ERCOT issues second conservation notice this week, calling on Texans to conserve power
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/busines...n=twittermoment
Shelby Webb, Staff Writer
July 13, 2022
Updated: July 13, 2022 2:15 p.m.


System operators work in the command center of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas in Taylor. About 90 percent of Texas' electric load is managed by ERCOT.

Texas' grid manager issued a conservation notice Wednesday afternoon, calling on Texans to conserve power between the hours of 2 and 9 p.m.

It marks the second time this week ERCOT has called for people to use less power than normal. In an interview Tuesday, ERCOT interim CEO Brad Jones said the agency has started to call for conservation earlier to help the grid avoid emergency conditions. In the past, he said, conservation notices were only used once emergency conditions had already been reached.

THE LATEST: ERCOT didn't think the Texas summer would be as hot as it actually is, says interim CEO

"When we call for it, I want Texans understand: That’s not because we’re going into rolling outages. That’s because we want to stay far enough away from a rolling outage scenario that we’re asking for it early," he said.

OUTAGES: Amid high power demand, track where Texas' worst power outages are happening

A forecast graph on ERCOT's website showed the potential for demand to outstrip supply beginning around 2 p.m. However, the same graph has showed similar trends several times this summer, without demand ever actually getting ahead of supply.-- excerpt, rest at link above --

Fix The Texas Electrical Grid By Ditching Those Who Created The Problem – The Feds
https://tnm.me/news/political/fix-the-te...6&mc_eid=UNIQID
July 14, 2022
Political
TNM Staff


With Texans being asked to conserve electricity during the extreme heat, it is important to remember that the ultimate blame for this situation is our continued relationship with the federal government.

Nobody has forgotten the power outages of this winter, when 4.4 million Texans had no power in their homes in the middle of an unprecedented Arctic storm. Here we are now dealing with power issues related to a run of overly hot days.

This winter, the problem was a shortfall of supply, a consequence of Texas’ reliance on windmills which, on the night of February 15th, were generating power at 2% capacity due to frozen turbines—ironic, since we are told they are necessary to fight global warming.

This summer, the problem is exceptional demand due to long runs of widespread 100-degree heat throughout the state. How could this happen in the most energy-rich State in the Union? The answer boils down to record-breaking power demand combined with a severely diminished power supply.

Market-distorting federal subsidies are responsible for Texas’ reliance on unreliable wind, which now accounts for one-fifth of power generation in the State. The reliance on wind power has caused a corresponding decline of natural gas power, which now accounts for only 47% of power generation in Texas, despite the great abundance of cheap natural gas in the Permian. Wind-generated power receives substantial federal aid in two broad categories: Production Tax Credits (PTCs) and direct expenditures. PTCs are tax credits allocated to each Megawatt-hour (MWh) produced; and wind gets double the PTC compared to what other renewable sources get. From 2010 to 2019, federal tax credits for wind amounted to $21.76 billion, while direct expenditures amounted to $14.05 billion. During this same period, total federal subsidies for wind translated to $18.86 per MWh produced. Compare this figure to the average market value of wind-generated energy sold on the ERCOT grid in 2018: $18.00 per MWh. This means that more federal money is given to wind companies than the market value of the power they are producing!

Wind power is a waste that lines the pockets of crony capitalists and virtue-signaling politicians at the expense of taxpayers. Apart from being unviable in the absence of government support, the environmental credentials of wind are terrible. In 2013, when wind capacity was half of what it is now, biologist K. Shaw Smallwood estimated that windmills kill around 570,000 birds, including 83,000 raptors, each year in the U.S. By extrapolation, windmills are now killing about 166,000 raptors per year, including bald eagles. Strangely, the Fish and Wildlife Service refuses to enforce the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act on windmill owners.

Despite the problems with wind, the U.S. government will continue to throw taxpayers’ money at it. Over the course of the next decade, federal wind subsidies are expected to total $33.75 billion. As long as federal wind subsidies in Texas continue, unreliable wind will continue to out-compete reliable fossil fuels and force them out of the power-generating business.-- excerpt, rest at link above --

Study: Unreliable Energy is Destabilizing Texas Power Grid

“The greatest danger that the Texas grid faces now is the political establishment’s unwillingness to challenge the push for subsidies by generators and the renewable energy industry.”

Sydnie Henry | July 14, 2022

https://texasscorecard.com/state/study-unreliable-energy-is-destabilizing-texas-power-grid/

As Texans were once again warned to conserve electricity this week, The Energy Alliance released a new study detailing the “decline and fall of reliability, affordability, and competition in ERCOT.”

The Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) oversees the state power grid and is responsible for providing power to more than 26 million Texans.

Since the advent of the “environmentally friendly” renewable energy industry, millions of dollars in taxpayer money have been poured into subsidies for green energy—which cannot compete in a free market without those subsidies.

Meanwhile, as the Texas grid relies more on renewable energy—up to 25 percent of the grid capacity—the reliability of the grid becomes shakier, especially as severe weather events impact those renewable energy sources like solar panels and wind turbines.

“The greatest danger that the Texas grid faces now is the political establishment’s continued unwillingness to challenge the environmental left’s and energy industry’s push for subsidies,” said Bill Peacock, policy director for The Energy Alliance.

Indeed, as wind turbines froze during the February 2021 winter storm, Texans faced rolling blackouts, with some Texans dying in their homes.

“Though regulators at the PUC [Public Utility Commission], grid managers at ERCOT, and advocates for renewable energy must share some of the blame for what has happened to the Texas grid over the years, the ultimate responsibility for the collapse of the grid in ERCOT rests with Texas’ Legislature, governor, lieutenant governor, and House speaker,” said Peacock.

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For years they have supported giving billions of taxpayer and consumer money to corporations with multi-billion market caps while being unwilling to take on renewable energy.

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However, Peacock says “all Texas has to do is let the market work,” and reliability, affordability, and competition could be restored.

Logistically, this would look like eliminating state and local renewable energy subsidies, rejecting the establishment of a minimum reserve requirement, and requiring renewable generators pay their own costs.

-- excerpt, rest at link above --


The last point above is exactly what you mentioned above.... @Isailedaway