During the recent freezing conditions in Texas, the output from renewable energy saw a decline as electricity demand was escalating. Bill Peacock, policy director of the Energy Alliance, utilized data from the Public Utility Commission of Texas to underscore the deficiencies of renewables.
Peacock stated on X, "Renewable energy generation has been falling this morning. And one reason is that renewable outages have been rising." He further added, "Renewables are a fraud on American taxpayers. And renewable subsidies are theft."
Despite the performance of renewable energy during such extreme weather and other similar instances in Texas, projections from the U.S. Energy Information Agency suggest that "wind and solar energy will lead growth in U.S. power generation for the next two years."
The Energy Alliance attributes the rapid expansion of renewables to subsidies for wind and solar generation provided by federal, state, and local governments. It states that since 2007, "more than $26 billion of federal, state, and local renewable energy subsidies" have been allocated to renewable generators in Texas.
Peacock maintains that renewables are central to the reliability issues faced by the Texas grid. He wrote, "At the same time renewable energy subsidies are disrupting market prices, they are also reducing the reliability of the market." He further explained that "Without accurate price signals to incentivize investment in reliable generation, ERCOT’s energy-only market has become dominated by intermittent, unreliable renewable energy generation from wind turbines and solar panels."
In his X account post, Peacock noted that past extremes of cold and hot weather have resulted in problems due to generation outages; most notably during Winter Storm Uri. For instance, despite renewables providing only 6% of electricity used by Texans early Monday morning, they constituted 55% of generation outages.
Robert Bryce, an Austin-based energy expert concurred with Peacock's stance on renewables causing issues with the Texas grid. He posted on X stating that "Once again, wind and solar go missing during Texas cold snap." In an accompanying video, he observed, "It is foolish to try and rely on solar and wind. Just as three years ago when there was no solar and wind, ... this morning solar and wind are barely producing any electricity at all. Together, they are producing about 11% of demand."
Bryce highlighted that traditional generation sources were the ones shouldering the load during the period of high demand. He said, "Natural gas is about 46,600 megawatts, that's roughly 63% of load in Texas. Coal is about 17,700 megawatts and nuclear about 5,100 megawatts. With those three together, 87% of the demand in Texas is now being met by traditional energy resources."
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the Texas grid for the state, concluded its Weather Watch on January 17 with a post on X stating: "The ERCOT Weather Watch will end at midnight & will not be extended at this time. Grid conditions are expected to be normal."
