• Texas power prices soared 20,000% Wednesday evening amid another brutal heat wave.

  • Spot electricity prices topped $5,000 per megawatt-hour, up more than 200 times from Wednesday morning.

  • The state’s grid operator issued its second-highest energy emergency, then later said conditions returned to normal.

  • breckenedge@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Meanwhile in reality:

    Texas is 1st in the nation in renewables (thanks Obama).

    3000Mw battery storage averted this emergency, and there’s a ton more of that on the way (thanks Biden).

    • SaintWacko@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      Look, this is super misleading information and I keep seeing it repeated. They’re first in the nation in total electricity generation from renewable sources, but that’s mainly because of how big they are. If you look at what percentage of their consumption is from renewable sources, they’re not even in the top ten.

    • protist@mander.xyz
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      1 year ago

      The reason Texas is #1 in renewables is actually Rick Perry, bless his heart. He pushed for a massive expansion of wind generation capacity back in the early 00s and was instrumental in building high voltage transmission lines between west Texas wind and the more eastern population centers. He would be drummed out of today’s Republican party

        • protist@mander.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Oh he didn’t mean that, he just wanted to be president and thought that’s how he’d get there. He wasn’t the brightest bulb

          • stewie3128@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Which is why he became Secretary of Energy under Trump. Also I think he was kicked off Dancing with the Stars in one of the early rounds. Certainly makes him qualified to occupy the same chair as Steven Chu.

    • Ibex0@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma have the best onshore wind power potential. Pretty good solar too. And they’re tapping in to it.