“The data make it clear that the only possible rationale for renewable energy—making significant reductions of CO2 emissions—cannot be achieved. The costs of attempting to do this are already imposing heavy costs on economies across the world.”
By the 1800s, wind and solar were both mature and successful technologies. Yet as soon as Western society developed the wealth and technology to take advantage of fossil fuels, they were discarded—along with batteries for electric cars—with no place in the modern world for grid-scale generation of electricity.
Renewable energy still cannot compete with the efficiency, affordability, and reliability of fossil fuels. But this has not stopped it from making a comeback on the backs of American taxpayers and consumers who have paid for hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies from federal, state, and local governments.…
“Texas politicians have added at least $38 billion to the cost of electricity through higher bills or higher taxes since 2019…. Retail rates haven’t reached the level of New York ($0.24 per KWh) or California ($0.32), but Texas’s rising $0.15 rate is disconcerting.”
With its grid overwhelmed by renewable energy, Texas is putting natural gas back in the game. The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) has received 125 notices of intent that propose more than 55,000 megawatts of new generation, most of it gas-fired.
Texans should not be surprised at this turn of events. Generators are simply following the money. Taxpayer money, that is.
Background
After Winter Storm Uri, public pressure forced Texas politicians to wake up to—though not confess—the damage they had caused by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at generation that only works when the weather permits.…
“As Texas faces the possibility of high temperatures this summer and the certainty that wind will operate at only a fraction of its installed capacity during periods of peak demand, it is possible the Legislature may adjourn on May 31 having done nothing to address the harm renewables are doing to the Texas grid.”
Despite years of increasing reliance on intermittent generation sources like wind and solar, Texas policymakers seem to have been caught by surprise by the prolonged blackouts experienced by millions of Texans in February.
They should not have been. While temperatures dropped into the single digits for extended periods over much of Texas, solar and wind generators were largely no-shows on the Texas grid.
While other factors were in play, it was renewables that led Texas into darkness.…