It's summer time, which means it's hot outside in most places, and that most people want to use their air conditioners to keep cool. This is not partisan, this is not new.
But what is relatively new, is that in California, the 'champion' of green energy, they are experiencing frequent power alerts with the the threat of rolling blackouts. How is that possible? With so much solar power under the hot summer sun? And with so many people leaving the 'golden state' because of it's ridiculous cost of living, and whacked out government?
They love to say "clean and reliable energy", it sounds good doesn't it? Well, there's a dirty little secret. That reliable energy is unreliable.
In a recent, extremely well written piece by Chuck Devore from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, it explains everything you need to know about the problems in California, and how we compare here in Texas. But basically, the solar power works in the day, and then at night, California is still required to 'import' power from other surrounding states that are a part of the Western grid. And that becomes a real problem for everybody on days of extreme heat.
So are we becoming the next California here in Texas? "We all certainly hope not" said David Holt, the president of the Consumer Energy Alliance, "That would be disastrous."
Here in Texas, our big issue is that we are being forced to plug into 25% of 'green energy' by law. But the real problem is, just like in California, the government pays and gives all kinds of subsidies to green energy providers, while forcing traditional energy producers to pick up the slack, and often times give their energy away.
In February, during the winter freeze, several energy providers were doing maintenance to get ready for the summer, and the green energy couldn't handle it. "It's still front of mind with Texans, and a lot of Americans that watched what happened in Texas back in February" Holt told KTRH, "Do we have the right infrastructure in place? Clearly the market cannot meet demand on extreme weather days."
Governor Abbott did sign 2 bills into law to address ERCOT and the power situation. But really, the only thing that has changed is that power producers have to organize their schedules for maintenance, so we're not left in the dark, literally.
"It all goes back to making sure we have enough supply to meet capacity" Holt said, "It appears that we're right on the edge. We don't have enough."
Governor Abbott says he is confident in the changes that were made, and ERCOT says it is prepared. Thankfully, we've had a wet summer so far here in Houston.
Hopefully, we can make it through without any power problems.