A Free-Market Energy Blog

Texas Wind Power: The Beginning (1993)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 18, 2023

“Another factor [for the inaugural project] is a new federal tax credit of 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour on wind power that begins Jan. 1. There was an earlier federal subsidy that fueled the first boom, but it expired in 1985.”

“Wind Farm Awaits State’s Go-Ahead,” read the title of a Houston Chronicle business article (November 18, 1993). The state’s first major wind power project was timed to receive the brand new federal Production Tax Credit enacted in the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (1.5 cent/kWh, inflation-adjusted).

Note the following:

  • This is on government land.
  • A government agency is making the long-term sales commitment.
  • The Production Tax Credit is crucial.
  • The company putting in the turbines would declare bankruptcy in 1996, leaving Enron Wind (formerly Zond Corp) as the major U.S.
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Energy and Environmental Review: July 17, 2023

By -- July 17, 2023

Ed. note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete Newsletter for this post can be found here.

Greed Energy Economics:
*** Gone with the wind: A perfect storm of costs
Wind Industry Blackmails U.K. Demanding Huge Ramp-Up of Subsidies

Unreliables (General):
*** There Is NO Transition
*** Myth: Solar and wind are helping save our grid from extreme heat

Wind Energy — Offshore:
*** Offshore Wind Promoters Paving the Road to Energy Hell
*** The Rising Cost of Offshore Wind
*** Offshore Wind Is Outrageous Spending that Makes Zero Sense
No Texas welcome wagon for offshore wind
Biden 30,000 MW of Offshore Wind by 2030: an Expensive Fantasy
Short video: Wind And Sea – Offshore Wind Documentary
The whale killing study the Feds are afraid to do

Wind Energy — Other:
*** Taking the Wind Out of Climate Change (referencing 60± studies)
Eight Days Straight and Climbing with Meagre Wind Generation

Solar Energy:
*** Report: Solar Panels Are More Carbon-Intensive Than Experts Admit
Large Proposed Upstate NY Solar Project Scrapped

Nuclear Energy:

*** A Critical Disconnect: Relying on Nuclear Energy in Decarbonization Models While Excluding It from Climate Finance Taxonomies
*** Nuclear power capacity is growing globally.

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Tomlinson’s Narrative on the (Wounded) Texas Grid: More Misdirection from the Houston Chronicle

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 13, 2023

“First wind and solar–and now batteries. How can a business editorialist not talk about cost and opportunity cost? Does $65 billion and counting ring a bell? I guess when you are a climate alarmist, economics does not matter.”

“‘Demand response’ is more government intervention to rescue prior. ‘Virtual power plants’ are the ultimate government takeover of the grid. Wound the supply side, load it up with costs, and force demand down.”

In “Natural Gas, Coal and Nuclear Power are Failing the Texas Grid, New Tech is the Future,” Houston Chronicle business editorialist Chris Tomlinson carries the water for Green New Deal/Net Zero interests, including his wife’s business of wind/solar origination. His 750-word piece is a tissue of half-truths and misdirection that only church-going climate alarmists can like.

CHRIS TOMLINSON COMMENTARY

The Texas electric grid’s biggest failures so far this summer are coming from the supposedly most reliable generators: fossil fuels.…

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Woman of System? Lynne Kiesling as Electricity Planner

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 12, 2023
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Free Market Electricity: End the Blackout (Kiesling bobs and weaves)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 11, 2023
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Energy Appliance Victory! (DC Circuit vs. DOE)

By -- July 10, 2023
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Peak Gas: A Forecasting Failure of Henry Groppe Jr.

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 7, 2023
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Solar Farm Opposition: Rejoinder to Giberson (2)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 6, 2023
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Air Conditioning: Thank You Fossil Fuels

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 5, 2023
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Happy 4th: Driving, Grilling, Fireworks

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 4, 2023
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