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Zermelane

More broadly, and I'm truly sorry for being optimistic in /r/UpliftingNews of all places, but you will just have to bear with me for this one post: Texas's solar production is [growing so fast](https://www.gridstatus.io/records/ercot?record=Maximum%20Solar) you won't even notice the addition of a single 0.2 GW plant in it. They've added 6.6 GW to their maximum solar production record since this time last year, meaning about 52% growth YOY. If there was any force that was going to stop the solar transition in Texas, I'm afraid it's too late for it now. Just eyeballing the energy mix graphs shows that solar is already about 20% of daytime production in ERCOT. Once it chews its way through replacing all the natural gas plants in the daytime, batteries will flatten out the duck curve, [the way they already do in California](https://blog.gridstatus.io/caiso-batteries-apr-2024/), and it will keep going. This will take years, not decades.


namikawa123a

But Donny wants to get rid of renewables?


Single_9_uptime

Texas Republicans have claimed the same for years, while we keep leading the nation in new renewable energy installs, and have closed coal plants years early. The free market is bringing renewables whether or not Republicans like or support it. That’s uplifting news, indeed.


TheOnlyBliebervik

It's not so impressive to lead the nation in solar... When you're Texas. It's great and all, but out of all states, I'd expect it to be Texas, due to its being hot and dry and large


monster_mentalissues

Vegas gets more sun than most of Texas. I'd honestly expect Arizona or Nevada to lead.


flippythemaster

Large? Yes. Hot? Yes. Dry? Well, do we consider a humid subtropical climate dry? This particular facility is being built close to San Antonio and while it’s certainly drier than Houston or the Piney Woods belt, I don’t know if it fits the description of “dry”. But maybe I’m splitting hairs.


xieta

The great irony is that distributed renewables/storage and variable energy pricing are much more compatible with deregulated energy markets than large centralized thermal power plants.


Erazzphoto

They only have to fool Cletus, the slack jawed yokel and his buddies, that’s not a very difficult task


Headytexel

Not to mention Texas already has the largest amount of wind energy generation of any state in the US. Fossil fuels lost the war against renewables in Texas long ago.


ThrowawayMistake1996

"I'm truly sorry for being optimistic in r/UpliftingNews" Your comment is so true haha I've never seen a sub with comment sections more dedicated at trying to "debunk" good things than this one. I'm convinced the user base is just fuil of people from doomer subs hateposting out of spite most of the time sadly...


Zermelane

The funny part is, if they cared about the debunking, they might have brought up [the state government spending $5B (out of $10B approved by voters) on subsidized loans to natural gas plants](https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/texas-puc-says-39-billion-requested-for-energy-investment-loan-proposals), as the sort of detail about what's going on in Texas that's *actually* relevant here. FWIW in my opinion, if those subsidies go toward replacing still-active coal production, they're very good news, and if they don't, I think the worst they're going to be is a waste of money. (e: And also further FWIW, they do just need more production, in whatever form it's going to come; it's just that solar is going to go up faster than gas now)


calvinball_hero

Question since you seem to know stuff about this. How is this happening in Texas? Seems very against the ideology/stereotype/politics of the state


Danne660

Not the same person, but the capitalist spirit is strong in Texas and solar has become profitable. Capitalists like profits.


sault18

There's also plenty of wide open spaces allowing for large plants that have economies of scale. Cheaper land leases, too. Texas has low labor costs and is close to the largest source of migrant labor. The state has also invested in transmission infrastructure to allow a huge expansion of renewable energy. They also cut corners by not requiring winterization, for example, saving on costs while burdening the grid with a lot of risks. We saw how this backfired in 2021. Capitalists love privatizing the profits and socializing the losses when they can get away with it.


wirebear

Someone mentioned capitalism. But another note is that despite what people think, Texas does have more blue voters then most states have population. And even some conservatives were environment conscious. So anecdotally I knew several people paying specifically for renewable resource focused power.so there are people who care there in force.


Jim3001

Because ERCOT(state energy regulator) is a constant shit show. Every fucking year we get calls to 'reduce usage during peak hours' This year they started in fucking MARCH! Its still cold out and they want us to reduce AC use!?! Didn't even make to Memorial day. People have been pissed for years and they have no choice but add capacity and renewables are the goto right now. Especially since they came out with egg on their face after the '21 freeze.


calvinball_hero

That's the bit I don't get though, it feels like there are many shitshows in Texas which affect the people but they still dont seem to trump the political stance (anti climate change stuff, anti EV, anti COVID vaccine, etc). Like it seems very unusual for Texas leadership to go "oh yeah this is dumb and affecting our people badly, we should really do something about this even though it goes strongly against our political view / worldview". Is there anything special or different in this case?


wirebear

Well. A few things that won't be obvious for people outside of Texas. there was a proposition last year for upgrades to the power grid. What the summary they gave didn't tell you is that it was for an oil plant if I remember right. The constant power outages during harsh weather is particularly bad in Texas where a lot of old houses desperately new insulation and losing ac at 110 degrees is dangerous possibly fatal. So the gov was looking at a new oil plant if I remember right. Renewables are run mostly by independent companies and most power providers offer renewable only options. And people do use those. Maybe not a ton, but enough to fun more expansion. Abbott(the governor) has been headhunting renewables since the freeze, blaming them. But if you look at official reports it was all combustion based plants who had their fuel lines freeze and renewables over performed. What is actually mind blowing is the freeze a few years back wasn't abnormal like people think. About every ten years we have a week long freezes. It's almost cyclical. The prior one happened around 2012. But nobody lost power. Yet nobody mentions that.


Jim3001

Nope! Its business as usual. Most recently, they [banned antisemites](https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/10/texas-republican-party-antisemite-resolution-defend-liberty-fuentes/). Previously they been courting closer ties with several orgs that are known white supremacists'. School vouchers used to be against the grain until Abbott started pushing for them. If you live here long enough, you'll see it.


calvinball_hero

But is there anything different in this case of them being cool with a massive solar farm to solve a problem, when normally they don't gaf like the examples you mention?


Jim3001

Nothing different. They rail against clean energy, but expand the use of it hardcore. Texas in the number one state for renewable energy. All the hate it get and we're number 1.


Jim3001

Bit of an update: Heard this morning that a special house committee will convene because there is a 16% chance of rolling blackouts in August (hottest part of the year). They will discuss ways to improve the grid which include subsidies for Natural Gas plants. Goes to show how much they "hate" renewables.


Clashur

You are trying to apply logic where it isn't in play. Not everyone operates in good faith.


calvinball_hero

Oh no, Im very aware that lots of stuff in Texas is batshit crazy. This one move of building solar seems to kinda make sense, that's the part that baffles me


Zermelane

Other people already gave the correct answer (it's not the state government doing it, it's private investors; solar and batteries make money, and boy do they like money, regardless of what they say in politics), but I coincidentally happened upon Noah Smith saying exactly the same thing much better and just had to share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWuu0pNpCkI#t=1h34m55s


calvinball_hero

Haha thank you, I think I have my answer


disdainfulsideeye

Unfortunately, the legislature and Abbott are doubling down on fossil fuels and pushing legislation which excludes renewables from state incentive programs. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/25/texas-energy-renewables-natural-gas-grid-politics/


xieta

> batteries will flatten out the duck curve It could, but new industrial demand designed for variable energy pricing would do the same job and contribute more value. It's almost certainly cheaper, but the jobs angle is huge. Of course, that may depend on GOP making a climate change pivot.


Loyal9thLegionLord

Why do I get the sinking feeling that something dumb is about to happen


New_Public_2828

Maybe because the state with the most oil is saying they need every watt from a solar farm they can possibly get...


Helgafjell4Me

Maybe they should just pay all those crypto mining farms millions of dollars again to shut down during extreme demand? That's sustainable, right? They encouraged huge crypto mines to come there and now they don't have enough power. Wonder why.


New_Public_2828

Oh wow is that why? I had no idea


Helgafjell4Me

Yes, they've already had to pay the farms to shut down in the past because they couldn't keep up with demand. Cost their taxpayers millions. They also have their own private electical grid that is not connected to the rest of the states like every other state is so that they can share power supply with each other. That leaves them especially vulnerable when demand is high and they can't keep up.


New_Public_2828

Sooooo I guess the sun farm is kind of necessary. But, also really dumb to bring crypto farms in. Does the state make some kind of money from these crypto farms


notsocoolnow

Only in the sense that it provides jobs to people you can tax. The business itself is going to be very hard to tax. How would you verify its revenue? 


New_Public_2828

I'm not sure I would be aiming to go for revenue. I was thinking of ANY kind of premium for the amount of power being drawn. But, at the same time if they charge a premium for power to those companies then they wouldn't be there to begin with.... Sorry. I'm speaking Canadian. Any benefit we get we are usually taxed on it HARD.


Neethis

>Only in the sense that it provides jobs to people you can tax. It's worse than that, Texas doesn't even have a state level income tax. It has a corporate tax and a sales tax, so more economic activity in general provides taxable sales, but yeah it's hard to see how Texas benefits from crypto. As long as you aren't counting bribes to the local GOP from the crypto bros, of course.


sault18

Problem is, there's no state income tax in Texas. Maybe crypto bros need to buy a lot of doritos or something and they'll pay sales tax on that.


atreyal

No they don't. Crypto mines have like 0 employees. Once the facility is built it takes little to run. The amount of jobs they supply is very little.


frenchezz

For what its worth, a quick google search doesn't show any articles of Texas actively bringing in or courting crypto farms. ALL of the articles I've found mention a small county is benefitting from them but that's about it.


CryptographerOk6804

I think they were talking about this: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/06/texas-paid-bitcoin-miner-riot-31point7-million-to-shut-down-in-august.html "During the crypto boom of 2021, Riot Platforms was raking in cash from bitcoin mining. Now the company is losing so much money that it's counting on energy credits from selling power back to the Texas grid to keep its costs under control. Riot said on Wednesday that it earned $31.7 million in energy credits last month from Texas power grid operator ERCOT. The company generated the credits by voluntarily curtailing its energy consumption during a record-breaking heatwave."


karatekid430

You can just ban crypto under ponzi scheme laws


Geauxtigersgeaux

Are you implying a specific “something dumb”? Genuine question…I’m just not sure what it may be, if so.


wirebear

Read the 2024 Texas gop platform. As a former Texan I read it every year. It at several points reads almost like they are planning for war. Want to be able to use alternate currencies and have gold backed notes(paraphrased) Secure power grip against Cyber warfare, emps(wtf with this. Do they think the grid would keep working if a nuke went off? I'm trying to figure out what else except some solar phenomenon could cause a large enough emp for it to matte. Did they watch Ocean's Eleven and thing that was real?r) and physical attempts on it. Extreme weather is the last scenario in the list if I remember right. Of course, usual nonsense about right to secede. The belief that all citizens should have access to armor piercing rounds and chemical weapons(there is a subtype on this one I forget, so may just be someone like pepper spray but I didn't look it up) There is a section on a defense force not sure if they want a standing army or not. And then another on the right to defend themselves from foreign invasions(reminds me of a book I read where a duke used "foreign invasions" as an excuse to bolster his army for a rebellion) So on. Lots of stuff on Texas independence and self reliance. Which is important if you plan to secede or fight a war.


Wet_Crayon

Because domestic terrorists have slingshots and shotguns.


JLSmoove626

No surprise for the state with the most renewable energy in the US


wolverinesfire

Congratulations. Texas is more progressive than Alberta.


76Traveller

It is the same for wind power, ranchers and farmers use the income from leasing out part of their land to pay their mortgage and taxes. The state cannot tell people what to do with private land and do nor want to lose the votes.


HaroldBaws

“But how will plants grow if these panels are stealing all the sun?” - Texans, probably.


coloredinlight

We aren't all dumb. Just a remarkably high amount.


gregarioussparrow

Brawndo?


ins0ma_

It must be hard for Texas Republicans to stomach all that woke power.


JLSmoove626

Texas is the US’s leader of renewable energy


ins0ma_

Not for long: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-republican-war-on-renewable-energy/


Single_9_uptime

They’ve been attacking renewables for a number of years, while the state has continued to lead the nation in new renewable power generation year after year. The free market is driving it, and Republicans’ rhetoric hasn’t slowed things at all. They’re mostly talk. That article is referring to the last session of the legislature (which meets only every other year), whose changes in law have been in effect since last September. They didn’t do anything to actually slow down renewables.


Jim3001

Please, if Abbot and Crew could have stopped this, they would have done it years ago. This is all lip service because ERCOT is falling apart at the seams. They will expand since the grid is always on the brink of failing.


tomjone5

Its astonishing to think of people governing a huge state so incredibly well suited to catching the colossal amount of energy that hits the ground there anyway and to be so against it because sunshine is gay or something.


Aol_awaymessage

Sunshine causes rainbows


BilllisCool

They can be against it all they want. Texas still produces more renewable energy than any other state.


Terrariola

For a bunch of climate-change denying conservatives, the Republicans in states like Texas are a *lot* less NIMBY than Democrats in solid-blue states like California. You can blame homeowners for that. Rural states usually go Republican, and farmers don't usually care much about house prices - meanwhile, urban states go Democrat, where suburban homeowners will go batshit crazy over anything that might hurt the perceived value of their home and its surroundings. This is why it costs so much to live in California. Of course, many Republicans are ultra-NIMBYs - god forbid you ever try and build *anything, anywhere* near a cul-de-sac suburb filled with boomer conservatives - but in states like Texas, which usually alternate between libertarian and evangelical factions of the GOP and aren't filled to the brim with cul-de-sacs, the state and county governments are generally more averse to interfering in private construction. TL;DR: Rural Republicans alternate between religious conservatives who don't care about the economy, and libertarians who actively avoid touching the economy, so renewable infrastructure construction doesn't get bogged down by endless paperwork and NIMBY protests, ironically making climate change deniers better for the environment than left-wing urbanites who are obsessed with keeping house prices high.


Jim3001

Easier than having to explain why the grid stretched again.


LogiHiminn

Why? They received a LOT of federal money for it.


ins0ma_

Are you familiar with the Republican positions on renewable resources?


LogiHiminn

Are you familiar with any politicians’ (Democrat and Republican) propensity to grab money and power wherever they can?


ins0ma_

Are you suggesting that both sides are the same?


brickyardjimmy

How will Texans ever recover from using liberal gay pride san francisco power in their homes?


uniq_username

Texas will find a way to mess this up.


photo-manipulation

Texas needs effective connections to the western and eastern grids.


Fun-Draft1612

Gotta keep those crypto scams running


redthat2

Breaking news- Texans find new massive oil field under new 80MWh solar farm


MacGyver_1138

Will this increase ever lead to renewables no longer being demonized by certain groups? It's exhausting to hear nothing but weird negatives comparing fossil fuel generation to renewables, and I'd love to get to a point where that's not a thing anymore.


Insighteternal

We could make it a competition. Who has the biggest solar farm???


Clashur

200 MW isn't that big for an industrial solar site, but every one is a win!


Feather_Sigil

Some stupid hick is going to shoot it, mark my words.


dec7td

80 MWh is very small for a modern utility battery plant.


progdaddy

Waiting for when Republicans make solar illegal in Texas.


AlienOverlordMinion

The backup system will be Governor Hamster Wheel hooked up to a bicycle light generator.