Why was $66 billion spent on renewables before the Texas blackouts?
Because Big Wind and Big Solar Got $22 Billion in Subsidies
For every dollar spent by the wind and solar sectors in Texas, they got roughly 33 cents from taxpayers. By any measure, this is an outrageous level of subsidization. And Texans are learning that the tens of billions of dollars spent on wind and solar are not translating into reliable electricity.
On the graphic below, retrieved from ERCOT’s website on Wednesday, the black line shows electricity demand. The green line is wind output. On Monday, when demand was hitting 70,000 megawatts, wind output dropped to about 3,000 megawatts. On Tuesday, as power demand was again approaching 70,000 megawatts, wind energy production dropped to nearly zero.
The Texas oil and gas sector pays about 54 times more in taxes per year than the wind and solar sectors. According to the Houston Chronicle, the oil and gas sector paid about $13.4 billion in state taxes and royalties in 2019. By contrast, the wind and solar sectors are paying roughly $250 million per year in state and local taxes.
The bottom line here is obvious: If Texas is serious about increasing electricity reliability and cutting greenhouse gas emissions, it should be building nuclear plants, which proved to be the most reliable generation during the February freeze. For $66 billion, the state could have added another 6,000 megawatts or more, of new nuclear capacity. Alas, that’s not happening.
Adding more wind capacity to the Texas grid won’t do much to help meet demand during hot summer days.
You hear that, Clayton??
The ERCOT grid shows that tens of billions of dollars in tax incentives have resulted in the addition of tens of thousands of megawatts of generation capacity to the Texas grid that does precious little to provide power during periods of peak electricity demand. That’s a bad outcome.
Yeah, but let’s keep listening to idiots like Clayton Tucker, who knows absolutely nothing about anything. Or maybe Hubert Humperdink – who is ACTUALLY Heath Bishop in real life – a 7-Eleven clerk. I’m sure he knows what he’s talking about when he says wind power isn’t to blame. Or maybe local bartender Jennifer Moreno, who also thinks wind and solar are the solution to all our problems.
The math and the charts do not lie. Wind power is a gigantic boondoggle that does NOTHING for the environment.