Those coal plants were more expensive then the wind power replacing them, and no-one is gonna pay to have those on standby for a freak weather event like what’s happening now.
Fossil fuels suck, green sucks, nuclear is quite literally our lifeline if you want high energy generation and “care about the environment”, but of course everyone hates it because MUH CHERNOBYL and MUH FUKUSHIMA, even though France has been generating 70% of their power from nuclear for 40 years.
There are more dynamics than simply renewables, but certainly a driver. LMPs have been driven absurdly low by both Nat gas and renewables. ERCOT never planned for winter demand like this. Shame on them for not having more reserve margin, but ultimately they let some of these large gens close because the only way to keep them would be to prop them up with reliability payments - and no one wants to pay for that
Nah, it has a $$$ money.
Those coal plants were more expensive then the wind power replacing them, and no-one is gonna pay to have those on standby for a freak weather event like what’s happening now.
Fossil fuels suck, green sucks, nuclear is quite literally our lifeline if you want high energy generation and “care about the environment”, but of course everyone hates it because MUH CHERNOBYL and MUH FUKUSHIMA, even though France has been generating 70% of their power from nuclear for 40 years.
They can't see beyond their greed.
There are more dynamics than simply renewables, but certainly a driver. LMPs have been driven absurdly low by both Nat gas and renewables. ERCOT never planned for winter demand like this. Shame on them for not having more reserve margin, but ultimately they let some of these large gens close because the only way to keep them would be to prop them up with reliability payments - and no one wants to pay for that
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.texaselectricityratings.com/blog/texas-coal-plant-shut-2020/