A Free-Market Energy Blog

Texas Windpower: Will Negative Pricing Blow Out the Lights? (PTC vs. reliable new capacity)

By Josiah Neeley -- February 17, 2021

Ed. note: This post, originally published at MasterResource in November 2012, is reposted verbatim for its relevancy now that wind power has two seasons of questionable output: freezing winter as well as stagnant summer. (Two updates are provided in brackets at the end of the article.) The ‘seen’ today is the frozen wind turbine; the ‘unseen’ is the gist of the post below: phantom fossil-fired generation capacity given the ruined economics from unfair competition.

“It is well known that Texas is undergoing a major challenge in maintaining resource adequacy due to improper price signals; less well known is that a significant portion of the problem can be laid directly on the doorstep of subsidies for wind generation.”

The federal Production Tax Credit (PTC), which currently provides a $0.022/kWh subsidy to qualifying renewables, is set to expire at year-end.…

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The UK Energy Shortages of Winter 1946–47 (planned chaos w/o prices and profits)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 16, 2021

For the future Rolling Stone Bill Wyman, growing up in Penge, South London, the atrocious weather meant that his bricklayer father was laid off work and no money came in. “There wasn’t enough food to go round, so he’d hit a couple of us, send us to bed without any dinner,” one of Bill’s brothers recalled. ‘Get to bed, don’t argue!’”

The rationing coupons that still had to be presented for everything from eggs to pieces of scraggy Argentine meat, from petrol to bed linen and “economy” suits, seemed far more squalid and unjust than during the war.

It’s a winter snow/ice emergency across Texas, where the state’s electricity planners have failed millions of consumers, particularly in energy-capital Houston.

Amid the frozen wind turbines and disincentives to reliable, baseload generation (coal in particular), our prosperity will pull us through.…

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President’s Day: Best and Worst, Energy-wise

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 15, 2021

“There are far too few heroes and far too many failures in the history of presidential energy politics.”

Who can claim to be a true energy President from a pro-consumer, pro-taxpayer, pro-free-market perspective?

Which U.S. heads qualify for an anti-energy label for violating economics 101–and endangering the health and welfare of all of us who rely on the MasterResource?

Of the 30 or so candidates in the Lincoln-to-Biden era (the first commercial oil well dates from 1859), just a few names compete for the best, while many more vie for the worst.

Two Best: Trump and Reagan

The best two from a classical liberal perspective are Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan. A third candidate just does not come to mind, certainly in the modern energy era.…

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Gas Furnaces vs. DOE’s EERE (Trump trumps Obama, but Biden is Next)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 11, 2021
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Manchin Ups the Ante on Keystone XL (bipartisan opposition to climate symbolism)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 10, 2021
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U.S. Offshore Wind: Problems Aplenty

By Sherri Lange -- February 9, 2021
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Clean Energy, Energy Conservation, ‘Planetary Destiny’: Richard Nixon 1972

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 8, 2021
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Judith Curry Interview (Part II: Public Policy)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 4, 2021
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Judith Curry Interview (Part I: Climate Science)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 3, 2021
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Judith Curry as ‘Climate Heretic’ (Remembering the debate in 2010)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 2, 2021
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