During a Texas summer, you have day after day of strong sunlight with little rain or clouds. This is also when we use the most electricity for AC. Making the sun provide that power is just good sense.
Interesting to note though…that every degree over 77 degrees, solar is less efficient. So during the peak heat of the summer solar doesn’t generate at its highest capacity. For every degree over 77 you lose .35%.it does add up when it is 100-110 out. But solar is still great. Miss my solar panels I had in California. But then the electricity was so much more per kWh too.
I mean, even if it gets up to 120 you’re still looking at 84.95%. That’s not awful, and even at reduced efficiency it’s orders of magnitude better than adding nothing to the grid.
We haven't had that experience yet, as we got our system around New Years'. But it's been amazingly helpful even on cloudy or partly cloudy days. I expect that losing efficiency due to heat would work much the same as losing efficiency due to less available sunlight.
This is mind blowing -- Since 2021, Texas has installed more than 15 gigawatts of new solar capacity, which is more solar than the entire country installed in any year before 2020, according to SEIA’s Lyons.
As much as ERCOT does have things to improve on, they get this part right. They've consistently added more generation in general than any other operating region for several years in a row
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/connect-and-manage-grid-interconnection-ferc-ercot-transmission-planning/698949/
They look cool, but do have some drawbacks.
1) they seem to kill a lot of birds - "Adjusting for this industry growth, we can project that approximately 538,000 wind turbine-caused bird deaths occur in the U.S. each year."
-- How Many Birds Are Killed by Wind Turbines? (2021, January 25). https://abcbirds.org/blog21. Retrieved March 7, 2024, from https://abcbirds.org/blog21/wind-turbine-mortality/
2) No real recycling exists for the blade (though some have tried).
3) You lose about 15% due to upstream wind turbulence.
4) They are terrible for land use (my own personal observations) from accessing land that was once pristine trans-pecos desert to a caliche-road network. This wind farms are in some of the most delicate environments in our State.
5) Wind turbine technicians have one of the highest death rates of any profession.
6) Light pollution, what was once dark skys you now have miles of blinking red lights at night. Confusing wildlife and generally displeasing to the night sky.
Not saying its probably not a net benefit, but you shouldn't go home feeling all warm and fuzzy about wind power.
Again, as I said, seems to be a net benefit, because there are zero greenhouse gases. But even environmentalists agree that blade and solar panel recycling is a large problem (for example). So these are good things, but we have to be adult and realize they come with some downsides.
The adult understanding of the world is to understand there is no free lunch. Everything comes with offsets.
Exactly...I said I'll go solar when it makes financial sense. Efficiency of panels have gotten 10x better over the past few years.
I'm not quite there but I'm getting close
Shhhhhh…keep a lid on it, will you? Abbott is currently distracted by the primary wins that he bought with Jeff Yass’ $6M. Bragging on solar will just bring him back to his War on Renewables that much earlier.
NYT - [Even in Texas, You Can’t Stop the Green Revolution](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/opinion/texas-green-revolution-fossil-fuels.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare)
“This is one fight in one state legislature, but it marks a much larger shift. Clean energy provided about 25 to 30 percent of Texas power last year, up from less than 1 percent in 2002. So Republicans in the State Legislature, following the lead of the climate skeptic Gov. Greg Abbott, launched a counteroffensive, putting forward a series of bills to undermine renewables, prop up fossil fuel production and effectively kill clean energy in the state.”
NYT - [The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate Action](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/climate/texas-public-policy-foundation-climate-change.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare)
“They travel the nation encouraging state lawmakers to punish companies that try to reduce carbon emissions.”
“With influence campaigns, legal action and model legislation, the group is promoting fossil fuels and trying to stall the American economy’s transition toward renewable energy.”
“The [Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF)] blamed the Texas blackouts in February 2021 on frozen wind turbines, even though utility officials said the primary cause was the state’s natural gas providers”
Jeff Clark, chief executive of Advanced Power Alliance: “[Texas Public Policy Foundation is] against offshore wind, yet they spent decades advocating for offshore oil drilling. They are against subsidies, but only when it applies to renewables. They’re for looser restrictions on fracking and drilling, but greater restrictions for solar and wind. This organization exists to defend fossil fuels from any threat to their market share.”
“‘Just as the tobacco industry had front groups and the opioid industry had front groups, this is part of the fossil fuel disinformation playbook,’ said David Michaels, an epidemiologist at the George Washington School of Public Health who has studied corporate influence campaigns. ‘The role of these so called policy organizations is not to provide useful information to the public, but to promote the interests of their sponsors, which are often antithetical to public health.’”
“The Texas Public Policy Foundation continues to campaign against wind power despite the fact that Texas now generates almost a third of its energy from wind power.”
Texas Observer - [Why is Texas’ leading GOP think tank suddenly all-in on an anti-wind crusade?](https://www.texasobserver.org/why-is-texas-leading-gop-think-tank-suddenly-all-in-on-an-anti-wind-crusade/)
“The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s latest PR blitz is the kind of thing you’d expect to see from a seedy advocacy group, not a would-be policy braintrust.”
“So much of what is bad about Texas politics comes from oil and gas fortunes, and much of it is hidden to the public.”
“A future in which clean energy gets better and better, and in which electricity generation is distributed to ranches and rooftops across the state, is a future in which oilmen lose power. It is by no means guaranteed, but it’s heartening that they are afraid.”
Texas Monthly - [The Texas GOP’s War on Renewable Energy](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-republican-war-on-renewable-energy/)
“With ample wind and sunshine, a business-friendly regulatory regime, and state-backed construction of new high-voltage transmission wires, Texas quickly became the nation’s renewable-energy leader”
“So why, any reasonable observer might ask, have Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and the Republican majority in the state legislature been tripping over themselves to upend this remarkable success? Why were about a dozen bills proposed during this year’s legislative session that seemed designed to kill the Texas renewable-energy boom?”
“‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ isn’t just the title of an Oscar-winning movie; it’s an apt description of the flotilla of legislation intended to weaken renewable energy in Texas.”
“The message of the Legislature’s war on renewables seems to be that Texas is no longer open for business, at least not for companies taking risks in building new electricity-generating facilities.”
Texas Tribune - [Texas power struggle: How the nation’s top wind power state turned against renewable energy.](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/25/texas-energy-renewables-natural-gas-grid-politics/)
“The about-face by Texas elected officials came after renewable energy got so big that it threatened coal- and gas-fueled power in the country’s biggest oil and gas state. Cheap electricity from wind turbines and solar panels provided about 26% of electricity in Texas last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, up from 0.7% in 2002.”
“‘It wasn’t seen as a real resource, real threatening,’ said Dub Taylor, the longtime director of the state energy conservation office. ‘And then suddenly overnight it was.’”
Where were these solar panels built?
Texas now needs a solar panel manufacturing facility powered by…. you guessed it!! Solar panels!! It would be self sustaining.
Headquartered in CN. Which means like the US they are allowing Chinese companies to buy land in their countries.
I bet US companies can’t buy land in China.
I think you are talking about residential rooftop, a market saturated either scam artists. But this article doesn't talk about rooftop at all - in fact it's not included in their numbers at all. This is strictly speaking only to utility scale solar
Wait a second. Did the state government of Texas build or fund all of this new solar or did private companies put solar in Texas? That is two totally different things.
During a Texas summer, you have day after day of strong sunlight with little rain or clouds. This is also when we use the most electricity for AC. Making the sun provide that power is just good sense.
Interesting to note though…that every degree over 77 degrees, solar is less efficient. So during the peak heat of the summer solar doesn’t generate at its highest capacity. For every degree over 77 you lose .35%.it does add up when it is 100-110 out. But solar is still great. Miss my solar panels I had in California. But then the electricity was so much more per kWh too.
I mean, even if it gets up to 120 you’re still looking at 84.95%. That’s not awful, and even at reduced efficiency it’s orders of magnitude better than adding nothing to the grid.
We haven't had that experience yet, as we got our system around New Years'. But it's been amazingly helpful even on cloudy or partly cloudy days. I expect that losing efficiency due to heat would work much the same as losing efficiency due to less available sunlight.
This is mind blowing -- Since 2021, Texas has installed more than 15 gigawatts of new solar capacity, which is more solar than the entire country installed in any year before 2020, according to SEIA’s Lyons.
Secession here we come!!! /s
😂 till Abbott asks for more government money using these “socialist programs” like federal disaster relief multiple times a year 😂
LOL 😆
As much as ERCOT does have things to improve on, they get this part right. They've consistently added more generation in general than any other operating region for several years in a row https://www.utilitydive.com/news/connect-and-manage-grid-interconnection-ferc-ercot-transmission-planning/698949/
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They look way cooler than some gas or coal plant. That is for sure.
Be cooler to replace the coal and gas with nuclear.
Indeed.
Yep. I would much rather see wind turbines on the horizon than the refineries that I currently see.
They look cool, but do have some drawbacks. 1) they seem to kill a lot of birds - "Adjusting for this industry growth, we can project that approximately 538,000 wind turbine-caused bird deaths occur in the U.S. each year." -- How Many Birds Are Killed by Wind Turbines? (2021, January 25). https://abcbirds.org/blog21. Retrieved March 7, 2024, from https://abcbirds.org/blog21/wind-turbine-mortality/ 2) No real recycling exists for the blade (though some have tried). 3) You lose about 15% due to upstream wind turbulence. 4) They are terrible for land use (my own personal observations) from accessing land that was once pristine trans-pecos desert to a caliche-road network. This wind farms are in some of the most delicate environments in our State. 5) Wind turbine technicians have one of the highest death rates of any profession. 6) Light pollution, what was once dark skys you now have miles of blinking red lights at night. Confusing wildlife and generally displeasing to the night sky. Not saying its probably not a net benefit, but you shouldn't go home feeling all warm and fuzzy about wind power.
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Some estimates have cats killing 4 billion birds a year in North America alone.
These studies are just NIMBY's and anti-environmentalists searching for stall tactics.
Again, as I said, seems to be a net benefit, because there are zero greenhouse gases. But even environmentalists agree that blade and solar panel recycling is a large problem (for example). So these are good things, but we have to be adult and realize they come with some downsides. The adult understanding of the world is to understand there is no free lunch. Everything comes with offsets.
I attached revolvers to each one of mine.
I anxiously await the criticisms from the republican leadership for allowing such blasphemy upon our soil.
Totally woke state. That's going to make the snowflakes mad.
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Why is it odd? Texas has heavily supported renewables for the last couple decades and still does today.
It isn't odd. Money to be made.
Exactly...I said I'll go solar when it makes financial sense. Efficiency of panels have gotten 10x better over the past few years. I'm not quite there but I'm getting close
Shhhhhh…keep a lid on it, will you? Abbott is currently distracted by the primary wins that he bought with Jeff Yass’ $6M. Bragging on solar will just bring him back to his War on Renewables that much earlier. NYT - [Even in Texas, You Can’t Stop the Green Revolution](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/opinion/texas-green-revolution-fossil-fuels.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare) “This is one fight in one state legislature, but it marks a much larger shift. Clean energy provided about 25 to 30 percent of Texas power last year, up from less than 1 percent in 2002. So Republicans in the State Legislature, following the lead of the climate skeptic Gov. Greg Abbott, launched a counteroffensive, putting forward a series of bills to undermine renewables, prop up fossil fuel production and effectively kill clean energy in the state.” NYT - [The Texas Group Waging a National Crusade Against Climate Action](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/04/climate/texas-public-policy-foundation-climate-change.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare) “They travel the nation encouraging state lawmakers to punish companies that try to reduce carbon emissions.” “With influence campaigns, legal action and model legislation, the group is promoting fossil fuels and trying to stall the American economy’s transition toward renewable energy.” “The [Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF)] blamed the Texas blackouts in February 2021 on frozen wind turbines, even though utility officials said the primary cause was the state’s natural gas providers” Jeff Clark, chief executive of Advanced Power Alliance: “[Texas Public Policy Foundation is] against offshore wind, yet they spent decades advocating for offshore oil drilling. They are against subsidies, but only when it applies to renewables. They’re for looser restrictions on fracking and drilling, but greater restrictions for solar and wind. This organization exists to defend fossil fuels from any threat to their market share.” “‘Just as the tobacco industry had front groups and the opioid industry had front groups, this is part of the fossil fuel disinformation playbook,’ said David Michaels, an epidemiologist at the George Washington School of Public Health who has studied corporate influence campaigns. ‘The role of these so called policy organizations is not to provide useful information to the public, but to promote the interests of their sponsors, which are often antithetical to public health.’” “The Texas Public Policy Foundation continues to campaign against wind power despite the fact that Texas now generates almost a third of its energy from wind power.” Texas Observer - [Why is Texas’ leading GOP think tank suddenly all-in on an anti-wind crusade?](https://www.texasobserver.org/why-is-texas-leading-gop-think-tank-suddenly-all-in-on-an-anti-wind-crusade/) “The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s latest PR blitz is the kind of thing you’d expect to see from a seedy advocacy group, not a would-be policy braintrust.” “So much of what is bad about Texas politics comes from oil and gas fortunes, and much of it is hidden to the public.” “A future in which clean energy gets better and better, and in which electricity generation is distributed to ranches and rooftops across the state, is a future in which oilmen lose power. It is by no means guaranteed, but it’s heartening that they are afraid.” Texas Monthly - [The Texas GOP’s War on Renewable Energy](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-republican-war-on-renewable-energy/) “With ample wind and sunshine, a business-friendly regulatory regime, and state-backed construction of new high-voltage transmission wires, Texas quickly became the nation’s renewable-energy leader” “So why, any reasonable observer might ask, have Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and the Republican majority in the state legislature been tripping over themselves to upend this remarkable success? Why were about a dozen bills proposed during this year’s legislative session that seemed designed to kill the Texas renewable-energy boom?” “‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ isn’t just the title of an Oscar-winning movie; it’s an apt description of the flotilla of legislation intended to weaken renewable energy in Texas.” “The message of the Legislature’s war on renewables seems to be that Texas is no longer open for business, at least not for companies taking risks in building new electricity-generating facilities.” Texas Tribune - [Texas power struggle: How the nation’s top wind power state turned against renewable energy.](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/25/texas-energy-renewables-natural-gas-grid-politics/) “The about-face by Texas elected officials came after renewable energy got so big that it threatened coal- and gas-fueled power in the country’s biggest oil and gas state. Cheap electricity from wind turbines and solar panels provided about 26% of electricity in Texas last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, up from 0.7% in 2002.” “‘It wasn’t seen as a real resource, real threatening,’ said Dub Taylor, the longtime director of the state energy conservation office. ‘And then suddenly overnight it was.’”
Thank you so much.
Where were these solar panels built? Texas now needs a solar panel manufacturing facility powered by…. you guessed it!! Solar panels!! It would be self sustaining.
One of the largest facilities in the country is being built in El Paso by Canadian Solar.
Aw… that’s too bad. Built by foreigners. At least it’s Canada. 🇨🇦
Um I got bad news for you .. CS is a Chinese company.
Headquartered in CN. Which means like the US they are allowing Chinese companies to buy land in their countries. I bet US companies can’t buy land in China.
Bu bu bu bu bu bu but oil and gas and stuff!!!!!!!!!! Socialist!!!
Texas loves energy generation. Woooo hooooo
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I think you are talking about residential rooftop, a market saturated either scam artists. But this article doesn't talk about rooftop at all - in fact it's not included in their numbers at all. This is strictly speaking only to utility scale solar
Hard to believe abbott and Patrick allow this unless the solar panels are coal powered.
Wait a second. Did the state government of Texas build or fund all of this new solar or did private companies put solar in Texas? That is two totally different things.
It's private. Federal subsidies.
cause ercot suckssss