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Texas sets single-day wind power record

blogs.scientificamerican.com

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Re: Texas sets single-day wind power record

#31

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7
Cshelton wrote: post #4

For those who do not know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Interconnection Texas is the only state that has it's own power grid, owned by the state. The stuff they are working on right now, including massive distributed battery systems, solar, more wind, etc. will be the one of the most advanced renewable systems in the world given the amount of power and consumption. It's awesome to see how as 'relatively' small…

I'm actually both shocked and surprised how quickly Texas is transitioning to renewables with their, ahem, political climate, but happy nonetheless! Warren Buffet should be ashamed of Berkshire Hathaway's role in strongarming the PUC in Nevada in NV Energy's favor.

Warren Buffet should be ashamed of Berkshire Hathaway's role in a lot of things.

Re: Texas sets single-day wind power record

#32

Post by WalterBright »

nawitus wrote: post #2

Not strictly related to wind power in Texas, but reminded me how at the same time in Finland a few authorities recommended consumers to actually limit their use of eletricity "for the common good". The main cause was increase in wind power capacity in the last few years (as there was practically no wind that day), coupled with very low temperatures and problems with buying electricity from Russia. It's kinda scary ho…

The right way to do deal with this is to have variable, minute by minute pricing. Fixed prices don't make much sense when the supply varies dramatically.

Re: Texas sets single-day wind power record

#33

Post by dtornabene »

sremani wrote: post #14
dtornabene wrote: post #6

You can actually see it. Driving country (state) highways, from ,say, just west of Ft Worth, up to the border, hundreds of turbines. There's also a factory in between Ft Worth and Denton where, I believe, some pieces of the turbines are built and (I know) the larger section of the turbines are assembled. It makes sense as well, especially to the west, where wind is a near constant and there is nothing . Scrub from th…

That is one of the reasons why Facebook Data Center is in Ft.Worth, easier access to Wind power.

Didn't know that and I tend to follow these things pretty close. Born and partially raised in DFW. Thanks for the reply.

Re: Texas sets single-day wind power record

#34

Post by kaybe »

nawitus wrote: post #2

Not strictly related to wind power in Texas, but reminded me how at the same time in Finland a few authorities recommended consumers to actually limit their use of eletricity "for the common good". The main cause was increase in wind power capacity in the last few years (as there was practically no wind that day), coupled with very low temperatures and problems with buying electricity from Russia. It's kinda scary ho…

I find it interesting how big of a no-go that idea still is. Countries seem to be prepared to pay a very high price instead.

Re: Texas sets single-day wind power record

#35

Post by bane »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7
Cshelton wrote: post #4

For those who do not know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Interconnection Texas is the only state that has it's own power grid, owned by the state. The stuff they are working on right now, including massive distributed battery systems, solar, more wind, etc. will be the one of the most advanced renewable systems in the world given the amount of power and consumption. It's awesome to see how as 'relatively' small…

I'm actually both shocked and surprised how quickly Texas is transitioning to renewables with their, ahem, political climate, but happy nonetheless! Warren Buffet should be ashamed of Berkshire Hathaway's role in strongarming the PUC in Nevada in NV Energy's favor.

Texas is a great example of what happens in an almost uncontrolled free market. With renewables becoming far cheaper, it makes sense that markets that work off basic free market economics will adopt them. Texas is pragmatic that way and often provides a very simple model for what it takes to get things adopted without strong regulations forcing the matter.

It's a weird state only insomuch that it isn't like everywhere else and is still fairly successful as a territory.

Re: Texas sets single-day wind power record

#36

Post by vaadu »

GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #30
skaevola wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're wrong http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/upshot/surprise-florida... Don't worry about the political climate too much though. Plenty of Californians are moving here, many intent on advocating for the same policies here that caused them to flee their state in the first place.

From the first paragraph of the article: "When the Education Department releases its biennial scorecard of reading and math scores for all 50 states this week, Florida and Texas are likely to look pretty mediocre. In 2013, the last time that scores were released, Florida ranked 30th on the tests, which are given to fourth and eighth graders, and Texas ranked 32nd." And: > Plenty of Californians are moving here, many…

These refugees from bankrupted states are locusts that destroy the prosperity in one state, then move on to other prosperous states.

Re: Texas sets single-day wind power record

#37

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast »

vaadu wrote: post #36
GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the first paragraph of the article: "When the Education Department releases its biennial scorecard of reading and math scores for all 50 states this week, Florida and Texas are likely to look pretty mediocre. In 2013, the last time that scores were released, Florida ranked 30th on the tests, which are given to fourth and eighth graders, and Texas ranked 32nd." And: > Plenty of Californians are moving here, many…

These refugees from bankrupted states are locusts that destroy the prosperity in one state, then move on to other prosperous states.

(a) I'm not totally comfortable referring to anybody, even Californians, as insects (b) California contains "Silicon Valley" into which there's a ton of prosperity being put (c) even Orange County is less morally bankrupt than almost all of Texas.

Re: Texas sets single-day wind power record

#38

Post by barney54 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7
Cshelton wrote: post #4

For those who do not know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Interconnection Texas is the only state that has it's own power grid, owned by the state. The stuff they are working on right now, including massive distributed battery systems, solar, more wind, etc. will be the one of the most advanced renewable systems in the world given the amount of power and consumption. It's awesome to see how as 'relatively' small…

I'm actually both shocked and surprised how quickly Texas is transitioning to renewables with their, ahem, political climate, but happy nonetheless! Warren Buffet should be ashamed of Berkshire Hathaway's role in strongarming the PUC in Nevada in NV Energy's favor.

Why should ratepayers subsidize people who put solar panels on their homes? What is wrong with paying people the wholesale rate for the electricity they generate?

Re: Texas sets single-day wind power record

#39

Post by barney54 »

g8oz wrote: post #26
just_anengineer wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has nothing to do with Texas being forward thinking, but more with the huge subsidies dealing with wind power in the US. Private companies are building turbines and farms all over as Washington is fronting much of the bill for awhile. This is all about profit. It just so happens we get something good out of it, and yes ERCOT has some great engineers.

It's not so much Washington fronting the bill as making an investment. And the cumulative effect of those investments globally is working. LCOE of wind is now $83/megawatt hour compared to $82 for natural gas(1). 1 - http://fortune.com/2015/10/06/wind-cheap-coal-gas/

You have to be careful comparing the cost of wind to the cost of nat gas and other reliable sources of generation. You can't count on wind. That makes it much less valuable than natural gas. But don't take my word for it, here is the Energy Information Adminstration making that point. https://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/electricity_generation.cfm

This wind build out really is driven by subsidies such as the wind production tax credit. The credit is large enough that wind producers can pay the electric grid to take their electricity and still make money.

Re: Texas sets single-day wind power record

#40

Post by barney54 »

mikeash wrote: post #9
nawitus wrote: post #2

Not strictly related to wind power in Texas, but reminded me how at the same time in Finland a few authorities recommended consumers to actually limit their use of eletricity "for the common good". The main cause was increase in wind power capacity in the last few years (as there was practically no wind that day), coupled with very low temperatures and problems with buying electricity from Russia. It's kinda scary ho…

It amazes me how well the stuff works most of the time, considering that it's a ridiculously just-in-time system where production must match consumption on a second-by-second basis. No other industry is like this. I think we badly need good storage solutions to decouple the two sides.

The lack of storage isn't a problem when you are using reliable sources of generation such as nukes, coal, nat gas, and hydro. He problem is integrating wind and solar into a system that is designed for reliable generation.
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