I don't think this issue is a renewables vs fossil fuels one. Both systems froze in Texas, both systems if properly weather proofed would not freeze. There are plenty of wind turbines in the north rn that are operating normally in colder temperatures. The problem in Texas is a perfect storm of 1. some disruption to normal power generation due to a hard to for see circumstance 2. a huge increase in power usage for heat 3. little reserve power because most systems go into mantience during winter as power usage is generally lower 4. an unconnected grid that couldn't siphon power from other places unlike any other part of the country.
Ok energy companies doing the bare minimum to meet their terms of their contract, totally true. A tale as old as time.
The rest of this causal narrative is wrong. So as someone who has taken a lot of Econ classes, the free market is not always competitive. To over simply a little bit. When cost of entry into an industry are low there tends to be a lot of businesses. If I charge 2$ for an apple it cost someone 10,000 dollars to start an apple farm and charge 1.50$ for an apple im probably going to have to lower my price.
When cost of entry is really high, say like building a 600 million dollar power plant, theres not gonna be a lot of room for people to move into the industry. Which means producers dont really have to worry what consumers think within reason. If I charge you 100$ for electricity and its really worth maybe 80 no one is going to build all the power lines and the factory to undercut me. This is called a natural monopoly. There other of these like Big Tech, the media, the oil companies, and the big Pharma companies and we all know what benevolent overlords they are. There is no boutique public utilities companies nor will there ever be one. Now if am a natural monopoly beside being a price-gouger, I'm going to underproduce rather than over produce, because it is more profitable to do so that is universally agreed Econ 101. Look at the diamond industry. So if 1 in every 5 years my consumers are going to have a blackout because I didn't spend the additional 100 million dollars to winterize my power plant, im not going to fucking do it, because it truly is cheaper not to. And what are they going to do not pay for electricity. No the power generation industry in every country in the world is a top down business. You and your buddies from college aren't going to skip eating out for a few years to put a down payment on hundred of millions of dollars of equipment. The question is do you want regulated or unregulated monopolies.
So the government can pay public utilities companies to build more wind power, which they probably might do anyway given how cheap wind is for them. Or the government could pay public utilities to winterize their factories, or they can do both, but the public utilities companies would never do it with their own funds in a place where the loss of power is relatively rare because the market will never make it profitable decision to do so.
You should go on there and tweet her pictures of the frozen windmills and say like this green new deal.
I don't think this issue is a renewables vs fossil fuels one. Both systems froze in Texas, both systems if properly weather proofed would not freeze. There are plenty of wind turbines in the north rn that are operating normally in colder temperatures. The problem in Texas is a perfect storm of 1. some disruption to normal power generation due to a hard to for see circumstance 2. a huge increase in power usage for heat 3. little reserve power because most systems go into mantience during winter as power usage is generally lower 4. an unconnected grid that couldn't siphon power from other places unlike any other part of the country.
Ok energy companies doing the bare minimum to meet their terms of their contract, totally true. A tale as old as time. The rest of this causal narrative is wrong. So as someone who has taken a lot of Econ classes, the free market is not always competitive. To over simply a little bit. When cost of entry into an industry are low there tends to be a lot of businesses. If I charge 2$ for an apple it cost someone 10,000 dollars to start an apple farm and charge 1.50$ for an apple im probably going to have to lower my price. When cost of entry is really high, say like building a 600 million dollar power plant, theres not gonna be a lot of room for people to move into the industry. Which means producers dont really have to worry what consumers think within reason. If I charge you 100$ for electricity and its really worth maybe 80 no one is going to build all the power lines and the factory to undercut me. This is called a natural monopoly. There other of these like Big Tech, the media, the oil companies, and the big Pharma companies and we all know what benevolent overlords they are. There is no boutique public utilities companies nor will there ever be one. Now if am a natural monopoly beside being a price-gouger, I'm going to underproduce rather than over produce, because it is more profitable to do so that is universally agreed Econ 101. Look at the diamond industry. So if 1 in every 5 years my consumers are going to have a blackout because I didn't spend the additional 100 million dollars to winterize my power plant, im not going to fucking do it, because it truly is cheaper not to. And what are they going to do not pay for electricity. No the power generation industry in every country in the world is a top down business. You and your buddies from college aren't going to skip eating out for a few years to put a down payment on hundred of millions of dollars of equipment. The question is do you want regulated or unregulated monopolies. So the government can pay public utilities companies to build more wind power, which they probably might do anyway given how cheap wind is for them. Or the government could pay public utilities to winterize their factories, or they can do both, but the public utilities companies would never do it with their own funds in a place where the loss of power is relatively rare because the market will never make it profitable decision to do so.