Wind drives cost of electricity in TX into the negative!
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As the article states, the Texas grid is an island, not synced to its neighbors, making export difficult.
Also noteworthy, the negative price was less than the 2.2 cent wind subsidy. So wind producers **still made a profit** selling at that price. It just hammered everyone else.
Also noteworthy, the negative price was less than the 2.2 cent wind subsidy. So wind producers **still made a profit** selling at that price. It just hammered everyone else.
The Slate article falsely claims Texas is not connected to the grids of adjacent states. They are, but the interconnections have limited capacity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Interconnection
Texas' relative electrical isolation isn't a political statement. It's one of several distinct grids, and is a combined product of the scattered historical development of electrical systems across North America, and the need to retain some degree of isolation to simplify grid management, including reducing synchronization issues that occur across long distances.
Still, while you can end up with too little wind energy, you can't technically end up with too much. Wind turbines can be feathered if their power isn't needed, and actually more quickly than steam plants can ramp generation up and down. The negative spot price doesn't seem to be as much a result of Texas' relative isolation as the convoluted pricing practices, including the tax credit.
It could be worse (or perhaps this does apply in Texas, too). Out here in the Pacific NW, the big corporations that own most of the wind farms got the federal government to force the regional power administration (BPA) to purchase power from the wind farms regardless of whether it's needed, when demand bottoms out late at night during mild weather, but the wind is blowing hard, BPA can say "no more" to anybody except the wind farms, which have corporate profits to protect, and the dams, which have to maintain certain minimum flow rates through their turbines to protect the salmon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Interconnection
Texas' relative electrical isolation isn't a political statement. It's one of several distinct grids, and is a combined product of the scattered historical development of electrical systems across North America, and the need to retain some degree of isolation to simplify grid management, including reducing synchronization issues that occur across long distances.
Still, while you can end up with too little wind energy, you can't technically end up with too much. Wind turbines can be feathered if their power isn't needed, and actually more quickly than steam plants can ramp generation up and down. The negative spot price doesn't seem to be as much a result of Texas' relative isolation as the convoluted pricing practices, including the tax credit.
It could be worse (or perhaps this does apply in Texas, too). Out here in the Pacific NW, the big corporations that own most of the wind farms got the federal government to force the regional power administration (BPA) to purchase power from the wind farms regardless of whether it's needed, when demand bottoms out late at night during mild weather, but the wind is blowing hard, BPA can say "no more" to anybody except the wind farms, which have corporate profits to protect, and the dams, which have to maintain certain minimum flow rates through their turbines to protect the salmon.
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