Who should manage and be accountable for electricity in Texas? Politicians and bureaucrats with special interests everywhere? Or corporations with their own capital on the line?
In light of the second anniversary of the Texas Power Crisis of February 2021 (see yesterday), the answer would seem obvious. Grade A corporations, with the legal responsibility to customers, not politicians.
I was reminded of this when I read a Fox News story (February 7, 2023), “Texas State Senator Arrested for Drunk Driving.” Charles Schwertner, a Republican, “was set to preside over a Senate committee meeting at 11 a.m. regarding Texas’ power grid and recent winter outages.”
Another news account stated:
…Schwertner, who leads the Senate’s Business and Commerce Committee, was expected at the Capitol at 11 a.m.
“So here is the study that PUCT, FERC, Rice, UT, etc. do not want to do. It is very politically incorrect. Without wind and solar forcing, what would the wholesale margins have been, and how much thermal capacity would there have been? The study could do runs of wind/solar at 90% of the-then level … 75% …. 50% …. 25%.”
This exchange concerns a new University of Texas summary, “Two years after its historic deep freeze, Texas is increasingly vulnerable to cold snaps – and there are more solutions than just building power plants.” My interpretation—and policy recommendations—are exactly opposite of the UTA op-ed (see here), so I responded and was pleased to get some pushback from Professor Webber.
On LinkedIn, Webber wrote: “You might find our latest article to be of interest.…
“Though Martis’s crusade hasn’t been covered much by national media, clean energy advocates say it’s actively hamstringing the fight against climate change in the Midwest. A clean energy executive told HEATED and Distilled that if Martis gets to a community before them, their projects are almost certain to be blocked by the local government. The executive asked for anonymity in fear of being targeted by Martis.” (Heated, below)
“This piece is part of a new round of hits on people like myself who advocate for equitable siting of renewable energy projects. This new assault is being driven by current efforts in the Midwest by the renewable energy lobby to take away local control of wind and solar zoning precisely because it is demonstrably so unpopular and faces an ever-larger backlash.” (Martis, below)
“Meet the man fueling clean energy opposition in the Midwest” by Michael Thomas is the latest from Heated, self-described as “A newsletter for people who are pissed off about the climate crisis.”…