Solar electricity is poised to overtake coal in—of all palces—Texas
www.motherjones.com
Looks like clean power isn't a woke scam after all.

For the first time ever, solar is set to generate more electricity than coal in the power market managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Nobody is building new coal power plants in the state, but developers are adding more solar there than anywhere else in the country. As a result of those diverging trajectories, the federal government expects ERCOT will receive 78 billion kilowatt-hours from solar in 2026, and just 60 from coal.

This trend does have seasonal variations. Last year, solar output beat coal on a monthly basis from March through August, and this year it is expected to do so from March through December, per the US Energy Information Administration at the Department of Energy.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    15 hours ago

    Business friendly energy hungry state with enormous plots of undeveloped real estate does the logical thing.

    News At Eleven

    Incidentally, NGL plants are being built out rapidly in Texas for a tangential reason. Unlike with coal, an NGL plant can turn itself off and on quickly and easily. Consequently, when the sun is shining, NGLs can turn off rather than selling electricity into a cheap market. And when it is night/overcast, they turn on to make up the difference

      • ltxrtquq@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        10 hours ago

        Natural Gas Liquids. I remember seeing Liquid Natural Gas quite a bit, but I guess we can just shuffle the letters around however we want.

        Edit: If you want to know the difference (more details here)

        What Is Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)?

        Liquefied Natural Gas is natural gas that has been cooled to approximately -162 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, methane—the primary component of natural gas—transforms into a liquid. The process reduces the volume of the gas by about 600 times, making it easier to store and transport over long distances.

        What Are Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs)?

        Natural Gas Liquids are a group of hydrocarbons found in natural gas and crude oil. They are extracted as part of natural gas processing or crude oil refining. NGLs include ethane, propane, butane, isobutane, and natural gasoline. Unlike LNG, which is predominantly methane, NGLs are heavier hydrocarbons with distinct chemical and physical properties.

    • WalleyeWarrior@midwest.social
      3·
      14 hours ago

      Natural gas can also use efficient modern turbines. Coal plants are a nonstarter in the modern era because they run so dirty with impurities that you have to use shitty turbines that are down for maintenance cleaning all the time.