Ed. Note: With the 3rd anniversary of the Great Texas Blackout (February 2021) this week, it is worth revisiting an (egregious?) forecasting error of Houston Chronicle business editorialist Chris Tomlinson. The conflicted journalist (married to a multi-millionaire renewables developer) has continued to posit the false narrative that natural gas failed, not wind, solar, and central planning in the state. This post was originally published at MasterResource.

“Fossil fuel-supporting Chicken Littles have done their best to spread fear of renewable energy, warning that relying on wind, solar and storage would lead to blackouts and economic devastation.” ( – C. Tomlinson)

Three years ago this month, Houston Chronicle business editorialist Chris Tomlinson wrote that no iceberg was ahead for the Texas grid–and concerns about the wind/solar takeover was special-interest drudge. True, the warnings from the free-market community were long in coming–but they turned out true for the right reasons.…

Ed. Note: With the 3rd anniversary of the Great Texas Blackout of February 2021, it is worth remembering the second thoughts that architects of the centrally planned state grid (ISO/ERCOT) had at the time. But have the guilty feelings resulted in a fundamental rethink of government electricity? This post is reprinted from MasterResource (August 5, 2021)

“Arranging deck chairs on the Titanic if no capacity market.” (Joe Pokalsky, here)

“I have stated earlier that the ERCOT market’s reliance on scarcity pricing did not foresee an environment with high penetration of zero-marginal cost resources. Back in 2005 I generically simulated an energy-only market to demonstrate how scarcity pricing would work. I never anticipated the mass introduction of renewables at that time.” ( – Robert Borlick, below)

“(oops!) There is now a need to revise the scarcity pricing framework in the light of recent events, and to reflect ever-changing market conditions.”

Ed. Note: With the 3rd anniversary of the Great Texas Blackout of February 2021, it is worth remembering the second thoughts that architects of the centrally planned state grid (ISO/ERCOT) had at the time. But have the guilty feelings resulted in a fundamental rethink of government electricity? This post is reprinted from MasterResource (May 20, 2021)

“I have to admit, the ERCOT blackouts have shaken me. The amount of physical damage and human suffering they caused is astounding. Obviously, the ‘market’ failed to provide the service reliability that customers expected and deserved.”

– Robert L. Borlick, Independent energy consultant, here

It is tough when your belief system gets rattled by reality. Very few people can handle that well. The best prevention strategy is to keep an open mind, and understand other views about as well as your own.…

“All summed, thermal generation accounted for 66.1 GW (90.8%) and 66.7 GW (86.6%) of systemwide demand during these [conservation alert] periods on Monday and Tuesday. Yet, if one were to read the analyses of many industry analysts/consultants and the media outlets that parrot them, it’s wind and battery assets… like manna from heaven…. that kept the lights on when things got tight.”

Doug Sheridan speaks truth to power. He is one of many “non-experts” who has become expert in climate and energy out of a basic sense of right-and-wrong versus the politically correct narrative.

In a recent post criticizing the mainstream view of wind and solar versus the reliables regarding the avoided blackouts in Texas by ERCOT, he provides “his take.” The entire 480-word post follows:

Having exhausted all efforts to find good-faith analyses by competent power-industry professionals or media experts focused on the condition of the Texas grid at critical points during severe cold spells, we’ve resorted to doing the analyses ourselves.…