Free nighttime electricity in Texas!

[rolosrevenge]

These rates are the result of federal production tax credits. Whether the power is needed or not, the farms get paid by the government to produce, so they are willing to pay people less than that to use power. This situation will easily resolve itself as the subsidies go away.

 

[TexasEV]

Really? Everybody in my neighborhood has a basement.

Amarillo is so far from Austin it might as well be another state or two away. OK, no basements in the major cities in Texas (now don't try to claim Amarillo is a major city).

 

[brianman]

Amarillo is so far from Austin it might as well be another state or two away. OK, no basements in the major cities in Texas (now don't try to claim Amarillo is a major city).

List of United States cities by population - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rank 120 in 2014!

Random observation:
Paterson, NJ, (#177 by 2014 population) outranked San Francisco (#13 by 2014 population) in 2010 population density. Maybe I should buy some real estate near Paterson....

 

[bollar]

List of United States cities by population - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rank 120 in 2014!

Doesn't even make the top 10 list in the state, though.

 

[islandbayy]

Are we heading towards " too cheap to meter" electricity?

Tell that to the 51% Increase I got in Wisconsin January 1st!

 

[Electric700]

Too bad the Powerwall can't take Texas heat.

Tesla should add liquid cooling/heating to the Powerwall if it hasn't done so already. That would lengthen its life and help it perform better overall in areas that are prone to extreme summer/winter temperatures and for customers that need their Powerwalls to be installed outdoors.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

These rates are the result of federal production tax credits. Whether the power is needed or not, the farms get paid by the government to produce, so they are willing to pay people less than that to use power. This situation will easily resolve itself as the subsidies go away.

ave any proof or articles? I'd like to know if that's accurate.. thanks
Do you h


Why does this forum always chop up my replies?!

 

[mspohr]

ave any proof or articles? I'd like to know if that's accurate.. thanks
Do you h


Why does this forum always chop up my replies?!

There is a 2.3 cent per kwh production tax credit. This is a tax credit (against other taxes owed) not a direct payout. This effectively reduces the cost of wind electricity by up to 2.3 cents per kwh. Since there is no fuel cost for wind (only fixed costs), it's advantageous to keep generating power all of the time so they could give it away or even pay people to use it up to 2.3 cents/kwh.
Good article here:
United States Wind Energy Policy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[SpiceWare]

Too bad the Powerwall can't take Texas heat.

Should be fine here in Houston, only have around four 100+ days a year and we've not yet exceeded 110°. The Gulf helps to keep us a tad cooler in the summer, and warmer in the winter, in comparison to inland cities like Austin and Dallas whose highs have exceeded 110°.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

So, the only reason they are giving away free power is because they get paid to make it regardless?

God Bless 'Murica.

 

[deonb]

This is a tax credit (against other taxes owed) not a direct payout. This effectively reduces the cost of wind electricity by up to 2.3 cents per kwh. Since there is no fuel cost for wind (only fixed costs), it's advantageous to keep generating power all of the time so they could give it away or even pay people to use it up to 2.3 cents/kwh.

How (or why) would you even shut down a wind farm? It's not like you can store it up in some sort of 'strategic wind reserve'.

 

[mspohr]

How (or why) would you even shut down a wind farm? It's not like you can store it up in some sort of 'strategic wind reserve'.

Well, Canada has a "strategic maple syrup reserve". I don't see why Texas couldn't have a "strategic hot air reserve".
(Seriously, I think you can stop the blades from turning but as long as you can earn anything from the electricity, it pays to just keep them running.)

 

[Chris TX]

I've been using this TXU plan for almost 2 years now and love it. With the amount of electricity I use, it all comes out to 3 cents or less per kWh even with the taxes and fees.

The key is to schedule cars, HVAC, dishwasher, clothes washer/dryer, pool filtration/chlorination cycles to turn on at 9PM and adjust down at 6AM.

V2G or a PowerWall with an inverter would be great.
Here's a picture that shows how to play the game:

 

[jerry33]

I don't see why Texas couldn't have a "strategic hot air reserve".

I thought they had that implemented in Austin.

 

[Chris TX]

I thought they had that implemented in Austin.

That's in the Capitol. They should have a turbine inside the dome and open the windows up top. A constant upwards draft could power the entire city.

 

[wdolson]

Amarillo is so far from Austin it might as well be another state or two away. OK, no basements in the major cities in Texas (now don't try to claim Amarillo is a major city).

Texas has some major differences in geology across the state. The biggest cities in Texas are on former sea bottom. Before the current ice age that started about 2 million years ago, there was a large, shallow sea that extended from the current gulf coast of Texas as far north as into Canada at some points (the shoreline changed quite a bit over time). Wyoming and Montana have a lot of coal because of trees that grew along the shore of this sea that got buried when the sea rose and grew when it fell.

West Texas is geologically closer to the Geology of New Mexico and Arizona than eastern Texas.

In any case the free electricity is interesting. A few years ago we had so much snow pack the hydroelectric dams had too much electricity production in the spring and the wind farms were idled (which ticked off the owners of the wind farms). They didn't give any way though.

 

[Vexar]

Tell that to the 51% Increase I got in Wisconsin January 1st!

Build some solar, Chris.

 

[rolosrevenge]

How (or why) would you even shut down a wind farm? It's not like you can store it up in some sort of 'strategic wind reserve'.

You shut down a wind plant by feathering the turbine blades so they don't cause rotational forces. Reasons for doing this would be that you have excess power or if the wind plant is causing some sort of power quality problem. The over generation problem can get interesting. For example, in Washington state some years back, Bonneville Power Administration was fined a lot of money by the EPA because a wind plant wouldn't curtail when they told them too, so they had to stop generating with hydro power, but since it was the spring and the reservoirs were full, they had to spill the water which caused harmful nitrogen levels to the salmon fry. So wind ended up killing fish that day.

 

[wdolson]

You shut down a wind plant by feathering the turbine blades so they don't cause rotational forces. Reasons for doing this would be that you have excess power or if the wind plant is causing some sort of power quality problem. The over generation problem can get interesting. For example, in Washington state some years back, Bonneville Power Administration was fined a lot of money by the EPA because a wind plant wouldn't curtail when they told them too, so they had to stop generating with hydro power, but since it was the spring and the reservoirs were full, they had to spill the water which caused harmful nitrogen levels to the salmon fry. So wind ended up killing fish that day.

I didn't know a wind farm refused to shut down. I know the wind producers were screaming about the notices to shut down. Even with the wind farms idle they had way too much water going through the dams and were trying to get California to buy the excess electricity.

That was the only time the dikes on the Columbia got used since they were built. They built the dikes after the 1947 flood. Normally there is a fair bit of land between the dikes and the river, but the river was right up to the dikes. I went around and took a bunch of pictures during the flood. Most of it isn't that dramatic unless you know what it all looks like most of the time.

 

[Chris TX]

I didn't know a wind farm refused to shut down. I know the wind producers were screaming about the notices to shut down. Even with the wind farms idle they had way too much water going through the dams and were trying to get California to buy the excess electricity.

That was the only time the dikes on the Columbia got used since they were built. They built the dikes after the 1947 flood. Normally there is a fair bit of land between the dikes and the river, but the river was right up to the dikes. I went around and took a bunch of pictures during the flood. Most of it isn't that dramatic unless you know what it all looks like most of the time.

The Texas windmills won't be idle when they connect ERCOT to the other grids. Hell, California brownouts and rolling blackouts might be a thing of the past.

I laugh when I see someone saying "I just drove by a bunch of windmills and none of them were moving! What a waste!"