Texas for freedom of business and individual freedoms, unless they decide not to.

[MontyFloyd]

Came across this article in June 2021 of Texas Monthly

Texas's Oil and Gas Industry Is Defending Its Billions in Subsidies Against a Green Energy Push

The state's energy business has long counted on tax breaks and other largesse. Whether renewables or fossil fuels get more depends on how you do the math.

www.texasmonthly.com

In it they say despite Texas politicians saying Texas is very business friendly, the reality is it is mostly lip service.

All of which made a bit rich the supposedly righteous fury aimed during this spring’s state legislative session at subsidies for wind and solar energy. That anger, expressed through a handful of bills intended to raise the costs of renewables, blamed the death and economic devastation wreaked by the statewide February blackouts on lapses in wind and solar power. Never mind that state inquiries have shown that the major culprit in crashing Texas’s main electricity grid was the freezing not of renewable energy equipment but of the system that distributes gas to fuel power plants.

The response

Indeed, at least one of these attempts by legislators to punish wind and solar energy sparked return fire from some of the biggest names in capitalism—including Amazon, BlackRock, General Electric, Google, and Morgan Stanley. “Our companies have invested tens of billions of dollars in the state partly because of our confidence in Texas’ historically friendly business environment,” a group representing the titans, the Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance, wrote to state leaders in April. It rejected as “erroneous” the notion that the February disaster was the fault of renewable energy.

And it is true, renewable energy has become and economic powerhouse in the state, and is overwhelming supported by Republican voters.

Transition to a Clean Energy Future: We believe freely functioning markets communicate the overall priorities and desires of the country. More and more, data shows the vast majority of people want access to cleaner, more sustainable energy choices.

In my neighborhood the influx of Tesla's and other BEV (i3, Leaf, Mach-E, etc) shows a strong desire to go electric.
Conversely the fuel oil industry is planning for an EV future, some investing in renewable electrical power.

It seems like a winning platform to support renewables, especially now with Tesla's HQ in Austin. Election is 11 months from now.

 

[nwdiver]

Texans are like house cats. They like to think they're fiercely independent while being completely reliant on a system they don't understand.

 

[MontyFloyd]

Texans are like house cats. They like to think they're fiercely independent while being completely reliant on a system they don't understand.

They suffer the same as much of US, perhaps the world.

 

[MontyFloyd]

...and the price of electricity in Texas jumped some 70%, mostly due to increase price of fools fuel. @nwdiver

Electricity Bills In Texas Have Jumped An Average Of 70%

"There’s going to be some real sticker shock here"

localprofile.com

Not only that, the July 2022 heat wave is pushing grid to edge.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/07/11/texas-record-heat-ercot-power-grid/

 

[CrazyRabbit]

So our 35Gw installed wind generation base that is only producing 1.8Gw currently has nothing to do with the problem?

My electric rate has increased from 9.5 cents per kWh to 14.5 cents per kWh, 50% bump if not including the base fee of 15 bucks which didn’t change.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

So our 35Gw installed wind generation base that is only producing 1.8Gw currently has nothing to do with the problem?

Nope. It's behaving the same way it always does.

My electric rate has increased from 9.5 cents per kWh to 14.5 cents per kWh, 50% bump if not including the base fee of 15 bucks which didn’t change.

Fuel prices have increased.

 

[MontyFloyd]

So our 35Gw installed wind generation base that is only producing 1.8Gw currently has nothing to do with the problem?

Nope, negligible impact at most.

The operating cost of wind turbines is very low.

Fossil Fuel plants, especially coal, have high operating costs of generation, from labor, maintenance, and many other expenses, with fuel costs being the biggest factor.

 

[CrazyRabbit]

Nope. It's behaving the same way it always does.



Fuel prices have increased.

Not talking price, I can afford power. talking will the grid crash! We hit conservation alert today, all available generator were on line, wind as low as 0.6GW. Thank goodness for solar as it was producing.

Would like Texas to double nuclear generation. Hope we get there.

 

[CrazyRabbit]

Since you want to talk about price, $3.79 /gallon. Munch on that. Hell my 14.5 cent electric rate is still lower then the lowest tier variable rate in California minus free nights and weekends….

 

[bruce4000]

Not talking price, I can afford power. talking will the grid crash! We hit conservation alert today, all available generator were on line, wind as low as 0.6GW. Thank goodness for solar as it was producing.

Would like Texas to double nuclear generation. Hope we get there.

If Texas wasn’t so special, they would connect their grid to the rest of the country and then import when needed and export and make money at other times.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Not talking price, I can afford power. talking will the grid crash! We hit conservation alert today, all available generator were on line, wind as low as 0.6GW. Thank goodness for solar as it was producing.

Would like Texas to double nuclear generation. Hope we get there.

I was talking about the price increase you mentioned. Nothing changed but the cost of fuel.
If there's not enough capacity, it needs more capacity.

You could have more nuclear, if you like paying more for your electricity. Or you could have more solar, wind and natural gas and save money.

 

[nwdiver]

Would like Texas to double nuclear generation. Hope we get there.

Texas was short several GWs. Would you rather have gas turbine reliability in months or more nuclear ‘base load’ in decades?

 

[MontyFloyd]

Not talking price, I can afford power. talking will the grid crash! We hit conservation alert today, all available generator were on line, wind as low as 0.6GW. Thank goodness for solar as it was producing.

Completely agree there needs more PV solar in Tx, since demand is highest when sun is highest and brightest (and ironically when wind is near weakest)
Crooked idiots in Austin are in pockets of oil, hurting all Texans by not going all in to renewables, and freeing up the fuel for exports, make billions more $$$.

Would like Texas to double nuclear generation. Hope we get there.

I am for nuke as well, but there are so many factors against it I would not make any future production plans until one is actually operating.
the only thing we can predict is Renewables.