{"id":264332,"date":"2023-06-28T13:22:12","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T11:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=264332"},"modified":"2023-06-28T13:22:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T11:22:15","slug":"wind-fails-texas-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=264332","title":{"rendered":"Wind Fails Texas Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Master<\/strong>Resource<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0<\/em>Bill Peacock<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTexas problem with wind and solar generation has been growing for years.\u00a0<\/em>In 2022<\/a>, wind farms generated 25% of the electricity used in ERCOT. Solar farms generated 5.65%. Ten years earlier, wind\u2019s market share\u00a0was 12.25% and solar\u2019s 0.03%.\u00a0This has placed a great strain on the grid because neither of these generation sources can be counted on when needed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Source: Reuters<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reuters recently ran a story<\/a> highlighting wind generation\u2019s failure through the early months of 2023:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The Texas power grid operator urged homes and businesses to conserve electricity on Tuesday as the first major heat wave of the season spurs residents to crank power-hungry air conditioners. Power prices for Tuesday topped $2,500 per megawatt hour (MWh) in the state\u2019s day-ahead market on expectations that demand would reach record levels later in the day, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the heavy demand for cooling, the Texas grid is also under strain from a recent dip in power generation from wind sources, which if sustained may deprive the ERCOT system of a key source of clean power when it is needed most. Wind power is Texas\u2019 second largest source of electricity behind natural gas, so any prolonged drop in wind generation may leave the ERCOT system under strain just as the peak demand season kicks off.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Reuter\u2019s columnist Gavin Maguire continues<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In May, the total amount of wind power generated in the ERCOT system was just under 310,000 megawatts (MW), which is down 40% from the nearly 520,000 MW generated in May 2022\u2026. In the first 19 days of June, around 185,000 MW of wind power was generated, which is down 45% from the 336,000 MW generated in the same period in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A look at a recent day confirms the problems with wind generation. Wind peaked at 15,131 MW at 1:19 a.m. on Wednesday, June 21, and dropped throughout most of the rest of the day. When Austin temperatures peaked at 102 degrees around noon, wind generation was down to 7,016 MW on its way toward\u00a0its low of 5,947 at 2:09 p.m. It did not reach 15,000+ MW again until 7:44, when the temperature in Austin had dropped to 73 degrees.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Source: ERCOT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Texas\u2019s problem with wind and solar generation has been growing for years. In 2022<\/a>, wind farms generated 25% of the electricity used in ERCOT. Solar farms generated 5.65%. Ten years earlier, wind\u2019s market share was 12.25% and solar\u2019s 0.03%. This has placed a great strain on the grid because neither of these generation sources can be counted on when needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wind\u2019s market share is far higher in temperate months than in the hot summer months\u00a0 or the cold winter months when loads are heavy and generation is needed. In March, April, May, October, and November, wind\u2019s market share is 31.7%. In the winter months of December, January, and February, wind\u2019s market share drops to 25.7%. In the summer\u00a0months of June, July, August, and September, wind\u2019s market share plummets to 18.1%.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Source: ERCOT<\/strong>; Author\u2019s Calculations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solar has been proclaimed to be the savior of the electric grid because it tends to generate more electricity when it is the hottest. While that is sometimes the case, Texas has already experienced scenarios when solar failed to produce because clouds covered solar panels in West Texas while the rest of Texas was simmering in the summer heat. In addition, as expected solar generation drops precipitously during the winter. Its market share in December is almost half of what it is in June and July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reuter\u2019s claims that more wind capacity will solve wind\u2019s intermittency problem:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

A rebound in wind generation levels due to new capacity and greater wind speeds will provide a major boost to ERCOT resilience and may enable the Texas grid to avert any further power scares from upcoming heat waves.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It is unclear why Reuter\u2019s believes that wind speeds will magically pick up in the future and solve wind generation\u2019s problems\u2013perhaps this is the result of global warming? In any case, more wind capacity will exacerbate the problem of wind\u2019s intermittency. The simple truth is that the more Texas relies on wind generation, the less reliable the Texas electric grid will be; the more Texans need electricity to protect themselves from weather extremes and keep their lights on the less electricity wind and solar will provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One last thing. Beyond the problems of intermittency and unreliability, wind and solar generation is vastly more expensive than natural gas, coal, and nuclear generation. The 2023 cost in Texas of renewable subsidies and protecting the grid from renewables will exceed $2.7 billion (it was 2.04 billion in 2021<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Texas Legislature this session did nothing to address Texas\u2019 decades long support of wind and solar through subsidies and benefits. Instead, it doubled down on subsidies by authorizing $8.9 billion of subsidies and loans to traditional thermal generation<\/a>. But Texas, or more accurately, Texas taxpayers, can\u2019t buy their way out of the problems caused by renewables. The only way out is to end subsidies for all generators and let market participants use market prices to figure out what energy sources best meet our needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One last thing. Beyond the problems of intermittency and unreliability, wind and solar generation is vastly more expensive than natural gas, coal, and nuclear generation. The 2023 cost in Texas of renewable subsidies and protecting the grid from renewables will exceed $2.7 billion (it was 2.04 billion in 2021).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":264343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818090,691818130,691819505,691818299,691818180],"class_list":{"0":"post-264332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-warning","9":"tag-renewables","10":"tag-solar-farms","11":"tag-subsidies","12":"tag-wind-farms","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/059a9b0876eac401b008b7f18.webp?fit=2400%2C1800&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-16Lq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":278560,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=278560","url_meta":{"origin":264332,"position":0},"title":"Energy Emergency Alert! ERCOT\u2019s Close Call of September 6 (Part 2)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"13\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The trouble with wind and solar became readily apparent as 7 o\u2019clock and 8 o\u2019clock come around. At the critical time of 7:25 p.m.\u2014when ERCOT issued its Energy Emergency Alert 2, solar generation had plummeted to 11.6 percent of expected summer capacity\u2014down from 86.9 percent just over two hours before.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)\"","block_context":{"text":"Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=electric-reliability-council-of-texas-ercot"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0rawImage.jpg?fit=1200%2C631&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":224397,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=224397","url_meta":{"origin":264332,"position":1},"title":"Lone Stars: Texans Count Colossal Cost of Wind & Solar \u2018Transition\u2019","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Crushing power costs and power rationing follow wind and solar reliance, like night follows day. Texas is no exception.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-859.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-859.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-859.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-859.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-859.png?fit=1200%2C801&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":270951,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=270951","url_meta":{"origin":264332,"position":2},"title":"Chaotic Wind Power Output Leaves Power-Starved Texans Praying To Wind\u00a0Gods","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/08\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Then came self-serving, rent-seeking crony capitalists \u2013 backed by an ideologically driven cult \u2013 who hijacked energy policy, returning us to an age of superstition and wishful thinking.","rel":"","context":"In \"Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)\"","block_context":{"text":"Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=electric-reliability-council-of-texas-ercot"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0shutterstock_495170521-1.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0shutterstock_495170521-1.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0shutterstock_495170521-1.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0shutterstock_495170521-1.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/0shutterstock_495170521-1.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":218860,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=218860","url_meta":{"origin":264332,"position":3},"title":"Texas Grid Reliability: Gone with the Wind (and solar)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"14\/09\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Texans can have an ample supply of reliable and affordable electricity if our politicians will get out of the way and let the Texas energy market do its job.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/image-714.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/image-714.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/image-714.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/image-714.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/image-714.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":365675,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=365675","url_meta":{"origin":264332,"position":4},"title":"Wind, Solar, Batteries: The High Cost of Duplicative Energy","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/02\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By the 1800s, wind and solar were both mature and successful technologies. Yet as soon as Western society developed the wealth and technology to take advantage of fossil fuels, they were discarded\u2014along with batteries for electric cars\u2014with no place in the modern world for grid-scale generation of electricity.\u00a0\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In \"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)\"","block_context":{"text":"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-dioxide-co%e2%82%82"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0new-sodium-aluminum-ba.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0new-sodium-aluminum-ba.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0new-sodium-aluminum-ba.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0new-sodium-aluminum-ba.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0new-sodium-aluminum-ba.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":211778,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=211778","url_meta":{"origin":264332,"position":5},"title":"Excusing Wind in Texas? (ICN in spin mode)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/08\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Robert Bradley Jr.\u00a0 \u201cOn Monday, wind was functioning at 8 percent, which is not unheard of,\u201d so it was weird to be called out in the press release, because it\u2019s something that we know happens so we should be ready for that sort of thing.\u201d \u2013 Joshua Rhodes, Webber\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0Wind_Solar_24956215852_5ca6c01d93_o_AquaMechanicalFlickr.jpg?fit=1200%2C884&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0Wind_Solar_24956215852_5ca6c01d93_o_AquaMechanicalFlickr.jpg?fit=1200%2C884&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0Wind_Solar_24956215852_5ca6c01d93_o_AquaMechanicalFlickr.jpg?fit=1200%2C884&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0Wind_Solar_24956215852_5ca6c01d93_o_AquaMechanicalFlickr.jpg?fit=1200%2C884&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0Wind_Solar_24956215852_5ca6c01d93_o_AquaMechanicalFlickr.jpg?fit=1200%2C884&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=264332"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264347,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264332\/revisions\/264347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/264343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=264332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=264332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=264332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}