Ed. note: The current cold snap (“where is global warming when you need it?”) makes timely a review of the Texas electricity debacle of February 2021. This post by Robert Bradley, “Wind, Solar, and the Great Texas Blackout: Guilty as Charged,” was originally published by the Institute for Energy Research. As of 5 pm yesterday, natural gas and coal supplied about 75 percent of Texas’s electricity (ERCOT scoreboard) and wind/solar 17 percent (versus 50 percent of rated capacity).
“Central planning for a forced energy transformation produced the debacle of debacles two years ago in Texas. It is time for a new era for U.S. electricity policy premised on market entrepreneurship.”
Electricity specialists at the University of Texas at Austin recently revisited the Great Texas Blackout of February 2021.…
“Will Rebecca F. Eliott dare investigate the other side of her favored arguments and dare again, alter her perspective? Will her readers and the New York Times allow her to do so? The times are a changing….”
An article in the New York Times last month on Harold Hamm was in the long tradition of Big Oil, Big Politics, Big Corruption. “The Oilman Who Pushed Trump to Go All In on Fossil Fuels” (December 12, 2025) was authored by Eric Lipton and Rebecca F. Eliott.
Eliott’s bio is titled “I cover energy for The New York Times” and reads in part:
…“Many of my stories explore how energy shapes — and is shaped by — politics and economic policy…. I joined The Times in 2024 from The Wall Street Journal [and] … The Houston Chronicle…..”
“Having achieved our goals, the Alliance believes it is appropriate to sunset the organization and promote Ultra Low Carbon Solar through other channels as we proudly cheer the continued expansion of sustainable low carbon solar manufacturing.”
Don’t sugar coat. The political bubble of solar is losing air, and firms and trade groups are disbanding (see here, here, here, and here). Rooftop solar firms are in disarray with bankruptcies and now law firms helping thousands of customers get out of their long-term solar contracts. (See Appendix A below for a list of solar bankruptcies.)
The latest came from Michael Parr, executive director of ULCSA. who wrote on New Year’s day:
…The Ultra Low Carbon Solar Alliance was formed five years ago with a simple but profound mission: education.