Texas Is Too Windy and Sunny for Old Energy Companies to Make Money
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Re: Texas Is Too Windy and Sunny for Old Energy Companies to Make Money
#2It appears we're at the inflection point where even natural gas (in addition to coal) is getting pushed out of the generation mix. Good! About time.
This may require paying natural gas generators for their ability to quickly throttle to back renewables, but only as a temporary measure until utility scale batteries fall in cost.
Re: Texas Is Too Windy and Sunny for Old Energy Companies to Make Money
#3It appears we're at the inflection point where even natural gas (in addition to coal) is getting pushed out of the generation mix. Good! About time. This may require paying natural gas generators for their ability to quickly throttle to back renewables, but only as a temporary measure until utility scale batteries fall in cost.
Natural gas energy can be transported much more easily than solar or wind. As more export capacity comes online in the US I would expect natural gas projects in the US to continue apace even if domestic consumption stays flat or declines.
Re: Texas Is Too Windy and Sunny for Old Energy Companies to Make Money
#4It appears we're at the inflection point where even natural gas (in addition to coal) is getting pushed out of the generation mix. Good! About time. This may require paying natural gas generators for their ability to quickly throttle to back renewables, but only as a temporary measure until utility scale batteries fall in cost.
Natural gas energy can be transported much more easily than solar or wind. As more export capacity comes online in the US I would expect natural gas projects in the US to continue apace even if domestic consumption stays flat or declines.
There are multiple transmission line projects in progress in the US to drag wind energy to major load centers. Solar can be produced anywhere of course.
Natgas exports may increase, but it appears everyone is getting off of fossil asap.
You cannot compete against an energy source with no fuel cost.
Re: Texas Is Too Windy and Sunny for Old Energy Companies to Make Money
#5Earlier quoted context omitted.
Natural gas energy can be transported much more easily than solar or wind. As more export capacity comes online in the US I would expect natural gas projects in the US to continue apace even if domestic consumption stays flat or declines.
There are multiple transmission line projects in progress in the US to drag wind energy to major load centers. Solar can be produced anywhere of course. Natgas exports may increase, but it appears everyone is getting off of fossil asap. You cannot compete against an energy source with no fuel cost.
> Solar can be produced anywhere of course.
I take issue with "of course". It will be always be wildly more economic to produce solar power in places with a lot of sun. And without checking, my ballpark guess would be that you get at least 10 times more solar energy out of a panel in Texas than a panel in, say, Canada. Our eyes are just so good at adapting to different light levels that we don't notice the different energy densities that much.
Re: Texas Is Too Windy and Sunny for Old Energy Companies to Make Money
#6It's surprising that this is allowed to happen by the Texas GOP lege. I would have expected them to either outlaw outright or severely hamper wind farms and other renewable energy business in favor of their big oil benefactors. The resulting screwing of the energy consumers is, as always, an extra benefit.
Re: Texas Is Too Windy and Sunny for Old Energy Companies to Make Money
#7It appears we're at the inflection point where even natural gas (in addition to coal) is getting pushed out of the generation mix. Good! About time. This may require paying natural gas generators for their ability to quickly throttle to back renewables, but only as a temporary measure until utility scale batteries fall in cost.
Natural gas energy can be transported much more easily than solar or wind. As more export capacity comes online in the US I would expect natural gas projects in the US to continue apace even if domestic consumption stays flat or declines.
Isn't this exactly what the Paris Climate Accord was for?
Re: Texas Is Too Windy and Sunny for Old Energy Companies to Make Money
#8It's surprising that this is allowed to happen by the Texas GOP lege. I would have expected them to either outlaw outright or severely hamper wind farms and other renewable energy business in favor of their big oil benefactors. The resulting screwing of the energy consumers is, as always, an extra benefit.
The idea of energy independence is a thing, or can be. Texas has its own grid and prefers to be an energy independent state.
People don't have to be motivated to save the planet to contribute to the overall sustainability.
Re: Texas Is Too Windy and Sunny for Old Energy Companies to Make Money
#9It's surprising that this is allowed to happen by the Texas GOP lege. I would have expected them to either outlaw outright or severely hamper wind farms and other renewable energy business in favor of their big oil benefactors. The resulting screwing of the energy consumers is, as always, an extra benefit.
i forget which states have started to charge people for using solar panels
Re: Texas Is Too Windy and Sunny for Old Energy Companies to Make Money
#10I wonder what the economics would be without the federal tax incentives for wind and solar. Does anyone know?
EDIT: Someone above provided a link that provides the figure I was looking for:
"Between 2010 and 2016, subsidies for solar were between 10¢ and 88¢ per kWh and subsidies for wind were between 1.3¢ and 5.7¢ per kWh. Subsidies for coal, natural gas and nuclear are all between 0.05¢ and 0.2¢ per kWh over all years." [1]
I wonder how much of a subsidy there is for LED lighting. A lot of energy goes for incandescent lighting.
Also, there should be a lot of subsidies to replace heaters in building burning #6 and #4 fuel oil which is very, very dirty and pollution (NYC where I live banned #6 a few years ago but #4 is allowed to persist until 2030 I think).
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2017/05/30/why-do-fe...