Well, that didn’t take long. The same day Texas started experiencing blackouts in the midst of an unprecedented winter storm, critics started pointing to markets as the problem. Monday’s Dallas Morning News ran a Bloomberg Wire story that claimed “The extreme cold appears to have caught Texas’s highly decentralized electricity market by surprise.” Yes, Texas has…
Category: Energy
Renewables Put Millions of Texans in the Dark
With almost hundreds of thousands of Texans still without power—and many without water, everyone is looking for someone to blame. Monday’s Dallas Morning News ran a Bloomberg Wire story that blamed the blackouts on freedom: “The extreme cold appears to have caught Texas’s highly decentralized electricity market by surprise.” Not to be left out, state…
Will the Texas Renewable Energy Gravy Train Ever Stop?
Wind has dominated Texas’ renewable energy landscape for the last 20 years. However, solar is making a concerted effort to catch up. Utility-scale solar capacity almost doubled in 2020, topping 8,000 gigawatt hours. Texas, which already leads the nation in wind capacity, is moving up the ranks of U.S. states in terms in solar capacity….
Why Texas Should Take a Closer Look at Renewable Subsidies
The Renewable Energy Industry is Stealing Your Money
For the last few decades, the claim from the renewable energy industry was that renewables needed subsidies to catch up to traditional sources of energy such as coal, nuclear, natural gas, and oil. Now the headlines are telling us that wind and solar are cost competitive with traditional sources: Solar and Wind Power So Cheap…
Predatory Pricing in the Texas Electricity Market
Executive Summary Renewable energy generators are driving other, more reliable sources of energy out of the Texas electricity market. The reason is straightforward. Renewable generators often undercut the prices of their competitors by selling electricity below their costs, and even their marginal costs, to gain market share. In many ways, this behavior matches one of…
Wind and Solar Subsidies Increase Texas Electricity Costs
Key Points Texas wholesale electricity prices jumped 13% in 2019, compared to drops from 15% to 30% in other markets Retail electric prices in Texas increased by 6.8% last year, more than the 1.3% increase in U.S. retail prices Renewable energy subsides in Texas last year cost $2.4 billion, and have totaled $19.4 billion since…
Tax Abatements for Solar Farms Ignite Controversy in Central Texas
Reprinted from the Far West Texas News A group of Bell County residents and landowners are organizing against any more tax abatements associated with proposed solar farms. “Land is getting eaten up by the thousands of acres per day with urbanization and now we’re getting eaten up with solar panels,” said Robert Fleming, founder of…
The High Cost of Renewable Energy
Executive Summary Federal, state, and local subsidies for renewable energy are undermining the reliability of the Texas electricity market. And Texans are paying a high price for the privilege of a less reliable market. Since 2006, wind and solar generators in Texas have received about $19.4 billion from taxpayers and consumers. It is estimated they…
Putting an End to Texas’ $4.3 Billion Electricity Tax
This was originally published in the Dallas Morning News. With the arrival of July, Texans know to be ready for 100-plus degree weather for the next couple of months as widespread extreme heat is expected this summer. It might surprise them, though, to know that the prices they pay for electricity might rise even faster…