Via Bill Peacock
“Texas’ problem with wind and solar power has been growing for years. 2022, wind farms generated 25% of the electricity used in ERCOT. Solar farms generate 5.65%. Ten years ago, the market share of wind was 12.25% and solar was 0.03%. This has placed a heavy burden on the grid because it is not possible to account for both of these power generation sources when needed.
Source: Reuters
Reuters recently ran a story highlighting the failure of wind generation in the first months of 2023:
The Texas grid operator urged homes and businesses to conserve electricity on Tuesday as the first major heatwave of the season spurred residents to turn on their power-hungry air conditioners. Electricity prices for Tuesday hit a peak of $2,500 per megawatt hour (MWh) in the state’s next day market on expectations that demand will hit record levels later in the day, according to the Electrical Reliability Council. of Texas (ERCOT).
In addition to the massive cooling demand, the Texas grid is also under strain due to recent declines in wind power output, which, if sustained, could deprive the ERCOT system of the main clean energy source when the most neccesary. Wind power is Texas’ second-largest source of electricity after natural gas, so any prolonged decline in wind power production could put the ERCOT system under strain just as the demand season peaks. begin.
Reuters commentator Gavin Maguire continue:
In May, the total wind power generated in the ERCOT system was just under 310,000 megawatts (MW), down 40% from the nearly 520,000 MW generated in May 2022…. In the first 19 days of June, about 185,000 MW of wind power was generated, down 45% from 336,000 MW generated in the same period in 2022.
A look at a recent date confirms problems with wind generation. Winds peaked at 15,131 MW at 1:19 a.m. Wednesday, June 21 and declined for most of the rest of the day. As temperatures in Austin peaked at 102 degrees around midday, wind generating capacity fell to 7,016 MW en route to a low of 5,947 at 2:09 p.m. PT. It didn’t reach more than 15,000 MW again until 7:44, when the temperature in Austin had dropped to 73 degrees.
Source: ERCOT
Texas’ problems with wind and solar power have been growing for years. 2022, wind farms generated 25% of the electricity used in ERCOT. Solar farms generate 5.65%. Ten years ago, the market share of wind was 12.25% and solar was 0.03%. This has placed a heavy burden on the grid because it is not possible to account for both of these power generation sources when needed.
The share of wind in temperate months is much higher than during hot summer months or cold winter months when the load is heavy and power generation is needed. In March, April, May, October and November, the market share of wind was 31.7%. During the winter months of December, January and February, wind’s market share drops to 25.7%. During the summer months of June, July, August and September, wind’s market share plummeted to 18.1%.
Source: ERCOT; Author’s calculation
Solar power has been claimed as the savior of the grid as it tends to generate more electricity when it is hottest. While that is sometimes the case, Texas has experienced scenarios when solar power failed to produce due to cloud cover over solar panels in West Texas while the rest of Texas was simmering in the summer heat. summer. Also, as expected, solar energy production drops rapidly during winter. Its market share in December was almost half that of June and July.
Reuter claims that more wind capacity will solve the problem of wind disruption:
The recovery in wind generation due to new capacity and higher wind speeds will provide a major boost to ERCOT’s resilience and could allow the Texas grid to stave off any further threats. electricity from upcoming heat waves.
It is not clear why Reuter’s believes that wind speeds will magically increase in the future and solve the problems of wind generation – perhaps this is the result of global warming? In any case, more wind capacity will exacerbate the problem of wind disruption. The simple truth is that the more reliant Texas is on wind generation, the less reliable Texas’ electricity grid will be; More Texans need electricity to protect themselves from inclement weather and keep their lights on while solar and wind will provide less electricity.
One last thing. Aside from the continuity and reliability problems, wind and solar power are a lot more expensive than natural gas, coal, and nuclear power. The 2023 cost in Texas for renewable subsidies and protecting the grid from renewables will exceed $2.7 billion (that’s 2.04 billion in 2021).
This session of the Texas Legislature did nothing to address Texas’ decades-old wind and solar support problem through subsidies and benefits. Instead, it doubles the amount of the allowance by allowing $8.9 billion in subsidies and loans for conventional thermal power generation. But Texas, or Texas taxpayers more precisely, can’t buy a way out of the problems caused by renewables. The only way out is to end subsidies for all generators and let market participants use market prices to figure out which energy source best meets our needs.
Related
