“This seems a little crazy. During these negative price periods, suppliers are paying ERCOT to take their power…. You could … build a giant toaster in West Texas and be paid by generators to operate it.”
Some 15 years ago, Michael Giberson at Knowledge Problem commented on a strange phenomenon–negative pricing by wind power, where operators with very low marginal costs (the wind is free) were paying takers per KWh to gain big tax credits, mostly federal.
Giberson’s analysis (reposted below) identified the malinvestment and ‘big anti-conservation incentive’. But he did not focus on what cumulatively would result from this distortion: a wounded Texas grid from chronic low prices/margins knocking out thermal generation. The unreliables–via government privilege– knocking out the reliables (what Bill Peacock would call predatory pricing).…
Continue Reading“Just the possibility that EPA will enact such sweeping regulations will slow investment in new power generation that all U.S. power grids need. Recent grid warnings about possible outages this summer will likely continue into the winter while potential new-generation projects proceed cautiously.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed new greenhouse gas standards for fossil-fuel-fired power plants. These draconian regulations, part of the Biden Administration’s “all of government” climate policy—which is at odds with affordable, reliable energy—threaten the stability of the U.S. power grid.
The EPA plan is the “nuclear option” of regulations because the agency is not just proposing new regulations designed to meet more stringent clean air standards with fines if the criteria are not met. Instead, EPA seeks to impose unachievable CO2 emissions targets that will shut down existing coal and natural gas power plants and threaten the viability of the nation’s power grids.…
Continue ReadingEd. Note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnighly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete Newsletter for this post can be found here.
Greed Energy Economics:
*** Report: Six Ways Renewables Increase Electricity Bills
Solar Is Getting 302 Times More In Federal Subsidies Than Nuclear
Unreliables (General):
*** The Energy Transition is Social Vandalism
*** The electric grid needs good failure mode analysis
Kansas Republican Party Resolves to Protect Kansans from Unreliable and Foreign-Sourced ‘Renewable’ Wind and Solar Energy
Wind Energy — Offshore:
Environmentalists Seek to Save the Whales from Offshore Wind Energy
Desperate governors beg for offshore wind cost relief
Four NY offshore projects ask for almost 50% price rise
Wind Energy — Other:
*** Taking the Wind Out of Climate Change (referencing 60± studies)
*** Wind Blows
*** Windbaggery: The wind energy sector’s days are numbered
Too cute by half
Turbine graveyards’ sprawled across Texas
Nuclear Energy:
Russia and China Dominating the Race for Nuclear Electricity Generation
Are Small Nuclear Reactors The Answer To Big-Tech’s Energy Crisis?…