Posted on 03/26/2026 7:01:25 AM PDT by MtnClimber
If you don’t like fossil fuels — and who does? — our betters in academia and environmental NGOs have the perfect answer: we can just get our energy in the form of electricity from the wind and sun. The fuel is abundant and free for the taking. The New York Times has reported that the cost of electricity generated from wind and sun is now lower than the cost of generation from fossil fuel sources. And even as we save money on electricity, we’ll be saving the planet! All the sociology and gender studies majors agree that we have a moral duty to switch our energy system away from fossil fuels to “clean and green” wind and solar electricity. Who could possibly be such a monster as to stand in the way?
At this website, I have devoted considerable attention to documenting major flaws in this narrative. In particular, I have written dozens of posts on the subject of the intermittency problem of wind and solar generation, which leads to a need for either full back-up at all times from another generation source, or alternatively for massive capacity of energy storage, in order to make a fully-functioning electricity system to power a grid without regular blackouts. As demonstrated in my Energy Storage Report of December 2022, providing sufficient energy storage in the form of batteries could multiply the cost of electricity from wind and sun by a factor of ten or more.
And it turns out that the intermittency problem is just one of the major issues with wind and solar generation that make those sources completely impractical and unaffordable to run an electrical grid. Another huge problem, which I have previously barely touched on here, is the problem of synchronization and inertia. My assumption is that nearly all readers will be almost completely unfamiliar with this issue, and with why this issue becomes an insurmountable problem as countries try to move to a predominantly wind/sun generation system. So let this post introduce you to the topic.
One of the things I do in my spare time is serve on the Board of something called the American Friends of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. That organization is an American charity that raises funds to support two affiliated organizations in the UK — the Global Warming Policy Foundation, and Net Zero Watch. On March 9, Net Zero Watch sponsored a presentation in Edinburgh by an energy consultant named Kathryn Porter. The title of the presentation was “Scotland’s Energy Crisis.”
Ms. Porter’s full talk can be found at this link. This Kathryn Porter is not to be confused with Katherine (“Katie”) Porter, the rather crazy ex-Congresswoman and current gubernatorial candidate in California. Our Kathryn Porter runs an energy consulting business in the UK and has a very informative website called watt-logic.com. And she definitely knows what she is talking about on the subject of how an electrical grid works.
While Ms. Porter’s talk specifically addressed the current situation of the electrical grid in Scotland, it turns out that that the most important problem that Scotland’s electrical grid faces is the problem of maintaining synchronization. If you don’t know what that means, I’ll let Ms. Porter introduce the subject:
Our power grids are built around alternating current, that is current that varies in a regular sine wave pattern over time . . . . Voltage also varies in the same way. This electricity is generated utilising some fundamental principles of physics. If you rotate one magnet inside the magnetic field of another magnet you can induce a current in a wire. In our power grids, this happens in conventional power stations.
An external power source is used to power electromagnets mounted on a rotor which is driven by a turbine to rotate inside another electromagnet called a stator. The turbines [of] all power stations turn at 3000 RPM to give a wave that has a frequency of 50 Hz (by dividing 3000 RPM by 60 seconds to get 50 cycles per second also known as 50 Hz) . . . . The entire power grid is structured around these properties: current and voltage alternate at a stable 50 Hz and the size and shape of the voltage wave must remain stable everywhere on the grid. [In the U.S., the frequency is 60 Hz rather than 50.] . . . Before a generator connects to the grid it must match the grid’s voltage, frequency and phase – that is the peaks ad troughs of the waves line up. This process is known as synchronisation.
What Ms. Porter calls “conventional power stations” include all thermal plants — fossil fuel and nuclear — and also hydroelectric power plants. But the term does not include wind and solar generators. Those do not have large and heavy rotating components that create and maintain the alternating current with constant frequency that is the essence of grid function. Instead, they produce what is called “direct current,” and then they have devices called “inverters,” that transform the direct current produced by the turbines or panels into an alternating current at the grid frequency. But while the wind and solar electricity can be altered by these devices into synchronized alternating current to fit into an existing grid, the wind/solar generation has no ability to maintain, let alone create, the necessary grid frequency. Ms. Porter explains:
“[I]nertia”. . . is a property where a conventional power station resists . . . changes in frequency – falling frequency would try to slow the rotation of the turbines but they are big heavy lumps of metal whose speed is hard to change, meaning they resist those changes and help to keep the frequency stable. This is important because a lot of equipment can break if the frequency moves away from 50 Hz by too much, including turbines, so they have protection relays that will simply cause them to disconnect if they detect a dangerous frequency level. If your power stations start disconnecting you end up with blackouts so it’s pretty important that doesn’t happen.
Conventional generators also have electromagnetic inertia which means they also support voltage. . . . If voltage rises too high or falls too low equipment can be damaged. If grid voltage rises, the current in the electromagnets that generate electricity in synchronous generators automatically adjust and act to pull the grid voltage back down. In both cases – frequency control and voltage control – conventional power stations do this automatically due to their physical properties. They do not require an external control system to detect changes in grid behaviour and instruct the changes.
Wind and solar generators behave very differently. They produce direct current i.e. current and voltage that do not vary in time. They are converted to alternating current using electronic devices known as inverters. . . . Inverters work by following what the grid is doing. . . . These inverters are “grid following” i.e. they cannot create the current and voltage wave.
So if you get rid of all the “conventional” generation sources, and you’re down to just wind and solar, how can you create a grid and keep it running with a stable 50 or 60 Hz frequency? Ms. Porter explains that there is a concept called “grid forming inverters”.— but those things don’t yet exist!:
There are some efforts to develop grid forming inverters that would [create the current and voltage wave] but there are big challenges in their development and so far there are no such devices in operation anywhere in the world where they are actually forming the grid.
The “grid forming inverters” are thus much like the magical “dispatchable emissions-free resources” that our New York energy bureaucrats are expecting someone to invent one of these days to solve the intermittency problem.
Ms. Porter explains that the big blackout in Spain in April 2025 arose from a lack of conventional power stations with sufficient inertia to stabilize the grid when a voltage anomaly occurred:
Spain has allowed most of the conventional generation in the south to close and is now struggling to control voltage, with the grid operator warning that further blackouts cannot be ruled out. . . .
And then Ms. Porter explains that Scotland has gotten itself into basically the same position as Spain. Scotland has gone all in on wind generation, while closing all but two of its conventional power stations. Thus Scotland seems to have plenty of electricity most of the time. But it is totally dependent on the two conventional stations to maintain grid frequency and inertia. One small blip, and the whole thing goes down. Oh, and they plan to close both of those last two conventional power stations within the next few years. Hey, the wind and sun are abundant and free!
There’s much more of interest in Ms. Porter’s talk, and it is well worth your time if this subject interests you.
A further thought. Remember when pollution was the issue.
We picked measuring pollution from the tail pipe at idle.
What if we had chosen MGP as the goal and measured TOTAL pollution?
This is today right now in real time. Texas is 81% renewable energy and never got below 50% overnight as wind was rocking last night solar just came online and is being curtailed right now.
“DateTime Solar Wind Hydro Power Storage Other Natural Gas Coal and Lignite Nuclear Total Total Renewables Net + Storage Net SWNB
2026-03-26 00:04:57 0.3 24968.3 4.2 -839.5 0 15630.9 6827.2 3743.1 50334.5 57.04179042 0 57.04179042
2026-03-26 00:09:57 0.3 24937.9 4.2 -770.2 0 15435.4 6776.5 3744.7 50128.8 57.21840539 0 57.21840539
2026-03-26 00:14:57 0.3 24917.1 4.1 -782.1 0 15166.4 6784 3742.9 49832.7 57.51303863 0 57.51303863
2026-03-26 00:19:57 0.3 25011.3 4.1 -1074.8 0 15099.4 6781.2 3743.9 49565.4 58.01526872 0 58.01526872
2026-03-26 00:24:57 0.3 24980.4 4.1 -1015.5 0 14939.2 6758.3 3743.7 49410.5 58.13420224 0 58.13420224
2026-03-26 00:29:57 0.3 24748.8 4.2 -1016.6 0 15027.4 6709.8 3743.3 49217.2 57.89114375 0 57.89114375
2026-03-26 00:34:57 0.3 24660.2 4.2 -1043.8 0 14941.2 6701.2 3741.5 49004.8 57.95758783 0 57.95758783
2026-03-26 00:39:57 0.3 24619.3 4.1 -1099.3 0 14832.6 6620.5 3746.3 48723.8 58.21774985 0 58.21774985
2026-03-26 00:44:57 0.3 24406.5 4.2 -986.6 0 14686.8 6571.7 3743 48425.9 58.12963724 0 58.12963724
2026-03-26 00:49:57 0.3 24323.5 4.1 -830.7 0 14637.1 6444.2 3743.6 48322.1 58.08398228 0 58.08398228
2026-03-26 00:54:57 0.3 24340.6 4.1 -958.3 0 14604.9 6445.1 3743.5 48180.2 58.29033503 0 58.29033503
2026-03-26 00:59:57 0.4 24641.7 4.2 -1450.2 0 14710.7 6463.7 3742.4 48112.9 58.9956124 0 58.9956124
2026-03-26 01:04:57 0.3 24655.3 4.2 -1130.2 0 14264.5 6545.4 3743.5 48083 59.06266248 0 59.06266248
2026-03-26 01:09:57 0.3 24884.9 4.2 -1243 0 13787.9 6596.7 3744.7 47775.7 59.92565258 0 59.92565258
2026-03-26 01:14:57 0.4 24930 6.2 -1376.6 0 13614.9 6650.1 3745 47570 60.28042884 0 60.28042884
2026-03-26 01:19:57 0.3 24830.6 6.4 -1006.8 0 13267.3 6627 3744.8 47469.6 60.19789507 0 60.19789507
2026-03-26 01:24:57 0.3 25076 6.3 -1040.8 0 12952.9 6617.8 3744.1 47356.6 60.85825418 0 60.85825418
2026-03-26 01:29:57 0.4 25289 6.3 -1238.8 0 12906.1 6623.7 3743.5 47330.2 61.34117329 0 61.34117329
2026-03-26 01:34:57 0.3 25232 6.4 -1177.7 0 12845.2 6512.4 3743 47161.6 61.43833118 0 61.43833118
2026-03-26 01:39:57 0.3 25058.7 6.3 -1204.3 0 12815.5 6399.2 3743.9 46819.6 61.5188938 0 61.5188938
2026-03-26 01:44:57 0.3 24942.3 6.3 -961 0 12630.7 6326.2 3744.2 46689 61.44230975 0 61.44230975
2026-03-26 01:49:57 0.3 24946.3 6.4 -753.4 0 12415.1 6283.4 3744.7 46642.8 61.51281655 0 61.51281655
2026-03-26 01:54:57 0.3 24839 6.3 -1076.5 0 12607 6248.8 3743.3 46368.2 61.64267752 0 61.64267752
2026-03-26 01:59:57 0.3 25065.5 6.3 -1345.5 0 12609 6228.9 3743 46307.5 62.21195271 0 62.21195271
2026-03-26 02:04:57 0.3 24949.6 6.4 -1453.6 0 12418.5 6277.6 3744.5 45943.3 62.45611438 0 62.45611438
2026-03-26 02:09:57 0.3 24880.3 6.4 -1090.1 0 12123.9 6255.7 3744 45920.5 62.33512266 0 62.33512266
2026-03-26 02:14:57 0.3 24909.4 6.4 -1070.8 0 11964.9 6327.3 3745.1 45882.6 62.45243295 0 62.45243295
2026-03-26 02:19:57 0.3 24820.5 6.4 -1087.7 0 11891.5 6414.1 3745 45790.1 62.38422716 0 62.38422716
2026-03-26 02:24:57 0.3 24755.3 6.4 -1279.4 0 11889.2 6377 3743.5 45492.3 62.64598624 0 62.64598624
2026-03-26 02:29:57 0.3 24767.4 6.4 -1097.4 0 11900 6288.2 3748.1 45613 62.51682634 0 62.51682634
2026-03-26 02:34:57 0.4 24805.4 6.3 -1336.5 0 11892.8 6322.1 3743 45433.5 62.83645328 0 62.83645328
2026-03-26 02:39:57 0.4 24765.8 6.4 -1407.4 0 11882.5 6340.5 3744.5 45332.7 62.89212864 0 62.89212864
2026-03-26 02:44:57 0.4 24722.1 6.4 -1332.3 0 11892 6297.8 3746 45332.4 62.79945469 0 62.79945469
2026-03-26 02:49:57 0.3 24625.9 6.4 -1263.4 0 11891 6249.6 3744.6 45254.4 62.69180455 0 62.69180455
2026-03-26 02:54:57 0.3 24661.3 6.4 -1372.1 0 11881.4 6244.6 3744.4 45166.3 62.89202348 0 62.89202348
2026-03-26 02:59:57 0.4 24598.1 6.3 -1519.8 0 11883.2 6192.4 3743.8 44904.4 63.1169774 0 63.1169774
2026-03-26 03:04:57 0.5 24364.5 6.4 -1175 0 11907.9 6059.3 3745.7 44909.3 62.59438468 0 62.59438468
2026-03-26 03:09:57 0.3 24317.7 6.4 -1011.4 0 11876.1 5976.2 3743.1 44908.4 62.48519208 0 62.48519208
2026-03-26 03:14:57 0.4 24241.9 6.4 -966 0 11854.9 5993 3745 44875.6 62.36640847 0 62.36640847
2026-03-26 03:19:57 0.3 24316.5 6.4 -1203.6 0 11820.8 6009.8 3745.7 44695.9 62.7854009 0 62.7854009
2026-03-26 03:24:57 0.3 24116.4 6.4 -863 0 11797.4 5985.9 3743.3 44786.7 62.2059674 0 62.2059674
2026-03-26 03:29:57 0.3 24204.8 6.4 -1134.7 0 11826.2 6054.7 3744.8 44702.5 62.52424361 0 62.52424361
2026-03-26 03:34:57 0.4 24166.8 6.4 -1220 0 11809.3 6076.5 3746.1 44585.5 62.60622848 0 62.60622848
2026-03-26 03:39:57 0.3 24113.7 6.4 -1062.4 0 11814.1 6023.5 3744.5 44640.1 62.40689425 0 62.40689425
2026-03-26 03:44:57 0.3 24061.4 6.3 -1129.5 0 11822.4 6032.4 3745.1 44538.4 62.43331597 0 62.43331597
2026-03-26 03:49:57 0.3 23993.2 6.4 -1189.5 0 11833.4 6090.5 3745 44479.3 62.36271704 0 62.36271704
2026-03-26 03:54:57 0.4 24102 6.4 -1437.7 0 11839.5 6147.4 3746.4 44404.4 62.71630739 0 62.71630739
2026-03-26 03:59:57 0.4 24043.3 6.4 -1352 0 11848.4 6080.6 3746.3 44373.4 62.62761023 0 62.62761023
2026-03-26 04:04:57 0.3 23882.2 6.4 -993.4 0 11831.4 6064 3744.6 44535.5 62.03388308 0 62.03388308
2026-03-26 04:09:57 0.4 23934.6 6.4 -1008.4 0 11859.4 6011.9 3742.7 44547 62.13145666 0 62.13145666
2026-03-26 04:14:57 0.4 23874.9 6.4 -980 0 11861.9 5935.2 3744.7 44443.5 62.14632061 0 62.14632061
2026-03-26 04:19:57 0.3 23912 6.4 -947.2 0 11913.3 5888.9 3746 44519.7 62.12598018 0 62.12598018
2026-03-26 04:24:57 0.3 23891.1 6.4 -926.1 0 11957.7 5843.1 3746.8 44519.3 62.08138942 0 62.08138942
2026-03-26 04:29:57 0.4 23971.9 6.4 -791.4 0 11927.1 5758.5 3745.8 44618.7 62.12215954 0 62.12215954
2026-03-26 04:34:57 0.3 23897.8 6.4 -801.1 0 11954 5796 3744.5 44597.9 61.98184219 0 61.98184219
2026-03-26 04:39:57 0.4 23847.1 6.4 -562.4 0 11903.1 5797.7 3744.9 44737.2 61.676636 0 61.676636
2026-03-26 04:44:57 0.4 23804.4 6.4 -578.5 0 11921.7 5814.3 3744.7 44713.4 61.61352078 0 61.61352078
2026-03-26 04:49:57 0.4 23793.7 6.4 -762.2 0 11962.3 5923.3 3743.9 44667.8 61.65067454 0 61.65067454
2026-03-26 04:54:57 0.4 24004.6 6.4 -926.1 0 11971.2 5950.4 3745.2 44752.1 62.00871021 0 62.00871021
2026-03-26 04:59:57 0.3 24044.6 6.4 -809.5 0 11953.4 5987.2 3745 44927.4 61.85512627 0 61.85512627
2026-03-26 05:04:57 3 24032.2 6.4 -571.7 0 11944.5 6120.6 3745.5 45280.5 61.35245856 0 61.35245856
2026-03-26 05:09:57 0.4 23997.9 6.4 -506.9 0 11995.1 6212.3 3745.4 45450.6 61.0414384 0 61.0414384
2026-03-26 05:14:57 0.3 24033.3 6.4 -550.8 0 12105.9 6306.6 3744.8 45646.5 60.85548728 0 60.85548728
2026-03-26 05:19:57 0.4 23980.5 6.4 -612.5 0 12200.5 6410 3745.6 45730.9 60.62968365 0 60.62968365
2026-03-26 05:24:57 0.3 23946.5 6.4 -806.9 0 12306.1 6489.2 3745.3 45686.9 60.61277959 0 60.61277959
2026-03-26 05:29:57 0.3 23888.5 6.4 -549.5 0 12324 6542.5 3744.5 45956.7 60.12899098 0 60.12899098
2026-03-26 05:34:57 4.4 23964.8 6.4 -385.3 0 12338.5 6598.3 3745.9 46273 59.89475504 0 59.89475504
2026-03-26 05:39:57 0.3 24044.4 6.4 -386 0 12350.9 6650.5 3745.5 46412 59.87718693 0 59.87718693
2026-03-26 05:44:57 0.3 24129.3 6.4 -317.2 0 12346.1 6670.4 3745 46580.3 59.84203623 0 59.84203623
2026-03-26 05:49:57 0.4 24146 6.3 -180.4 0 12250.3 6723.3 3746.4 46692.3 59.73747277 0 59.73747277
2026-03-26 05:54:57 0.3 24271.7 6.3 -131.6 0 12261.4 6753.7 3746 46907.8 59.7299383 0 59.7299383
2026-03-26 05:59:57 0.5 24230.3 6.4 193.2 0 12265.3 6742.9 3744.4 47183 59.29084628 0.409469512 59.70031579
2026-03-26 06:04:57 0.4 24288.6 6.4 476.1 0 12306.3 6795.1 3745.2 47618.1 58.87299157 0.999829897 59.87282147
2026-03-26 06:09:57 0.4 24401.6 6.4 520 0 12410.5 6881.4 3745.3 47965.6 58.68226396 1.084110279 59.76637423
2026-03-26 06:14:57 0.3 24388.1 6.3 655.5 0 12462.9 6948.2 3744.4 48205.7 58.3599035 1.3597977 59.7197012
2026-03-26 06:19:57 0.4 24192.4 6.3 913.3 0 12530.7 6992.9 3747.3 48383.3 57.74740458 1.887634783 59.63503936
2026-03-26 06:24:57 0.4 24293.4 6.4 1006.9 0 12572.5 7093.2 3744.5 48717.3 57.55306636 2.066822258 59.61988862
2026-03-26 06:29:57 0.3 24261.1 6.3 1116.6 0 12632.5 7212.6 3746.6 48976 57.18719373 2.279892192 59.46708592
2026-03-26 06:34:57 0.3 24320.9 6.4 1298.2 0 12623.4 7273.1 3745.1 49267.4 56.96728465 2.635008139 59.60229279
2026-03-26 06:39:57 0.4 24263.1 6.3 1341.5 0 12670.6 7373.4 3744.5 49399.8 56.69658582 2.715598039 59.41218385
2026-03-26 06:44:57 0.4 24308.9 6.4 1132.9 0 12782.2 7480 3745.5 49456.3 56.72644334 2.290709172 59.01715252
2026-03-26 06:49:57 0.5 24415.2 6.4 1257.4 0 12857.9 7385.7 3746 49669.1 56.69863154 2.531553823 59.23018537
2026-03-26 06:54:57 0.4 24477.8 6.4 1319.1 0 12902.2 7330.1 3746.2 49782.2 56.69576676 2.649742277 59.34550904
2026-03-26 06:59:57 0.4 24437.7 6.3 1074.9 0 12955.7 7460.2 3745.7 49680.9 56.72964862 2.163608147 58.89325676
2026-03-26 07:04:57 0.4 24309.5 6.4 1433.8 0 13007.4 7352.9 3745 49855.4 56.27254019 2.875917152 59.14845734
2026-03-26 07:09:57 0.4 24298.5 6.3 1524.9 0 13028.3 7272.4 3745.6 49876.4 56.22799561 3.057357788 59.28535339
2026-03-26 07:14:57 1.4 24300.9 6.4 1521.8 0 13121.9 7259.1 3746.1 49957.6 56.14441046 3.046183163 59.19059362
2026-03-26 07:19:57 7.2 24205 6.3 1367.4 0 13253.5 7215.7 3745.6 49800.7 56.13937153 2.745744538 58.88511607
2026-03-26 07:24:57 24.2 24430.3 6.3 1230.7 0 13239.9 7179.7 3748 49859.1 56.56439847 2.468355827 59.0327543
2026-03-26 07:29:57 61.1 24419 6.4 1489.3 0 13119.7 7169.9 3745.5 50010.9 56.43889632 2.977950807 59.41684713
2026-03-26 07:34:57 144.8 24239 6.4 1687.2 0 13029.4 7168.7 3745.5 50021 56.23498131 3.372983347 59.60796465
2026-03-26 07:39:57 293 24275.7 6.4 1431.2 0 12941.9 7176.2 3744.5 49868.9 56.77526474 2.869924943 59.64518969
2026-03-26 07:44:57 503 24210.4 6.4 1314.9 0 12902.7 7169.4 3745.5 49852.3 57.08643332 2.637591445 59.72402477
2026-03-26 07:49:57 814.2 24172.5 6.4 1028.5 0 12900.9 7176.8 3744.1 49843.4 57.64213517 2.063462765 59.70559793
2026-03-26 07:54:57 1185 24187 6.4 700.4 0 12868.9 7180.9 3745.4 49874 58.38192244 1.404338934 59.78626138
2026-03-26 07:59:57 1627.3 24090.9 6.4 341 0 12757.8 7181.7 3745.2 49750.3 59.22255745 0.685423002 59.90798045
2026-03-26 08:04:57 2190.8 23912.1 6.4 279.8 0 12484.9 7150.7 3744.8 49769.5 59.97187032 0.562191704 60.53406203
2026-03-26 08:09:57 2979.6 23629.7 6.1 301.8 0 12210.8 7112.5 3745.4 49985.9 60.72652488 0.603770263 61.33029514
2026-03-26 08:14:57 3807.7 23221.3 6.1 300.1 0 11972.8 7043.7 3747 50098.7 61.43073573 0.599017539 62.02975327
2026-03-26 08:19:57 4567.1 22886.5 6.1 146.6 0 11733.1 7006.7 3743.8 50089.9 62.2828155 0.292673773 62.57548927
2026-03-26 08:24:57 5310.6 22715.5 6.1 -21.4 0 11430.9 6923.2 3745.6 50110.5 63.40327875 0 63.40327875
2026-03-26 08:29:57 6142.8 22515.3 6 -116.7 0 11054.3 6828.5 3745.4 50175.6 64.58019436 0 64.58019436
2026-03-26 08:34:57 6833 22379.5 6.1 -130.2 0 10764.8 6697.5 3745.7 50296.4 65.52795031 0 65.52795031
2026-03-26 08:39:57 7690.2 21929 6.1 -85.9 0 10526.5 6596 3745.2 50407.1 66.18988198 0 66.18988198
2026-03-26 08:44:57 8613.6 21688.2 6.1 -347.4 0 10298 6465.6 3743.6 50467.7 67.45978121 0 67.45978121
2026-03-26 08:49:57 9541.5 21531.6 6.1 -686.4 0 10132.1 6375.4 3744.6 50644.9 68.74867953 0 68.74867953
2026-03-26 08:54:57 10467.5 21234 6.1 -769.2 0 9799.6 6273.9 3743.9 50755.8 69.83517155 0 69.83517155
2026-03-26 08:59:57 11414.8 21239.9 6.1 -1071.6 0 9447.1 6143.8 3743.5 50923.6 71.4760936 0 71.4760936
2026-03-26 09:04:57 12218.9 21132.2 6.1 -1016.1 0 9066.8 6008.3 3746.1 51162.3 72.50885906 0 72.50885906
2026-03-26 09:09:57 12763.9 21058.1 6.2 -1128.4 0 8947.6 5892.2 3743.3 51282.9 73.25112269 0 73.25112269
2026-03-26 09:14:57 13346.6 20978.6 6 -1356.2 0 8807.6 5749.9 3745.8 51278.3 74.24388094 0 74.24388094
2026-03-26 09:19:57 13773.9 21167.2 6 -1604.8 0 8624.5 5675.9 3746 51388.7 75.28328212 0 75.28328212
2026-03-26 09:24:57 14191.4 21303.2 6.1 -1490.5 0 8384.2 5245.7 3747.1 51387.2 76.36473674 0 76.36473674
2026-03-26 09:29:57 14664.6 21474.9 6 -1817.7 0 8291.5 5229.8 3744.6 51593.7 77.30420575 0 77.30420575
2026-03-26 09:34:57 14909.1 21614.7 6.1 -1811.1 0 8119.5 5126.9 3745.7 51710.9 77.8742973 0 77.8742973
2026-03-26 09:39:57 15367.5 21844 6 -2064 0 8013.9 4996.7 3745.5 51909.6 78.90062724 0 78.90062724
2026-03-26 09:44:57 16094.7 21733.2 6 -2567.7 0 7971 4913.5 3745.8 51896.5 80.10887054 0 80.10887054
2026-03-26 09:49:57 16809 22129.8 6 -3278.1 0 7915.8 4874.1 3744.7 52201.3 81.76712074 0 81.76712074
2026-03-26 09:54:57 17047 22512.5 6.1 -3587 0 7724.6 4826.3 3746.7 52276.2 82.84113995 0 82.84113995
2026-03-26 09:59:57 16779.3 22507.4 6 -2942.2 0 7478.9 4757 3745.5 52331.9 82.2293859 0 82.2293859
2026-03-26 10:04:57 16825.6 22077 6.1 -2288.1 0 7461.5 4682.7 3744.5 52509.3 81.21818421 0 81.21818421
Cost you say...it’s already negative in windy West Texas and the grid wholesale average is going to go negative in under an hour as there is so much energy ERCOT will pay people to take it. Texas solar and wind is already the cheapest power on any North America grid bar none.
DateTime Real-Time Hub Avg. Real-Time
2026-03-26 00:15:00 14.53 -4.17
2026-03-26 00:30:00 14.24 -4.6
2026-03-26 00:45:00 14.14 -4.46
2026-03-26 01:00:00 14.06 -4.22
2026-03-26 01:15:00 14.52 -3.42
2026-03-26 01:30:00 14.26 -4.15
2026-03-26 01:45:00 14.06 -3.63
2026-03-26 02:00:00 13.75 -3.81
2026-03-26 02:15:00 14.53 -2.66
2026-03-26 02:30:00 14.67 -2.26
2026-03-26 02:45:00 14.66 -2.28
2026-03-26 03:00:00 14.5 -2.63
2026-03-26 03:15:00 13.7 -3.9
2026-03-26 03:30:00 13.67 -4.68
2026-03-26 03:45:00 13.57 -4.98
2026-03-26 04:00:00 14.01 -4.04
2026-03-26 04:15:00 14.01 -3.29
2026-03-26 04:30:00 13.74 -3.08
2026-03-26 04:45:00 13.74 -3.17
2026-03-26 05:00:00 14.39 -3.2
2026-03-26 05:15:00 15.54 -3.46
2026-03-26 05:30:00 16.54 -3.63
2026-03-26 05:45:00 15.65 -3.46
2026-03-26 06:00:00 15.03 -3.3
2026-03-26 06:15:00 16.49 -3.44
2026-03-26 06:30:00 18.62 -3.74
2026-03-26 06:45:00 19.57 -3.57
2026-03-26 07:00:00 19.1 -3.47
2026-03-26 07:15:00 18.56 -3.1
2026-03-26 07:30:00 17.66 -2.06
2026-03-26 07:45:00 16.95 -2.2
2026-03-26 08:00:00 16.32 -3.28
2026-03-26 08:15:00 14.88 -3.89
2026-03-26 08:30:00 14.2 -4.36
2026-03-26 08:45:00 13.52 -3.23
2026-03-26 09:00:00 10.03 -5.02
2026-03-26 09:15:00 9.48 -5.62
2026-03-26 09:30:00 7.35 -10.06
2026-03-26 09:45:00 5.45 -12.73
2026-03-26 10:00:00 3.92 -13.59
2026-03-26 11:00:00
2026-03-26 12:00:00
2026-03-26 13:00:00
2026-03-26 14:00:00
2026-03-26 15:00:00
2026-03-26 16:00:00
2026-03-26 17:00:00
2026-03-26 18:00:00
2026-03-26 19:00:00
2026-03-26 20:00:00
2026-03-26 21:00:00
2026-03-26 22:00:00
2026-03-26 23:00:00
2026-03-27 00:00:00
Again cope harder Manhattan blow hard.
“Anyone remember why AC won over DC?”
AC voltage can be raised and lowered with fully mechanical transformers. DC needs electronic DC to DC converters which semi conductors did not exist in the 1890s. High voltage AC allows for hundreds of miles of.transmission distances with acceptable losses. 120V DC goes hundreds of feet. Edison DC plants needed to be near every building within 1500 feet, Tesla(hallowed be his name) AC could be miles away at Niagara falls actually.
Modern HVDC as in 500,000 to China’s 1 million volt DC lines can send power for thousands not hundreds of miles with low losses but those are only possible with 21st century level of Silicon carbide semiconductor materials you need two very expensive DC to DC converters one at each end and a slew of capacitors and reactive power components again none of that existed in the 19th century when the USA grid was being developed.
AC systems can have the voltage transformed up and down. Generation is usually in the 11,000 to 33,000 Volt range, but too low for long range transmission due to I(squared) X R losses. Transformed up to 230,000 to 765,000 Volts for long range transmission, stepped down to 26,000 to 69,000 Volts for subtransmission, stepped down for local distribution at roughly 3,000 Volts and stepped down for residential distribution at 120 Volt single phase or 240 Volt three ohase..
For those wondering $3.92 per megawatt hour is 3/10s of a cent per kWh. your RPP is charming you 9-12 cents for power it’s buying for 3/10s of a cent right now and West Texas ones are getting paid to take power as I type this.
Again this is a for profit deregulated grid run by a fully Republican state and we have no mandates to have solar or wind at all yet we have the most because they can and do produce sub $10 per megawatt power for now days at a time the last 48 hours have been 60% or more in wind, solar, nukes and batteries. Again in Texas none of this is mandated it’s all economics.
The Manhattan blow hard is wrong the numbers real time real world numbers for all to see don’t lie.
Here is the 15 min delayed public portal.
https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards
You can clearly see how cheap power is when the wind and solar both are rocking. Every megawatt hour they make is 11,000,000 BTU of natural gas that doesn’t have to be bought at $4 per single million BTU or more it’s $3 at the Henry Hub that’s not delivered gas price that’s wholesale at the hub gas delivered is $4-5 per MMBTU and that sets the peak rates on our grid due to fuel costs alone at $50 megawatt hour that’s break even for fuel only in a turbine at $4 MMBTU delivered not including capex recovery or O&M in the turbine plants themselves. Gas is the most expensive power in the ERCOT grid again the real time numbers don’t have a agenda or feelings or hunches cold hard numerical values.
Thank you Texas, I am charging my powerwalls and getting paid for it right now as my VPP is being paid to consume as solar is not even near its peak it will only get deeper negatives
“Anyone remember why AC won over DC?”
Wind and solar electric power is fickle. The wind doesn’t always blow at speeds sufficient to turn the generators or blows too strong forcing the wind turbines to shut down least the massive blades are destroyed. Solar contributes nothing at night, during rain and snow storms and on cloudy days. The demand for electricity in a modern society does not match the availability of wind or sun so reliable back up sources must always be available. Large batteries have yet to be proven on a scale that would support even a small city for hours so traditional fossil fuel or nuclear power is essential. One also has to consider the amount of land needed for the wind turbines and solar arrays …land that in the Midwest plains supports much of our food production. The only viable solution is nuclear power which could support most of all of our electricity needs without blotting the landscape with forests of wind turbines and acres of solar arrays.
The February 2021, Texas winter power outage was caused because Solar and Wind power went to almost nothing and there was little or no battery backup. The regular power plants could not generate enough power (or were limited by the Biden administration from generating more or buying more from other providers through the grid). The problem is not generating wind and solar power, it is what do you do when there is no wind or bright sun and you don’t have 100% backup from other means of generation.
ping
I should point out that Texas before winter storm URI had a couple of RPPs (retail power providers) that for a monthly fee would buy wholesale power rates and pass them directly to the consumer. Thus right now individuals could be getting 3/10s of a cent per kWh rates. The Texas legislator after people too stupid to realise they were playing the commodities market with Gridy power wholesale got $5000 bills when the grid went to $9000 per megawatt hour for two days straight in the middle of the crisis. So the leg said nope people are too stupid to make informed decisions in a market. So now RPPs can buy at 3/10s or even negatives and only sell on fixed rate or variable with draconian laws on how variable they can be as in once a month rate changes and they have to notify you first. So it’s 12 cents or higher all the time regardless of the wholesale power rates the RPPs love this as it’s state legislature level collusion.
The capital classes just formed LLCs and then filed for VPP virtual power plants under said LLC which lets the VPP buy and sell power on the wholesale market directly and each smart meter ESID is then grouped under a VPP not a RPP it automatically becomes a bidirectional meter as well so any power you send out is credited at the wholesale market rates. Basically by passing the idiot legislator knee jerk reaction to dumb people who don’t know how to play a commodities market.
Texas limits itself from "buying more from other providers through the grid" because they are their own self-synchronized AC island, not synched up to either the Eastern or Western North American grids, or to the Mexican grid for that matter.
Any power that comes into Texas from the outside has to go through either a high-voltage DC conversion process or through devices called VFTs ("variable-frequency transformers") to match phase and frequency. Those converter stations have limited capacity and are expensive to build.
That's why you have a "Texas winter power outage" and not a "Louisiana winter power outage" or an "Oklahoma winter power outage".
“The February 2021, Texas winter power outage was caused because Solar and Wind power went to almost nothing and there was little or no battery backup. “
Wrong , the gas wells, and gathering lines froze up crashing the gas grid and taking 38,000MW of thermal generation off line, plus the gas pipeline pumps where changed to electric under the EPA NOx rules when the power grid went down it took the gas pipeline pumps off line too they were not marked as critical infrastructure with backup generation on site they still are not btw as the industry does want to spend a billion plus to install heaters, insulation and back-up diesels at tens of thousands of sites.
Here is the official third party independent report to the Texas legislature. It’s clearly shows thermal generation loss of 38,000+ megawatts was the cause, wind and solar actually helped by being in island mode and making 9000+ MW when there would have been zero.
Flat out your opinion is wrong the data again was clear for those in the power industry who can see it in real time. I reached the grid drop under 59.2Hz live I knew instantly the grid was going down. We watched the gas pipeline pressures plummet as the pumps tripped one then in cascade failure.Gas is reserved for residential first so all remaining pressures was diverted to the city gates and then turbines tripped off in a cascade failure. We lost two nukes due to their cooling system sensors freezing up shortly after about the only thing that did work was solar in island mode and wind with grid independent voltage sourced inverters. Texas came within 4 min of a complete blackstart event it was wind turbines that saved the grids operating frequency once the spinning gas turbines froze out the only inertia left was synchronous type wind turbines and they absolutely saved the grid exactly opposite to what your opinion is. Read the report it’s 101 pages long they didn’t miss anything the legislature took it and passed laws based on it.
It takes power to produce power. Those windmills need 3K watts of power to produce their power (as told to me by a tech who works on them).
Perhaps satellites could be programmed to send out synchronization signals — both 60 HZ and 50 HZ are extremely slow compared to modern electronics.
Perhaps even current GPS satellites already do something that would be usable, since they are currently used to provide accurate time to computers and cell phone networks. GPS time is expressed with a resolution of 1.5 seconds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS_signals#Time), so it might be usable if the jitter was small enough. Maybe StarLink satellites could provide stable 300 HZ (LCM of 50 & 60) which is globally synchronized.
Given a synchronization source, it should be easy to get the DC to AC “inverters” to put out AC of the right frequency and phase. But I still wonder about filtering the AC, as most (solid-state) inverters naturally put out waveforms that only approximate sine waves (i.e., lots of nasty harmonics) and filter capacitor banks for high power are big and expensive.
None of this solves the “reliable power” problem, of course.
At the moment, wind composes roughly 11% of the power needed produced in northern California alone citing results from the Solano County and the Tehachapi regions. However, providing enough wind power for California’s electricity requires an estimated 850 square miles or more of land, an area roughly 18 times the size of San Francisco or larger than Los Angeles basin. They may be able to produce it in a perfect world but it is not cost effective in property needs.
State actions indicate hundreds of millions in direct investment, with a climate bond allocating over $800 million for offshore wind port and transmission improvements.
Projected maintenance costs for wind turbines in California generally range from $42,000 to $48,000 annually per turbine for scheduled maintenance, with unscheduled repairs adding $15,000–$35,000 per year. California has approximately 4,900 to over 5,000 active wind turbines. That puts maintenance alone at $240M a year just for maintenance that will have to come out of state tax budgets annually while working under the percentage of needed machines to provide the power needs in existence. It’ll take a lot more they can’t afford.
wy69
“Texas limits itself from “buying more from other providers through the grid” because they are their own self-synchronized AC island, not synched up to either the Eastern or Western North American grids, or to the Mexican grid for that matter.”
Yes we have three HVDC and one VFT with about 1000MW total bidirectional power flows.
There is a project to link a major power hub aka Hub North in Garland Texas via a 3000MW HVDC link to Mississippi and thus the Southern interconnection (SERC)
There was a Tres Amegas project for the panhandle area where the three North American grids touch with ERCOT not being in phase with the other two which are in phase. So it was to be a triple back to back HVDC-HVDC-HVDC link up 13,000 megawatts worth. Texas alone is 85,000MW in August peak and avg around 45,000MW baseloads so even with Tres Amegas and the MS link I would not have helped much when we lost 38,000MW of thermal generation off line during Uri, plus two of four of the nuclear reactors cooling system froze out for days at a time.
Again we came within 4 min of a total grid failure and a black start event which would take up to a month to bring the grid fully online. It takes special turbines to black start they need to be externally exciting and also have a stable frequency source like an atomic clock or GPS PNT source. You need black start diesels to power the 1500MW exciting generator which then excites the electromagnets in the gas turbine generator it’s expensive specific equipment only used for one thing. Texas keeps our hydropower specifically because water turbines are black start capable.
Turns out large grid scale solar inverters the modern kind can not only island mode totally free from grid phase relationships they can also push reactive and active power to a black grid setting up the standing wave phase angles needed to use not self exciting synchronous generators online, variable speed wind turbines using the same kind of grid forming inverters. Most small inverters are grid following types or voltage sensing is another name. Grid forming inverters are exactly as they sound they push active and reactive power outwards not consume it they also can set phase relationships as virtual inertia. Of course synchronous wind turbines just like gas synchronous turbines carry rotational inertia in their spinning masses they need a phase relationship to a standing grid wave to function so they cannot black start at all.
Yes I am a power industry professional , oil & gas as well. I started as an engineer before moving into pure sciences.
I can run my camping trailer with solar panels, does not mean one can also run a steel mill with them.
Type o
*power the 1500HP exciting generator.
It should be pointed out that synchronous West Texas wind turbines were the grids spinning inertia and phase angles source when the gas grid and turbines both cascaded into failure.
Those turbines and grid forming inverters are what saved the ERCOT grid from total collapse and months of outages during a black start event. Again the link to the report the legislature used to write laws to prevent it happening again is above. Note that solar and wind have grown by large amounts since the report and more new inverter are....Yeah grid forming inverters because they are a very useful back up and fail safe.
You could absolutely run a steel mill with these plenty hot enough or turn limestone into clinker.
Or an electric are furnace with these.
https://www.energy-storage.news/byd-launches-14-5mwh-bess-as-energy-density-race-continues/
Those BYD ISO sized units have a round trip cost of storage. LCOS of 1.4 cents per kWh = $14 MWh
Power is negative right now in Texas ERCOT is paying people in West Texas to use power so yeah storing power when it’s free or getting paid for it makes a lot of sense.
Break even gas turbine power at $4 MMBTU delivered to the turbine is $50 just to cover the fuel costs. Not including capex recovery , or O&M costs peak gas rates in Texas are $80-500MWh never below 50 for long as they are running at a loss then. We pay for inertia like California does we have enough spinning wind ,nukes too so it’s a free for all grid we don’t pay up front for any sitting or spinning capacity it’s all wholesale what are you selling in the next 15 minutes.
Wind for the last 12 hours has been under zero. The words you are looking for is power arbitrage.
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