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Unfortunately the title of the original article is click-baity. This piece really has nothing to do with Amazon other than they signed on to the letter in ques

Unfortunately the title of the original article is click-baity. This piece really has nothing to do with Amazon other than they signed on to the letter in question. Last I checked AWS does not have a data center in Texas so it's footprint is religated to FC's which do use significant amounts of power. This article is about how the Texas legislature wants to double down on its "wind is the problem" lie by shifting the costs of establishing grid stabilization services exclusively to renewable energy producers in order prop up the profits of natural gas producers. A couple of companies, including Amazon, wrote a letter calling this plan stupid and unfair. I wouldn't expect to Texas legislature to care seeing how the state murdered through negligence more than 100 people to prop up energy producer profits already.

yurishimo 6y ago
Yeah, wind was not the problem during the freeze this year but politicians need something to point at to say they did something. Hopefully the national infrastructure bill will pass and then the incentives for building more renewables will be too great to ignore regardless of whatever BS the state legislature tries to pull.
barbacoa 6y ago
>This article is about how the Texas legislature wants to double down on its "wind is the problem" lie by shifting the costs of establishing grid stabilization services exclusively to renewable energy producers in order prop up the profits of natural gas producers. Lets look at this from another prospective. Yes renewables are great and cheap, Texas has the highest renewable energy production in the country. But by relying on renewable energy means you also need to have large amounts of fossil fuel capacity that is sitting idle, just in case renewable production falls off. Having fossil fuel plants with idle capacity is very expensive. This is the hidden cost of renewable energy and why even though wind/solar power is cheaper than natural gas, grids with lots of wind/solar power have very expensive electricity. I'm looking at you Germany.
- paxys 6y ago
  The solution – as mentioned in the article – is to also invest in energy storage, like California has done.
  - cheaprentalyeti 6y ago
    Which hasn't solved anything in California, since they had massive power outages last year, despite buying large numbers of batteries allegedly for grid stabilization.
    - ipsocannibal 5y ago
      The power outages were intentional to mitigate the risk of wildfires caused by poorly maintained transmission lines. Your example has nothing to do with power generation or energy storage.
- ipsocannibal 6y ago
  "But the state’s policies discouraged the development of energy storage projects that could smooth imbalances in supply and demand as more intermittent wind and solar sources join the grid; the deregulated market has made it challenging for battery projects, which are the most responsive and flexible to install." You don't need fossil fuel plants sitting idle. You need to increase energy storage capacity which according to the article state policy makes difficult to pursue. So yeah Texas is just propping up fossil fuel profits at the expense of renewables with its plan.
  - barbacoa 6y ago
    >"But the state’s policies discouraged the development of energy storage projects that could smooth imbalances in supply and demand as more intermittent wind and solar sources join the grid; the deregulated market has made it challenging for battery projects, which are the most responsive and flexible to install." I read that in the article too but I don't follow their logic. Part of Texas' deregulation is that the wholesale electric price goes up and down depending on supply and demand. There is an enormous difference in day vs night demand and price. If you have a large battery system you can sell high and buy low and make tons of money.

yurishimo 6y ago

Yeah, wind was not the problem during the freeze this year but politicians need something to point at to say they did something. Hopefully the national infrastructure bill will pass and then the incentives for building more renewables will be too great to ignore regardless of whatever BS the state legislature tries to pull.

barbacoa 6y ago

>This article is about how the Texas legislature wants to double down on its "wind is the problem" lie by shifting the costs of establishing grid stabilization services exclusively to renewable energy producers in order prop up the profits of natural gas producers. Lets look at this from another prospective. Yes renewables are great and cheap, Texas has the highest renewable energy production in the country. But by relying on renewable energy means you also need to have large amounts of fossil fuel capacity that is sitting idle, just in case renewable production falls off. Having fossil fuel plants with idle capacity is very expensive. This is the hidden cost of renewable energy and why even though wind/solar power is cheaper than natural gas, grids with lots of wind/solar power have very expensive electricity. I'm looking at you Germany.

paxys 6y ago
The solution – as mentioned in the article – is to also invest in energy storage, like California has done.
- cheaprentalyeti 6y ago
  Which hasn't solved anything in California, since they had massive power outages last year, despite buying large numbers of batteries allegedly for grid stabilization.
  - ipsocannibal 5y ago
    The power outages were intentional to mitigate the risk of wildfires caused by poorly maintained transmission lines. Your example has nothing to do with power generation or energy storage.
ipsocannibal 6y ago
"But the state’s policies discouraged the development of energy storage projects that could smooth imbalances in supply and demand as more intermittent wind and solar sources join the grid; the deregulated market has made it challenging for battery projects, which are the most responsive and flexible to install." You don't need fossil fuel plants sitting idle. You need to increase energy storage capacity which according to the article state policy makes difficult to pursue. So yeah Texas is just propping up fossil fuel profits at the expense of renewables with its plan.
- barbacoa 6y ago
  >"But the state’s policies discouraged the development of energy storage projects that could smooth imbalances in supply and demand as more intermittent wind and solar sources join the grid; the deregulated market has made it challenging for battery projects, which are the most responsive and flexible to install." I read that in the article too but I don't follow their logic. Part of Texas' deregulation is that the wholesale electric price goes up and down depending on supply and demand. There is an enormous difference in day vs night demand and price. If you have a large battery system you can sell high and buy low and make tons of money.