Wind generation accounted for nearly 23 percent of power generation for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) in the first quarter of 2017.
The winter is the windiest time of year in Texas. It is also a season when power demand wanes and many plants shut down for maintenance.
But for 2016, wind produced more than 15% of electic power in Ercot.
Additionally, average wholesale prices reached a record low in Texas despite record demand.
My son got his Chem E from Purdue, which is just south of the White County turbine farm. He says most of the Engineering profs referred to it as the “Battery farm.” To an Engineer, for most of their useful lives the wind turbine farms are batteries, slowly releasing back into the grid the tremendous amount of energy it took to build them.
My understanding from a cousin who lives in that area (Jasper County) is that Indianans hate the wind turbines because what little energy they produce is used in Chicago, not Indiana.