{"id":381897,"date":"2025-06-07T12:11:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T10:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=381897"},"modified":"2025-06-07T12:11:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T10:11:29","slug":"texas-renewable-cronyism-continues-sheridan-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=381897","title":{"rendered":"Texas Renewable Cronyism Continues (Sheridan summary)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

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

\n

\u201cAn unlikely coalition of renewables groups, manufacturers and oil & gas companies opposed the bills. \u2018It might as well have been the ~Lobby Employment Act of 2025~ based on the number of lobbyists hired to fight it,\u2019 wrote state representative Jared Patterson.\u201d (Sheridan, below)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Doug Sheridan<\/a> is a noted analyst of the climate\/energy realism school. With more than 40,000 social media followers, he corrects the bias of the mainstream media in real time. Little surprise that his influence dwarfs that of many prominent \u2018magical thinking\u2019 energy pundits, part of a very promising global rethink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheridan\u2019s latest analysis concerns the failure of the Texas legislature to cool the jets of uneconomic, destructive wind, solar, and batteries in the Lone Star State. But how did Texas, of all states, end up where it is today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strange case of Texas and renewable energies is a case study of concentrated benefits, diffused costs<\/em>. Robert Kelly<\/a> at Enron, with the full support of CEO Ken Lay, put Enron into the solar (1995) and wind (1997) businesses, described in Enron Ascending: The Forgotten Years<\/em> (Chapter 13: \u201cAlternative Energies\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A trio of economic PhDs at Enron\u2013Lay, Kelly, and Bruce Stram<\/a>\u2013were true activists for energy transformation. Enron would restart<\/em> the solar industry, rescue<\/em> the US wind industry, and help legitimize<\/em> the climate issue<\/a> (pp. 529\u201330).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enron capitalized on the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which granted liberal subsidies for both wind and solar. National taxpayers (diffused costs) would subsidize Enron (concentrated benefits). Lay got George W. Bush involved as Texas governor, and Rick Perry would continue the subsidies flowing after Enron\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Latest from Texas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is Sheridan\u2019s latest<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FT writes, a campaign by \u201crightwing\u201d lawmakers in Texas to limit renewable power projects has failed in the state legislature, underscoring the state\u2019s \u201ccommitment to all sources of energy\u201d as it strains to meet exploding demand.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take 1<\/strong>: Apparently, at European news outlets like the FT, having concerns about subsidized, part-time energy sources overrunning your power grid makes you a \u201crightwing\u201d politician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take 2<\/strong>: Do tell FT, how is a continuation of policies that virtually guarantee that the only new generation built on the state\u2019s grid, at least for the next 5+ years, is wind or solar a \u201ccommitment to all sources of energy\u201d?

An unlikely coalition of renewables groups, manufacturers and oil & gas companies opposed the bills. \u201cIt might as well have been the \u2018Lobby Employment Act of 2025\u2019 based on the number of lobbyists hired to fight it,\u201d wrote state representative Jared Patterson.

The package of three proposed laws would have required solar and wind projects to purchase gas-fired backup generation, limited where renewable projects could be built and required that half of all new power plant capacity must come from gas-fired generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take 3<\/strong>: Texas politicians, including the Governor and Lt. Governor, have allowed massive amounts of subsidized, first-in-line, part-time renewables to poison the economic well on Ercot to such a degree that there\u2019s now no quick fix. So, cravenly, they\u2019ve decided to allow the well to continue to be further poisoned.

Meanwhile, US senators are debating whether to axe Biden-era tax breaks for green energy, and Trump\u2019s policies have halted efforts to expand renewable power sources. Some GOP senators are pushing back against proposals passed by the House to remove incentives in order to pay for the president\u2019s tax cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take 4<\/strong>: We\u2019ll wait to post in detail about the future of the Texas grid once we see what happens with renewables tax credits at the federal level.

This is a critical time for Texas. ERCOT<\/a> estimates peak demand will nearly double by 2030 because of a rise in population, manufacturers and data centers. In Feb, it predicted the state\u2019s power demand could surpass its supply next summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take 5<\/strong>: If more part-time renewables is the only generation Texas has to offer developers of 24\/7 data centers and millions of potential new residents, our guess is Ercot\u2019s projections for massive demand growth on the Texas grid will prove wildly off base. Rates will simply be too high for demand to rise to such levels.

\u201cTexas has an energy dominance,\u201d said Doug Lewin, president of Austin, Texas-based Stoic Energy Consulting. \u201cWhy would you give it away for ideological reasons?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take 6<\/strong>: Wait, what? Texas can\u2019t get anyone to develop on its grid without massive federal or state subsidies. That\u2019s not dominance\u2014that\u2019s dependence\u2026 on gov\u2019t. No wonder socialist Europe admires the Texas grid so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kudos to Doug Sheridan<\/a> for effectively countering the Deep Ecologists and others from the Progressive Left. Good analysis is driving out bad because of his labors, as well as other climate\/energy realists who have gained the upper hand on major social media platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doug Sheridan\u00a0is a noted analyst of the climate\/energy realism school. With more than 40,000 social media followers, he corrects the bias of the mainstream media in real time. Little surprise that his influence dwarfs that of many prominent \u2018magical thinking\u2019 energy pundits, part of a very promising global rethink.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":381900,"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":[691835659,691818130,691818577],"class_list":{"0":"post-381897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-doug-sheridan","9":"tag-renewables","10":"tag-texas","12":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-103.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1BlD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":297218,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=297218","url_meta":{"origin":381897,"position":0},"title":"Sheridan Shakes the Texas\/ERCOT Narrative (fossil fuels did rescue wind\/solar)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Doug Sheridan\u00a0speaks truth to power. He is one of many \u201cnon-experts\u201d who has become expert in climate and energy out of a basic sense of right-and-wrong versus the politically correct narrative.","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\/2024\/01\/010341379_021521-ktrk-houston-snow-pg-12-img.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/010341379_021521-ktrk-houston-snow-pg-12-img.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/010341379_021521-ktrk-houston-snow-pg-12-img.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/010341379_021521-ktrk-houston-snow-pg-12-img.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/010341379_021521-ktrk-houston-snow-pg-12-img.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":334779,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=334779","url_meta":{"origin":381897,"position":1},"title":"The Politicized Texas Grid: Sheridan Calls for Transparency (and Mea Culpas)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"27\/06\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Texas is turning to government-aided natural gas to fix its broken political grid. 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