Guest “Lying must be like breathing to them” by David Middleton
Solar, wind energy keeping Texas power grids running amid weekslong heat wave
Inflated prices and power failures could have occurred without green energy.
By Julia Jacobo
July 7, 2023
Green energy is helping to keep the Texas power grids alive amid a weekslong heat wave that has left power usage at an all-time high.
The perfect meteorological conditions have allowed renewable energy generated by wind turbines and solar panels to supply the grids with enough power to meet demand, experts told ABC News.
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The above article has perhaps the most egregious headline among the fake news stories about the Texas grid this summer. Here are a few more examples:
Egregious is a funny word:
It’s summer in Texas… It’s supposed to be hotter than Hell and the grid is handling the load.
Here’s today’s Houston weather forecast:
Here’s the grid situation at 11:25 AM today:
This seems like the eleventyeth day in a row with a high temperature over 100 °F and ERCOT has only issued a handful of voluntary conservation alerts, like this one:
News Release
Jul 13, 2022
ERCOT Issues Conservation Appeal to Texans and Businesses
Appeal Effective Wednesday, July 13, 2022
AUSTIN, TX, July 13, 2022 – As extreme hot weather continues driving record power demand across Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is issuing a Conservation Appeal for Wednesday, July 13 between 2-8 p.m. ERCOT is asking Texans and businesses to voluntarily conserve electricity during this time. Currently, no system-wide outages are expected.
Today’s conditions are expected to be similar to those experienced on Monday, July 11, 2022. On that day, Texans and businesses responded by voluntarily conserving electricity and helping ERCOT successfully meet record power demand by reducing their energy use by 500 MWs.
Conservation is a reliability tool ERCOT has deployed more than four dozen times since 2008 to successfully manage grid operations. This notification is issued when projected reserves may fall below 2300 MW for 30 minutes or more.
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Factors driving the need for this important action by customers:
- Record high electric demand. The heat wave that has settled on Texas and much of the central United States is driving increased electric use. Other grid operators are operating under similar conservative operations programs as ERCOT due to the heatwave.
- Low wind. Wind generation is currently generating less than what is historically generated in this time period.
- Forced thermal outages. The number of forced outages in thermal generation exceeds ERCOT forecasts.
- Solar. Developing cloud cover in West Texas has reduced the amount of solar generation.
Under current projected scenarios, performance of the generation fleet Wednesday is:
Installed Capacity Wednesday (7/13) Tightest Hour (3-4 p.m.) Percentage of Installed Capacity Available at Tightest Hour Dispatchable 80,083 67,076 84% Wind 35,162 4,294 12% Solar 11,787 7,987 68% Note: Total forecasted demand is 78,451 MW.
One has to wonder what did ERCOT expect fron its thermal power plants? 100%? If the number of thermal (almost all natural gas, coal & nuclear) outages is exceeding your forecast and your dispatchable sources (almost all thermal) are still delivering 84% of capacity, your expectations might just be a tad bit on the high side.
The Texas grid is handling the heat just fine because of natural gas… PERIOD!
JULY 26, 2023
Texas power grid met record-breaking demand for electricity during recent heat wave
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Hourly Electric Grid Monitor
Note: Values shown are the maximum hourly reported demand for the day, which may differ from an instantaneous peak in demand.
An extreme heat wave in late June and July led to record-breaking demand for electricity in Texas as homes and businesses turned up their air-conditioning, fans, and other cooling equipment to cope with the heat. Power plants in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)—the grid operator for most of the state—increased output to meet elevated demand.
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“Power plants in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)… increased output to meet elevated demand.”
What types of power plants can increase output to meet elevated demand?
- Wind? No.
- Solar? No.
- Hydroelectric? Not really… And Texas has very little of this.
- Batteries? ROTFLMFAO!!!
- Nuclear? Not really… But I wish we had more of these.
- Coal? Used-to-could (H/T Jeff Foxworthy)
- Natural gas? BINGO! Give that man a cigar!
We’ll first focus on the period discussed in the EIA article: June 23-July 23, 2023. The ABC News pack of lies was published in the midst of this period.
Solar power basically keeps “bankers’ hours.” Wind ramps up and down with… well… with the wind. Natural gas and, to a lesser extent, coal ramp up and down to meet demand and cover for wind and solar, when they fail to show up for work.
Here’s the same data, presented as daily totals:
Here’s the daily generation with fossil fuels and nuclear power highlighted:
On a daily basis, wind power provided an average of 21% of ERCOT’s electricity, ranging from a low of 8% on July 2 to a maximum of 32% on June 28. Solar was more reliable, delivering a steady 7% to 9% of the electricity, almost all delivered during bankers’ hours (10 AM to 6 PM). Fossil fuels and nuclear power generated an average of 71% of the electricity, ranging from a low of 60% on June 28 to a maximum of 83% on July 2… Why do those dates sound familiar?
If there had been the slightest problem with ERCOT’s grid during this heat wave, the headlines would have screamed: Fossil fuels failed again!
A more truthful headline would be:
Solar, bailing out Texas wind power amid weekslong heat wave
Here’s a plot of ERCOT’s fuel mix on July 31, 2023:
ERCOT is actually benefiting from solar’s “duck curve” (on sunny days). Wind has a bit of an inverse “duck curve” in Texas.
The State Legislature is starting to get the hint
Enhanced reliability of the ERCOT power region
Aimed at increasing the reliability of the ERCOT power region in Texas, Senate Bill 2627, or the Powering Texas Forward Act, creates a taxpayer-funded, low-interest loan program for up to $7.2 billion in upgrades or new construction of dispatchable electric generation facilities such as natural gas plants. To be eligible for a loan, upgrades to existing facilities or new construction must, in each case, result in a net increase of at least 100 megawatts to the ERCOT power region. Electric energy storage facilities are not eligible for loans under the new program. Loans under the bill may be issued at the discretion of the PUC based on various listed factors, including an aggregate cap on the program of 10,000 megawatts of generating capacity, and each loan must have a term of 20 years, be payable ratably starting three years after the estimated commercial operation date for the facility and bear an interest rate of 3%. The program also provides for “completion bonus grants” to be paid to companies that get qualifying new or upgraded plants connected to the grid by certain deadlines. Grant amounts will be disbursed to recipients in equal annual payments over 10 years and are based, among other factors, on megawatts of capacity provided to the ERCOT power region, not to exceed $120,000 per megawatt. The bill also includes caps on amount of the fund balance that can be expended at any given time.
Senate Bill 2627 is the enabling legislation for Senate Joint Resolution 93, which proposes a constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the Texas Energy Fund to support the construction, maintenance, modernization, and operation of electric generating facilities.
Unfortunately, they failed to pass bills that would have subjected wind and solar projects to the same sort of permitting and environmental compliance as thermal power plants.