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Millions of Texans were left without power after the state was slammed by Winter Storm Uri earlier this year, and the response by the Lone Star State's legislature to the shortcomings in the wind and solar energy industry have disappointed some power and energy analysts.
Critics of renewable energy sources are concerned about the Texas energy grid's future as long as alternative energy is involved after the damage done to wind and solar energy's reputation for reliability during Uri.
Austin’s energy-related moves have not been up to par, according to conservative energy analysts who are demanding action from the legislature.
"[The legislature] didn't do a very good job because they had two things to deal with," Energy Alliance policy director Bill Peacock, an opponent of renewable energy sources, told Houston Daily. "One was the cause of the blackouts so they wouldn't happen again, and the other was the aftermath."
The going average rate for electricity in Texas was $32 per megawatt hour before the February storm, according to Peacock. Uri’s blackouts and grid strain drove those costs through the roof. The consequence is Texans will be shouldering the tens of billions of dollars that the blackouts generated in expenses over the next two to three decades.
"The aftermath of the blackouts was the billions of dollars that had been charged for electricity during the storm," Peacock said. "The storm increased costs for everybody, but what really did it was when the Public Utility Commission increased prices from about $2,000/megawatt-hour to $9,000/megawatt hour. They essentially quadrupled the price of electricity and for no good reason."
Peacock stated that the Texas Legislature could have protected its constituents from this massive expense.
Instead, energy companies were reportedly permitted to securitize the money lost through longtime bonds issued based on Texas' credit, the cost of which will eventually fall upon the shoulders of the state's consumers.
The conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) reports that the state's grid crisis earlier this year can be blamed on multiple renewable-energy-related factors. These included no requirement for wind and solar to bear any intermittency costs they impose on the rest of the grid, decades of multibillion-dollar subsidies for wind and solar that make it difficult for reliable power plants to compete, and the inability of scarcity pricing and limited ancillary services to counterbalance the 50% variability of wind and solar reliability when they are most demanded.
Peacock said renewable energy largely caused the blackouts that plagued Texas for days if looking beyond the obvious, proximate cause of cold weather. Houston Republic reported that Texans saw that the recent winter storms exposed the potential harm of energy policies that make the state too dependent on wind and solar energy.
However, many news sources have pointed out that Texas relies on renewable energy sources for less than one-third of their power needs.
Peacock argued that as Texas' population and energy demands grow, so will the reliance on renewables. He explained that 80% of all new energy generation in the last three years has been wind or solar, significantly less reliable sources than natural gas.
"The primary reason the grid couldn't handle [the cold] was because of our overreliance on renewable energy," Peacock said.
The Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago studied trends in electricity bills. It found that rates rose 11% when renewable energy sources increased 1.8%, and prices increased 17% when the renewable share increased 4.2%.
The institute's study concluded that “these cost estimates likely reflect costs that renewables impose on the generation system, including those associated with their intermittency, higher transmission costs and any stranded asset costs assigned to ratepayers.”
The TPPF adds that the renewable giants carry the most buying power in Texas' electricity market. A policy foundation analysis shows that subsidies in the form of federal tax credits and state property tax abatements have significantly distorted the electricity market in Texas to the point where "wind generators, some owned by foreign governments, can pay the grid to take their power and still make money."
Peacock admitted that all energy sources experienced problems during Uri but said that wind and solar problems were the worst. According to the Houston Republic, the extreme cold and snow caused the wind turbines to freeze, leading to power outages during a time of overwhelming demand for energy.
Further, the blackouts first began at about 1 a.m., a time when the sun wasn't shining so the solar generators weren't generating.
"Between the two of those, they weren't there. They didn't show up," Peacock said of wind and solar sources. "Wind and solar failed at much larger proportions to their capacity than natural gas, nuclear or coal did. Much larger failure."
Peacock is critical of Chapter 313 abatements. He said the program essentially takes taxpayer dollars and uses them to subsidize large corporations. When 313 is used to subsidize renewable energy projects, there is additional harm to the Texas energy grid.
According to the policy director, these projects cause instability in the grid and are an unreliable source of energy production. He noted that heavy reliance on renewables has led to blackouts in California, and Texas experienced something similar during Uri.
A commentary to Real Clear Energy from Brent Bennett recommends that Texas prioritizes reliable energy above renewable energy to make sure “California-style blackouts don’t become the norm.”
Peacock said that many members of the Texas Legislature, no matter the party, are too infatuated with the façade of being environmentally friendly, or are too intimidated by the renewable energy lobby, to see wind and solar shortcomings in true light.
"The renewable energy lobby spends millions of dollars in Texas to keep the subsidies coming," he said. "Nobody is willing to take on wind and solar during the legislative session, so they basically did nothing to address the problem, which is the unreliability of renewable energy."
Recent policy changes to update building codes, raise energy efficiency goals and require backup power facilities have made little progress except making electricity more expensive, according to Peacock.
"The problem with renewable energy is that it's intermittent," he added. "It only works when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. Unfortunately, the wind blows the least in Texas on hot summer afternoons when we really need the electricity. It's not built to work when we need it."
The Reuters News Agency said that capacity markets, the alternative to Texas' competitive system, pay power generators in advance at a set price. Generators are paid again by the consumer as the electricity is used. A Reuters article said that in a capacity market, "generators get paid whether they produce power or not."
When the renewable companies' checks increase, so do the household electricity costs across Texas. According to the Energy Alliance, a form of capacity market already exists in Texas in the form of the Operating Reserve Demand Curve (ORDC). The ORDC is described as a tool used by energy regulators to artificially increase the cost of electricity, often to due unreliable renewable generators. Peacock's research indicates that the ORDC increased the price of electricity by $3.6 billion in 2019, an increase completely outside of the control of consumers.
With the Public Utility Commission not holding renewable sources accountable for the harm done to the grid and no action from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Peacock said that the Lone Star State may be stuck with the current energy circumstances until the legislature is back in session.
"If Gov. Abbott doesn't put something on the call then, essentially, we're just sitting here for the next year and a half, praying that it doesn't get too hot or it doesn't get too cold and everything goes right," Peacock said. "Because if we have even small problems and it gets real hot, then we're going to be in trouble."