I’m mostly imputing ideological motives to what ERCOT’s become and how that’s led them to fail at operating a robust, reliable grid, and highlighting some of th

I’m mostly imputing ideological motives to what ERCOT’s become and how that’s led them to fail at operating a robust, reliable grid, and highlighting some of the perverse incentives specific to Texas’s electrical market. I’m also complaining about our legislature’s resistance to, and efforts to actively stymie, the incredible bounty of renewable energy resources this state possesses. Fortunately the profit potential is strong enough that the invisible hand is continuing to do its job, but my god, this state is the Saudi Arabia of wind and to a lesser degree solar. As well as being a Saudi Arabia of, well, oil and gas! Why not embrace all of the above?? I personally enjoy the Western standard of living, and that, today and for the foreseeable future, is absolutely predicated on fossil fuels being a substantial part of the energy mix. I also try not to be a hypocrite so I actually consider myself pro-fossil fuel when used efficiently and appropriately. As such, I favor just about all types of electrical generation, except for coal and oil fired plants (and possibly biomass - I don’t know the technical details well enough, but my vague understanding is that’s basically regulatory arbitrage that does more harm than good). At least fortunately oil-fired plants are vanishingly rare these days.