Electricity Planning Quagmire: Marginal Cost Pricing & Renewables

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 1, 2021 No Comments

So even though renewables can provide a benefit in lowering the overall clearing price for energy, there will come a point – if we have not already reached it – where there will be so many wind and solar resources bidding into the RTO markets that marginal clearing prices no longer benefit customers … [by making] dispatchable-on-demand generation resources needed for system reliability unable to survive economically. (Bernard McNamee, below)

A recent article at RealClear Energy by former FERC commissioner Bernard McNamee, “Why Marginal Pricing in Wholesale Electric Markets May Need Reform” (June 20, 2021) recognizes a problem with regulated pricing that results in a very inconvenient truth: renewable energy has blown up the neoclassical planning model for electricity in the Texas ISO (Independent System Operator). And it is hurting reliable generation in the RTO (Regional Transmission Organization) regions as we speak.…

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Vietnam at the Energy Crossroads: Will it Choose the Best Way Forward?

By Vijay Jayaraj -- June 30, 2021 No Comments

Ed. Note: Mr. Jayaraj (below) continues his series on the energy situations of various countries and regions far removed from the U.S. (China, India, Japan, the Far East generally, the Middle East, Africa, Nigeria, The common denominator is the bedrock of oil, natural gas, and coal for affordability and reliability, with wind and solar investment being an appendage by government policy to appease climate activists.

The power demand in the country grew by 10 percent each year during the last one decade. Coal played a central role…. For Vietnam to surge ahead and sustain the hard-earned growth of the past decade, it must unequivocally support the growth and expansion of the fossil fuel sector, especially coal. (below)

“Vietnam” evokes an infamous place in history as a war zone.…

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‘Ecocide’: The Climate Church Wants to Imprison Nonbelievers

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 28, 2021 4 Comments

“At the close of World War II, when Soviet and Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Dachau…. a new word—genocide—was needed to describe it…. Another crime of similar magnitude is now at large in the world…. That crime is called ecocide.” (Inside Climate News)

“… climate authoritarianism is a dangerous fringe movement that must be exposed for its means and ends. Climate policy, not physical climate change, is the real risk and threat for better human living now and into the deep future.” (Author: below)

The Climate Church of deep ecology has its hell-on-earth for nonbelievers–prison, and by insinuation, death sentencing. The crime is ecocide.

Enter Inside Climate News, a far-left climate website that features “the campaign to make ‘ecocide’ an international crime.”…

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The Institute for Energy Research: Formation and Early History

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 24, 2021 No Comments

Ed. note: This two-part series addresses repeated media errors about the role of Charles Koch in the formation of the Institute for Energy Research (IER) in 1989. Part I yesterday covered the history of the Institute for Humane Studies–Texas, the forerunner to IER. Part II below reviews the formation and early history of IER, then based in Houston, Texas.

Q1. Roger Donway: First, briefly summarize the major point of Part I yesterday on the founding of the Institute for Humane Studies–Texas (IHS–Texas), the predecessor to the Institute for Energy Research (IER).

A1. Robert Bradley Jr.: IHS–Texas was a classical liberal organization focused on education, with Greg Rehmke focused on high school debate and the both of us on summer seminars for business people. Energy was part of it to the extent that I lectured, given my specialization, on oil and gas history and related public policy.

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Looters, Moochers, Parasites: ‘Green’ Energy (Remembering Ayn Rand)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 21, 2021 6 Comments Continue Reading

Renewables, renewables … a Texas-sized Truth Creeping In

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 16, 2021 5 Comments Continue Reading

Texas Legislature Ignores Renewables in Grid Reform: More Problems Ahead (Peacock Interview)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 15, 2021 3 Comments Continue Reading

Wind Turbines and Birds: Latest from the American Bird Conservancy

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 14, 2021 No Comments Continue Reading

PUCT Leaders in Denial: Erasing Renewables from Blackout Causality

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 10, 2021 1 Comment Continue Reading

“Environmental Racism” as Second-class Energy (E&E News article)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 9, 2021 1 Comment Continue Reading