A Bad Day for Wind in Texas

Yesterday, ERCOT (the electric grid manager for Texas) issued a Conservation Appeal to Texans and Texas businesses “asking Texans and Texas businesses to voluntarily conserve electricity” today.

Why?

Well, it is going to be hot today, with temperatures reaching perhaps as high as 108 in parts of the state.

But the big problem Texans are facing today is wind energy. As ERCOT explains:

Factors driving the need for this important action by customers:

Record high electric demand. The heat wave that has settled on Texas and much of the central United States is driving increased electric use. Other grid operators are operating under similar conservative operations programs as ERCOT due to the heatwave.

Low wind. While solar power is generally reaching near full generation capacity, wind generation is currently generating significantly less than what it historically generated in this time period. Current projections show wind generation coming in less than 10 percent of its capacity.

Essentially, wind is going to be a no show today:

To put this is context, Robert Bryce estimated that generators have spent at least $56 billion building wind farms in Texas. The 8% projected capacity of wind at peak demand tomorrow means about $51.5 billion of that investment was wasted. If that amount had been put into natural gas generation, Texans would not be under a statewide “conservation appeal” and wondering if their lights and air conditioners will stay on today.