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.

  • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.caEnglish
    10·
    7 hours ago

    No one has ideology, morality or conscience, the millisecond renewables are cheaper, they will take over.

    • isleepinahammock@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      2·
      2 hours ago

      Did you know that during the 18th and 19th century industrial revolution in Britain, coal never became cheaper than water power? All those new steam engines were used to make deeper mines more viable and to increase production. But water power remained cheaper throughout. But water power came with a downside. Available water power tended to be located in rural areas. The smaller population in these small towns consequently had a lot of labor bargaining power. Industrialists instead wanted access to the labor markets of the major cities, cities brimming over with new urban poor desperate for any scrap of work they could get. Cheaper labor overcame cheaper power. A coal plant could be put anywhere, while a water mill could only be positioned on high-flowing streams.

      Renewables are cheaper, but we’ve been here before. There’s more to this than just energy cost.

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
      4·
      6 hours ago

      well said

      that being said, china subsidized solar panel production heavily for 20 years until they became economically self-sustaining. so there was a large amount of ideology involved i’d say.

      so this mostly applies to the buyers of solar panels.

      • The D Quuuuuill@slrpnk.netEnglish
        5·
        5 hours ago

        economists were calling for the US to do that the whole time, too, for exactly the reason that eventually something becomes the cheaper way to do something and then everyone does it. every era of innovation has been kicked off by public investment into technology that hasn’t a profit right now but someday will.

        the government is supposed to take a 10-30 outlook on things and act accordingly because corporations never will. they only ever look 4 months into the future.

        but then, if you’ve been alive long enough, you probably recognize that if the government can’t, or doesn’t, take that long term view then the government is useless at protecting you from business and that business is just fucking you over for blood money

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    9 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·
        3 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·
      8 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.

    • voxthefox@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      3·
      4 hours ago

      Texas Gov actually tried to blame the winter blackouts on solar & wind rather than ngl power plants in the region not being properly winterized thus freezing up in their biggest time of need.