least. So if you live in the big dem cities you do pay ridiculous amounts of property taxes.
In the Houston area, a fast-growing suburb like Katy has higher property taxes because they are having to build a lot of new schools. In more urban Houston where the population isn’t growing, even the scrape-and-build neighborhoods have more “reasonable” property taxes since they aren’t having to add schools.
It seems some how ironic that oil rich Texas is having energy shortages!
Just like Venezuela.
It shows that with wrong management you can ruin anything.
“Let the market decide” is the management philosphy for Texas’ electric grid.
because of resources (i.e. money) wasted on those stupid ****ing windmills
Thank the feds for demanding the use of windmills & solar. Texas prefers oil & gas but fed regulations make us use failable green sh1t. We don’t get to keep all our oil either, feds demand it.
Before the TX coal plants were shuttered, the owners even offered to apply pollution control technologies. The FEDS went back and changed the emission metrics to levels impossible to reach, and that did NOT improve air quality to any significantly measurable level.
The media, today, also leaves out that part. Before the Belo Family went full blood communist, the Dallas Morning News used to be a decently balanced news outlet at the time.
It is akin to the EPA declaring a drainage ditch and man-made stock tank a natural wet land during comrade Obama’s 1st regime. By the way, this one is coming back.
Pity nobody bothered to read the constitution regarding States rights, and Federal limitations. I guess we really do live in a posts constitutional America.
Texas has the only electric grid in the country that is not overseen by the federal government, since it does not interact with any other states’ grid. State rights rule the Texas grid. The problems they are having come from the conservative philosophy of the state government.
Renewables are cheaper than fossil fuel generators, so they are taking over the Texas grid.
GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZED renewables are cheaper than fossil fuel generators. BS.
In a level playing field, renewables are crap.
That is the green weenies complete justification for intentionally driving fossil fuel pricing higher, so as to force the green agenda, through regulation.
Absolute horse-chit.
Take that hippy dippy crap back to the academic children’s ball pit.
Texas is not that far from their LBJ Democrat leftist past. Their government is not “conservative”.
Texas government is mostly Bushie, Country Club Republican retreads.
Whatever. Have a nice life with all the answers.
Well, since I am in the energy industry as an Oil and Gas Producer, I will have a nice life.
My business partner is one of the Independent Texas O&G Billionaires. We actually researched wind and solar for investment.
Ya, I have a few answers as it pertains to this topic. I don’t have to spam the board endlessly, so someone, anyone, will listen to me.
I have been offgrid for 30+ years – yes, the government driven/subsidized green energy movement is absolute garbage.
Not to be confused with the independent self thinkers who are offgrid by choice – big difference
Renewables are cheaper than fossil fuel generators…….
hahahah no kiddin? Ya really think so? I have thirty years of offgrid living with solar panels and backup generators that says otherwise. I’ll trust my own lyin eyes and real world experience that says otherwise – before I’ll trust any gruberment propaganda
Oil is seldom used for power plant operation. Coal, natural gas, nuclear.
How ironic that the free-est market for electricity in the country is over-run by renewable energy. Texans are blessed with wind and sun, along with oil and natural gas.
…but power plant poor.
Man, how the tide has turned. Wasn’t that long ago Enron did a number on CA rate payers, now the worm has turned and it’s TX rate payers being screwed. In both instances – malfeasance by climate nut jobs in state government set up the failure. TX has no excuses for the current situation.
The malfeasance is not by climate nut jobs in state government.
The market decided, renewables are winning.
A big part of the problem in Texas (electrically) is that the state is so appealing that people keep moving there. The electrical system wasn’t built to handle that many people any more than the roads were.
Doubful the market decided anything. Take away all subsidies, and “greens” die on the vine. FEDGOV put their thumb on the market scales to force a decision they wanted.
Energy is big business and always has been. The oil, gas, and coal folks figured out how to get the federal government to use the tax code to incentivize their developments. The same people are doing the same thing for renewables today.
The subsidies skewed the market. Renewables do not win without subsidies.
The idiocy of renewables is that there is no requirement for energy storage or back-up generation capacity for when the sun doesn’t shine, the wind doesn’t blow or when the chinese government turns off the windmills that it owns to attack Texas.
Hey Joemama,
“The idiocy of renewables is that there is no requirement for energy storage or back-up generation capacity for when the sun doesn’t shine, the wind doesn’t blow or when the chinese government turns off the windmills that it owns to attack Texas.”
I respectfully disagree. The idiocy was on the part of the people who set up the Texas electricity market. If they asked for those things, the market would respond. They didn’t, and the market responded.
There is a second, massive, piece of idiocy related to the Chinese and renewable energy in Texas. Again, though, it’s an issue of misregulation.
Exactly. Wind has to have standby fossil fuel backup that has to be scaled up when the wind doesn’t blow enough to meet current demand. It might be cheaper on paper, but when you add in the cost of having to fire up fossil fuel plants on demand
it doesn’t work subsidies or no subsidies.
Common sense tells us the cost to maintain a fossil fuel plant for on demand start up is a deal breaker, not to mention the regulators saying when and if you can fire up that big ol nasty fossil fuel plant.
Ultimately, Texas will face some tough consequences for their power decisions. If it cannot guarantee plentiful, consistent electricity to consumers, neither businesses nor individuals will find the state congenial. They will start to look elsewhere, and the state will stagnate, then decline economically. Perhaps its reach has exceeded its grasp.
Very true.
Unreliable power is a turn off to manufacturers who use JIT. India has this problem and it caused havoc with the supply lines of many businesses who outsourced manufacturing there, causing them to move manufacturing to other countries.
It’s why India is building so many coal fired power plants the Watermelons pretend not to know about when is comes to carbon emissions. They produce 55% of their electricity, and climbing, from coal.
Trying to curb CO2 emissions worldwide without the participation of China and India is nothing more than feel-good folly for the climate change true believers. President Trump understood this and passed on the Paris Accord.
We should not have to suffer for their illogical emotional needs.
The question is why we need to curb it at all.
We don’t.
After all this done, Florida WILL sink in the ocean! Half of the country will be living there!
Power consumers are flocking to Texas because you make renewable energy so inexpensively there.
Bitcoin in Texas uses 6,000 MW. The electrical load for the entire state of Rhode Island is 2,000 MW by comparison. Bitcoin is going to Texas because the electricity is so cheap there.
Even the name, “Energy Reliability Council” …
reeks of Regan’s saying, “we’re from the Govt and we’re here to help!”
Head shaking and with a furrowed brow asks, “Texas has an energy problem?”
Again the answer is; “Oh…a politician problem.”
This is not an ad for Beto, Good Lord, that would be jumping out of the proverbial frying pan and into the fire, but we must understand the uniparty concept.
These are Junior swamp rats in training and want to please their masters as this will enhance their political”career”. In the USA that is supposed to be the voter, but in the New World Order it’s their real master, let us say…elsewhere. Hint; “he’s a bald headed goober who lives around Lake Geneva Switzerland.”
For me, anytime you see dumbsh_it like this that makes no sense whatsoever, it always leads back to the self-anointed masters of the universe. Another great example out of Texas is the bum-rush of the border and Abbott not declaring an invasion and stopping it.
Why?
Time to start burning fairy farts!
Which one was it that paid Cruz to allow this garbage form of energy to power Texas?
When there’s no wind, there’s no spinning.
There’s a simple fix… Just have all the Texas Democrats grab a fireplace bellows and frantically pump air toward the wind turbines.
DUHHH!!!
I drove through southern Texas in March and saw all the windmills. A blight
on the landscape.
We call it “South Texas” here. That is the name for the region south of I-10 that would be created if Texas secedes and is divided into five (I think) smaller states. I know that Texans are unique in many things. Many of us want to be separated from the dem controlled sates.
Maybe Mexico can send in generators to supply electricity to all the illegals in the state.
This third world invasion into every corner of this country will not only tax the electric grid it’s doing the same thing to everything that has kept this country what it was.
“Overwhelming the system” is one of the weapons
texas is not what you think she is
Four paragraphs in and my brain automatically switches to “this is a repeat of California” and then there it is.
”Captain Obvious” appears.
The problem is the opposite of that. Renewables are responding to market forces. The same market forces are driving fossil fuels out of the picture.
The solution is more government regulation. The “hands off” approach was going to be a disaster.
You have it bass-ackwards. It is government regulation/subsidies for idiotic implementation of renewables with no back-up generation or energy storage that has caused this disaster.
The govt regulators have no technical expertise and are leading the country off a cliff with the renewable policies/subsidies.
The Texas regulators told me, in person, that they were letting the market decide. They knew in 2018-19 that it wasn’t going to work.
Texas’ problem is not that renewables are encouraged and subsidized. The problem is that they are cheap and uncontrollable.
The problem is lack of back up power generation for intermittent power sources.
No plant should ever be built that can’t deliver rated power 24/7.
The Texas regulators you spoke to are idiots that do not know how to do a proper market analysis. You don’t just say, it will cost X to get 100MW of solar power and compare it to the cost of a 100MW nuclear power plant that delivers power consistently.
You have to add the cost of a hydroelectric water pumping system to store energy during the day, so you can let the water flow downhill at night to generate 100MW all night, when the solar plant provides zero power. Or add the cost of a 100MW natural gas power plant. You size the solar plant to be 250 MW so that you can get an average of 100MW.
When you do the analysis properly, green energy always is more expensive, because you need always need a second power plant to provide power when the “green” energy provides no power.
This is so simple, but the dipshit environmentalists and climate change religion cultists are not capable of doing math or thinking logically. Unfortunately, these lunatics are calling the shots in Texas and all around the world.
Are you sure you understand the concept between ‘market forces’ vs ‘forced markets’?
You have now stated over and over that renewables are cheaper than ‘fossil fuels’. Have you got any sources or research that shows that is true?
Can you cite a single renewable energy source like solar panels and wind mills that from beginning to end of gathering the material to build, fabricate, getting it to the factory, manufacture, transporting it to the sight, building it on site, operating it, maintaining it, integrating into the system with reliable consistent energy, and then disposing of all said materials (most of which are deemed hazardous waste) when they wear out, that is all completely done and accomplished by just ‘renewable energy’ alone?
Is there any renewable “green” energy that is not heavily subsidized at all points of above list that is not heavily subsidized?
And as for your “The solution is more government regulation” is….well….interesting, to say the least.
Solar can bid 2 cents per Kwh. Wind is lower than that. Coal.plants have two cents per kwh for fixed costs and 2 cents per kwh for fuel.
If only someone could have warned them that this would happen.
Oh wait…….they did.
What would happen if there was no wind and it was also cloudy? The result would be no energy from windmills or solar!! Now using natural gas or coal to fire power plants it wouldn’t matter if there was no wind or no sun!!!! Good grief the Republicans in Texas are just as committed to the global climate change hoax and for increasing the use of unreliable renewable energy as the Democrats ipso facto little to no energy!!! So frustrating!! Becoming a politician must require not using your brain!!!
I’m sure somewhere along the way they all received “incentives” to be pr0-windmill and pro-solar power.
Nope. This is all market driven. Renewables are cheaper than fossil fuel generators if all you look at is cost to operate.
Then the true economic cost of renewables that don’t deliver dependable 24/7 energy isn’t being included in your comment. Society cannot function efficiently if energy is unrealistically dependent on the wind and sun.
There is an economic and human cost to unreliable energy generation. People will die in the heat and in the cold, in addition to businesses having to curtail their operations.
When you also build back-up dependable nat gas or coal plants to solve the reliability issue of wind and solar, you have proven that “renewables” are an expensive feel- good farce.
What you are saying us true, but that isn’t how Texas designed its electricity market.
Hence the problems that they are having.
Residential usage is a drop in the bucket. Commercial buildings need to turn their thermostats up! Had to wear a sweater at the baseball game on Sunday😳 last week at the movie theater too! Ridiculous. Lots of fix the grid comments on Abbott’s social media
The problem with the Republican party is that their ranks swell with people with a strong desire to be liked by the left and the suburban (liberal) white women (the RINOs wives). They promise a few items in campaigns, fulfill half of them but also introduce many lefties policies (pet projects of the rich donors, or the predator “business men,” Chamber of Commerce pupils) with no publicity by the GOP legislators (some may not even know that is what they voted for). And there you have it–lefties policies introduced by a GOP/RINo cadre.
You are correct. Almost anyone who could be elected to national office is approved by the powers that be.
They deal with any exceptions as needed. Look at a guy like Ted Cruz. He is touted as the most conservative Senator. He is tolerated because he votes the way the neocons tell him to.
War in Ukraine much.
Abbott’s campaign slogan, “I’m still ‘Better than Beto'”.
Texas is as it always has been. Whatever the reason, boom and bust.
This bust looks to be spectacular.
A local just moved to Texas last month, from looney Oregon. I get it. He was excited and asked me if I’d ever move there. I have family there that is old Texas, roots deep My answer is no, no way. Love Texas but it is on the visit only list.
Good luck.
Drill baby, drill.
It really sucks when a state isn’t attached to the national power grid so their virtue signaling pols can’t suck power from other states when their “green” energy garbage fails to deliver like when the sun isn’t above the horizon or the wind isn’t blowing or the solar panels are covered with snow… And all to fix a non-existent problem.
Climate change activists and the dem party have long relied on fear mongering.
PIG Books are chock full of info and stats, complete with a REAL Bibliography and footnotes.
Love those books.
If we had nuked the Woodstock Festival and Haight Asbury during the Summer of Love, the USA would still be the bright shining beacon of freedom.
Instead we have been subverted by the communist academic elite. I guess hindsight really is 20/20.
The Texas grid is not connected to the rest of the country. If ERCOT is paying $5k/MWH then the customers will end up with those enormous bills they did a while back during the freezing up of the windmills.
If they were connected to the rest of the regional grid, they could import power.
Just so you know, interconnecting grids is not simply aa matter of hooking some wires between the two power systems. It is far more complex since the frequency and phase differences between grids has to be corrected. You need what would amount to a generator system at the connection point. This can be done with a high voltage DC system which requires complex thyristor (or similar) controls that convert the DC to synchronized power which can be controlled to send the power in either direction. The other is a large rotating machine that adjusts the frequency and phase between the grids. Both systems need to be sized to the amount of power expected to be shared. These are basically the size of a power plant. If you wanted to transfer 1000 MW then you would need a machine at least that large. This is expensive and complex.
So, although the last time I looked there were some intra grid points in Texas, if you have generating plants go off line you need an equivalent power connection to accept power from another grid. These systems are complex and expensive.
This is ANOTHER reason why Kamala Harris needs to visit the border states.
Every time she speaks she blows off enough HOT AIR to turn ALL those windmills!
Supposed to be windy a few days next week. She must be at least doing a flyover…
Seems to me that these utility enterprises and all government offices (including the governor’s home) should be required to set their thermostats to 85 degrees during these alerts to citizens and private companies.
I have a family member who moved to TX last year. They are *really* disappointed. The property taxes are insane. The power and water issues are “Cali”-like. It’s a damn shame. Ranchers and farmers selling their livestock at auction because they can’t keep them alive without water. The whole thing is a tragedy, or planned, and makes me angry.
I love TX and have lots of relatives there. I don’t know how they gave up their energy independence. They need to seal their southern border with their own national guard, sue the federal government for malfeasance, and go back to being energy independent. Come on Texas! FIGHT BACK!!
They didn’t give up their energy independence. The renewable energy is the result of free enterprise. Texas is the only electric market in the country not regulated by the federal government.
The power and water issues are the result of market forces, God’s creation, under-regulation, a lack of planning, and popularity.
Are you a new troll? Seriously, I leave the Treehouse for a few months, and I come back to read your tripe after only a couple days.
Let’s see here: You are seriously writing in the CTH discussion pages that the Texas energy debacle is due to
-under-government regulation – Nope, government screws everything it touches.
-Market Forces – Nope, phony government intervention to force the Green New Deal.
-God’s Creation- We all know that Carbon is the very basis of life.
-Lack of Planning- Nope, The greenies have been planning this crap since the 60’s. It is intentional.
-Popularity-Are you really making the argument that greenie BS is more popular than fossil fuels?
Maybe at the functions you frequent, but in the normal world it is not even close.
Renewables are THE most subsidized industry outside of banks, unions, social services, and the airline industry, there has been in this country.
I think you are lost or a CCP Troll. Your syntax is a bit off. Either way VOX might be more up your ally.
I can’t believe that Dutchman and a few others haven’t planted a boot in your backside yet. Oh well, the nastiest cat under the tree is back in circulation.
How many hundreds of millions of dollars in government subsidies have you and your oil and gas friends taken in? You are probably atop the leader board here, if they are oil and gas billionaires.
I have been part of the treehouse since 2015. I have generally stopped reading the comments because there is so much cold-hearted opinion. This is no longer a group that is worth the time to read.
What government subsidies are those sport?
List them.
And don’t pull that stupid depreciation argument that every single business is allowed.
Now let’s discuss how much GRANT money and real subsidies have completely disappeared (siphoned off) in the wind and solar debacle. Let us start with Solyndra and move down the line from there. How about the Solar City debacle? How much Federal and State Tax dollars have outright paid for solar farms and wind mills installed in rural communities. Those same communities struggle later with maintenance/replacement costs that bury those very communities.
You spout the very same hippy/commie talking points I have listened to for the last 50 years.
As for a group that is no longer worth the read. I hear Bill Kristol is looking for sycophants.
And the more Californians that come, the more they’ll dig in. They’ll be content to purchase energy from other states and endure more brownouts and blackouts so long as it “helps” the planet. In the meantime, Texas will eventually flip for the sole reason being the crushing dominance of the urban areas. After Texas is on par with Chihuahua, the leftists will seek out another place to destroy.
Biden has given Hunter a job to fix this turbine problem as Hunter always has blow.
I’m hoping to get a good block of time to research how the heck Texas ended up in this mess of a situation. Texas! It’s the last state I would expect to attempt this superficial “green” crap.
No Power Grid should include Wind, Solor or even hydro as part of it’s Maximum Capacity plan. When a power grid NEEDS it maximum power, it should be available not matter what.
Wind,Solar and Hydro are not available on demand. Therefore, they should only be used as offsets to standard power when the wind is blowing, when the sun is shining or when the rain has fallen. If you can make a case for those to be cost effective, fine.
Anyone who cannot understand that should never be allowed to make Energy Policy. Period.
If you want to save the planet, you might want to start protecting it, from all these crazy people, that claim they represent US.!
People, the Green New Deal is nothing but a smoke screen for the Cabal’s real agenda: control and depopulation! They know EXACTLY what they are doing and what the outcome is going to be. Trust me on this! They know that the electric grid can’t handle all of the electric cars needed. They know their initiatives are going to cause blackouts and could cause people to die in their sweltering homes. They do not care! The ones who survive will be forced into the horrible mass living conditions y’all call apartments and forced into taking even more horrid mass transit to get around in order to get to their low paying job serving the elite. Your every move will be monitored and controlled by them. That is their plan. If they act surprised by what is happening, it is nothing but an act!
Knowledge of the power grid and just plan common sense are not even a factor here. Some highly educated people with god like aspiration tell us that The Green New Deal is going to save the planet. They know it is not true, but this is what they chose as their vehicle of total population control. The attendees of the World Economic Forum (rich and smart people with a desire for total control, because, well they are richer and smarter than all of us). One method they use is control of the politicians.
(see what StanH said earlier) “Oh…a politician problem.” we must understand the uniparty concept.
These are Junior swamp rats in training and want to please their masters as this will enhance their political”career”. In the USA that is supposed to be the voter, but in the New World Order it’s their real master
(WEF)
Regardless of the tech details of the Green New Deal, the planet doesn’t even need saving. As with COVID, we need to always hit the main point before getting caught up in the details of the solutions to a non-existent problem.
Imagine paying $5 for a kilowatt hour. Presently my FPL base rate, that I never exceed, for the fuel cost is $.034870 per kWh.
Absurd that an energy rich state like Texas can’t produce enough electricity. Alternative energy is the alternative to having energy.
The politicians of both parties are to blame for this. Rick Perry and Abbott both fell into the renewable energy BS and the attaboys for increasing use of these worthless, unreliable sources. While they are responsible for the current state, electing Beto would be exponentially worse and cannot be an option. Yes, I hate holding my nose but that is better than cutting it off to spite my face. For the nth time, I am gonna bitch to the governor, Lt. Governor and speaker.
The concept of setting a % goal of electricity by renewable sources completely ignores the issue of peak demand and puts grids at risk. A few points:
The problem of wind power cannot be corrected in six months. Wind must be forced to pay reliability surcharges to support dispatchable, reliable sources. These need to offset the subsidies at the federal and state levels that support wind and solar. It will take a while to do this unfortunately.
All the data I provided is publicly available at http://www.ercot.com
100% correct, the price structure for on-demand vs interment power vs base load power needs to be put in place. Another mechanism is to have adjustable rates at the consumer end for time of day and year.
Wind/Solar power can add energy storage to their systems if it makes economic sense but something along the lines of the pricing structure above is needed to close that business case.
It is all market driven. There are no incentives for renewables. You make a bid, if it clears, you generate and get paid. Renewables are cheaper. That’s it.
They always knew there would be problems. They are waiting for the market to provide solutions.
Maybe they can pray to the wind gods.
Anybody taking bets on how many Federal, State, and Local government buildings will lead by example by requiring them to ALL shut off their a/c?
We need more migrants????? California doesn’t have en9ugh water and Texas not enough wind. Every migrant coming heretakes part of our share of something, also including baby formula, food, and medical care.
At this point, park a nuclear vessel in Galveston bay and hook it up to the grid.
Better jump on AMLO’s offer of electric power.
“Call me Captain Obvious, but in addition to the population migration, it looks like Texas imported California’s energy policies. ”
What has happened in Texas is the opposite of that. They undertook a radical free market experiment with their electric grid. They said, “no [state] support for nothin’. Let the market decide. A free market will provide the best possible outcome. We will not direct it. We will not interfere. Stand back, everyone.”
[This is in contrast to every other state’s regulators, who start from the premise that reliable electricity is a public good, and so the market/regulations should aim towards providing reliable electricity, including reasonable profits for the utilities. The regional electric markets take a hybrid position of “let the markets decide,” but each utility needs to be able to prove that it has the electrical capacity to deliver electricity to its customers.]
The free market chose renewable energy. Texas is the best place in the country for renewables. There are great resources, and because it is so blasted sunny and windy, much of the state has few people. This makes the siting and permitting a snap.
So the renewable developers have come to Texas en masse and played by Mr. Market’s rules. And since they have no fuel costs, they can underbid all of the fossil-fueled generators and drive them out of business.
Then, you add record-setting load (consumption) every month as blue state residents pour into Texas, and there have been several years of “fingers crossed” and bullets dodged. But the people keep coming, the renewable generators keep coming, the fossil fuel generators keep going, and Mr. Market keeps doing its thing.
There has been a “turn ahead, slow down” side alongside the ERCOT highway for five years. But they keep barreling ahead all the same.
So, yes, renewables are at the heart of it, but the libertarian structure put in place by well-intentioned conservatives has brought them there.
The is what kneeling at the altar of Environmentalism/Climatism looks like. What’s happened to Texas. Abbott might be the answer.
Texas has willfully chosen to look at economics only – whatever bids the lowest price runs (clears). Renewables are cheaper than fossil fuel plants.
Renewables are not cheaper when implemented properly. Throwing up a bunch of windmills WITH back-up generators or energy storage so that you have reliable, 24/7 power is far more expensive than coal or nuclear.
If there is no back up for when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine, it is a FALSE economy.
But that isn’t how the Texas PUC wanted their electric grid to work. They knew that Mr. Market would bring the lowest cost, reliable electricity. Unfortunately, Mr. Market takes about 5 years to bring results to today’s problems.
I worked for a company in 2018-19 that wanted to bring energy storage to Texas, as you described. The market wasn’t there. It is starting to happen today. But they are way behind.
They have to make Texans miserable. They want to blame the Republicans. Well, as long as they point only to the top and do not embrace the idiot who will do worse things to us.
I am not happy with Abbott and Beto is a joke. So hold on to your Butts TX its going to be a bumpy ride.
When Baby Bush ascended to DC, Texas was left with sockpuppet Perry, who signed the Energy Bill that forced ratepayers to fund 25% sustainable on all future capacity increases as a gift to wind gifted T Boone Pickens
https://principia-scientific.org/green-prince-of-darkness-exposed/