Dang, unbelievable the power and chances for a bright future for Texas, for America...only to be hit square in the face by fossil fuels and idiotic ideologies... dragging us to slow and awful!
There is one dominant reason renewables achieved such market penetration in Texas. Actually it might be the only reason: ERCOT followed an "energy only" policy, meaning that energy suppliers were paid for megawatts they produced, but not required to commit to any schedule of production or contractually agreed amount of production. Literally no other grids do this, and for good reason. You want guaranteed power, all the time. Though bad policy, energy-only was perfect for renewables because of their lack of dispatchability, which prevents them from every committing to a production schedule. The bottom line is that they work when and only when conditions allow them to.
The origins of the Great Texas Blackout that followed Winter Storm Uri, in 2021, have been greenwashed beyond recognition. Yes the gas pipelines DID freeze in the severe cold, but only after operators lost most of their power. At that particular moment, that part of the grid was 60-something percent dependent on renewable sources, and when nearby windfields went to zero and the solar panels were all covered with snow, there wasn't enough energy to run the pumps and compressors and other equipment.
Here's the deal: Pumps and compressors don't freeze when they are working, and neither do pipelines when their contents are in motion. It's basic physics. It's how places like Barrow Alaska, frozen solid 80 percent of the time, can have water and gas-delivery systems.
Now this used to not be a big deal, because those pumps and compressors were all powered by natural gas, which was always available for obvious reasons. Blackout? Schmackout! But the climate zealots went to work and convinced operators to convert to electric operation. Maybe they were hoping something like the Great Blackout would happen. Playing the long game and all of that.
North Texas is one of the better places to put solar panels in theory because at least during the summer months you have pretty reliable sun. Unfortunately, it's also the place were supercell storms occur with regularity, which generate hail, which pound solar panels to smithereeens. A brand-new, just-open-for-business solar facility got hit by such a storm last spring, instantly obliterating a $350 million investment. Interestingly, this was completely, and I mean COMPLETELY ignored by the mainstream press. Gee, I wonder why.
Solar and wind produce "cheap" energy only if you play accounting tricks, ignore building costs, maintenance costs, land costs, materials costs, productivity costs due to intermittency, synchronization costs, and probably a dozen others. And when you factor in the cost of truly usable storage, it becomes grossly uneconomic. Them's the facts on the ground.
You cannot base a 24/7 high-tech economy on intermittent energy, period, full stop, end of discussion. Renewables have a place, for sure: as fair-weather, supplemental sources, providing maybe 10 percent of the overall output. Any more than that puts the entire grid at risk. Recognize that and we'll all get along just fine.
The bills make sense if you 1)want to eliminate competition in the energy sector 2)don't mind if people have to pay more for electricity 3) don't mind if other people make less money from renewables or anything. So, it makes sense in a purely unempathetic, purely competitive mode. Sadopopulism vs free market and deregulation.
Otherwise, fantastic news for people asking whether renewables are practical and profitable, and what about batteries. I will send this podcast. Perfect model.
I also refer friends to the Jigar Shaw podcast regarding nuclear. Eye roll here.
Also, see what Premier Danielle Smith is doing to renewables in Alberta, Canada. There is a definitely precedence for the craziness.
David, if you think that a half-mile setback requirement for wind turbines is extravagant, maybe you need to get out in the hinterlands a bit more. County commissioners across the country are enacting that or more. A county with massive solar potential in NV enacted a one mile setback for solar farms. Bills in AZ list wind turbine setbacks of six miles or 85x the height.
I think the politicians are partially driven by a level of hysteria from constituents plugged into Xitter or Facebook or whatnot. The MAHA cult chimes in too. "The lead, the EMFs, the infrasound." And good libs are owned by "Oh the farmland & food supply, oh the habitat, the wildlife, the views." The rebar! Really, just read that but I'm not going to try to figure out what the problem is. The whole rural "way of life" will be decimated by 5000 acres of solar in a 1,000,000 acre county The FF-funded think tanks chime in with various jive about the failures and costs of intermittent electricity. It's an incredibly effective network.
On the other hand you could charge up your new highway star Ioniq 5 and go talk to the folks fighting Horse Heaven Hills windfarm, just a quick four hour drive from Seattle. It's probably a nice time of year for some wine tasting if that's a Volts family thing.
Many of these groups say the solar or wind farms will scare tourists away. Maybe someone needs to start an org to support tourism around wind and solar projects and do some boycotting of, say, Nantucket or the NJ shore. I
He mentioned Tim Dunn. Something that recently almost made me cry, Propublica started a headline: "Billionaire Preachers....". One of the subjects of the article was Dunn. What really made me sad was that Propublica has resorted to this headline. How broken.
Dang, unbelievable the power and chances for a bright future for Texas, for America...only to be hit square in the face by fossil fuels and idiotic ideologies... dragging us to slow and awful!
Utah had a similar bill this session against solar requiring setbacks, etc. that was substituted, passed the house, but died in the Senate.
There is one dominant reason renewables achieved such market penetration in Texas. Actually it might be the only reason: ERCOT followed an "energy only" policy, meaning that energy suppliers were paid for megawatts they produced, but not required to commit to any schedule of production or contractually agreed amount of production. Literally no other grids do this, and for good reason. You want guaranteed power, all the time. Though bad policy, energy-only was perfect for renewables because of their lack of dispatchability, which prevents them from every committing to a production schedule. The bottom line is that they work when and only when conditions allow them to.
The origins of the Great Texas Blackout that followed Winter Storm Uri, in 2021, have been greenwashed beyond recognition. Yes the gas pipelines DID freeze in the severe cold, but only after operators lost most of their power. At that particular moment, that part of the grid was 60-something percent dependent on renewable sources, and when nearby windfields went to zero and the solar panels were all covered with snow, there wasn't enough energy to run the pumps and compressors and other equipment.
Here's the deal: Pumps and compressors don't freeze when they are working, and neither do pipelines when their contents are in motion. It's basic physics. It's how places like Barrow Alaska, frozen solid 80 percent of the time, can have water and gas-delivery systems.
Now this used to not be a big deal, because those pumps and compressors were all powered by natural gas, which was always available for obvious reasons. Blackout? Schmackout! But the climate zealots went to work and convinced operators to convert to electric operation. Maybe they were hoping something like the Great Blackout would happen. Playing the long game and all of that.
North Texas is one of the better places to put solar panels in theory because at least during the summer months you have pretty reliable sun. Unfortunately, it's also the place were supercell storms occur with regularity, which generate hail, which pound solar panels to smithereeens. A brand-new, just-open-for-business solar facility got hit by such a storm last spring, instantly obliterating a $350 million investment. Interestingly, this was completely, and I mean COMPLETELY ignored by the mainstream press. Gee, I wonder why.
Solar and wind produce "cheap" energy only if you play accounting tricks, ignore building costs, maintenance costs, land costs, materials costs, productivity costs due to intermittency, synchronization costs, and probably a dozen others. And when you factor in the cost of truly usable storage, it becomes grossly uneconomic. Them's the facts on the ground.
You cannot base a 24/7 high-tech economy on intermittent energy, period, full stop, end of discussion. Renewables have a place, for sure: as fair-weather, supplemental sources, providing maybe 10 percent of the overall output. Any more than that puts the entire grid at risk. Recognize that and we'll all get along just fine.
I hope no one here bothers to take this rage bait.
Rage bait? Is there a rebuttal in there somewhere?
I thought not.
The bills make sense if you 1)want to eliminate competition in the energy sector 2)don't mind if people have to pay more for electricity 3) don't mind if other people make less money from renewables or anything. So, it makes sense in a purely unempathetic, purely competitive mode. Sadopopulism vs free market and deregulation.
Otherwise, fantastic news for people asking whether renewables are practical and profitable, and what about batteries. I will send this podcast. Perfect model.
I also refer friends to the Jigar Shaw podcast regarding nuclear. Eye roll here.
Also, see what Premier Danielle Smith is doing to renewables in Alberta, Canada. There is a definitely precedence for the craziness.
David, if you think that a half-mile setback requirement for wind turbines is extravagant, maybe you need to get out in the hinterlands a bit more. County commissioners across the country are enacting that or more. A county with massive solar potential in NV enacted a one mile setback for solar farms. Bills in AZ list wind turbine setbacks of six miles or 85x the height.
I think the politicians are partially driven by a level of hysteria from constituents plugged into Xitter or Facebook or whatnot. The MAHA cult chimes in too. "The lead, the EMFs, the infrasound." And good libs are owned by "Oh the farmland & food supply, oh the habitat, the wildlife, the views." The rebar! Really, just read that but I'm not going to try to figure out what the problem is. The whole rural "way of life" will be decimated by 5000 acres of solar in a 1,000,000 acre county The FF-funded think tanks chime in with various jive about the failures and costs of intermittent electricity. It's an incredibly effective network.
Jael Holzman from Heatmap might be a good guest about this. She just wrote a piece on solar county regs in AZ. AZ, which should be stoked on solar. https://heatmap.news/plus/the-fight/spotlight/draconis-solar-farm-bp might be paywalled.
On the other hand you could charge up your new highway star Ioniq 5 and go talk to the folks fighting Horse Heaven Hills windfarm, just a quick four hour drive from Seattle. It's probably a nice time of year for some wine tasting if that's a Volts family thing.
Many of these groups say the solar or wind farms will scare tourists away. Maybe someone needs to start an org to support tourism around wind and solar projects and do some boycotting of, say, Nantucket or the NJ shore. I
I'll restrain myself from writing a TLDR comment.
He mentioned Tim Dunn. Something that recently almost made me cry, Propublica started a headline: "Billionaire Preachers....". One of the subjects of the article was Dunn. What really made me sad was that Propublica has resorted to this headline. How broken.