Replies

A search on annual production of coal fired electricity to me to a pdf from NARUC (National Assoc. Regulatory Utility commission?) about coal flexibility white paper.

Starts off with something like “The huge changes seen in the electrical generation industry between 2008 and 2018....” The title is about coal, the photo on the cover is some windmills.

I haven’t waded through the paper, but I’m guessing there will be stuff in there about how the lack of coal (and its flexibility) may affect responses to changes in demand due to weather and other circumstances.

Too bad that 2018 NARUC paper is a pdf, but I’ll try my best to transcribe part of it. It talks about the difficulty of “cycling” a coal plant on/off or up/down as other sources of electricity come on line (solar and wind, highly variable).

“While they are currently being discussed, no specific market mechanisms exist to compensate fossil fuel power plants in the ERCOT and SPP markets...operators with the largest share of intermittent renewable energy resources...

More retirements of coal plants are likely, increasing the risk of potential power outages in states like Texas...

Thoughtful market mechanisms to compensate coal-fired units for providing balancing attributes, such as short-term generation flexibility...helping to ensure reliable operation of the nation’s electric power grid.”

********************************

Comment: Keep in mind that coal is up against increased EPA restrictions, while solar and wind is getting tax cuts and incentives.

here are two graphs that tell a lot of the story

...and this at the link...

https://graphics.texastribune.org/graphics/power-outage-2021-02/

Sorry I can't figure out how to display that one...

You have undependable subsidized green power making up a significant portion and then gas being the quick uptake power base but without all weather capability due to low storage (well heads too nearby) and no systems to keep freezing temps from impacting its transmission systems. Coal and nuclear dropped due to water cooling systems being impacted as well.