Interesting article on wind and the texas grid

[CosmicCowboy]

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_juice/2015/09/texas_electricity_goes_negative_wind_power_was_so_ plentiful_one_night_that.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_t op

In the wee hours of the morning on Sunday, the mighty state of Texas was asleep. The honky-tonks in Austin were shuttered, the air-conditioned office towers of Houston were powered down, and the wind whistled through the dogwood trees and live oaks on the gracious lawns of Preston Hollow. Out in the desolate flats of West Texas, the same wind was turning hundreds of wind turbines, producing tons of electricity at a time when comparatively little supply was needed.

And then a very strange thing happened: The so-called spot price of electricity in Texas fell toward zero, hit zero, and then went negative for several hours. As the Lone Star State slumbered, power producers were paying the state’s electricity system to take electricity off their hands. At one point, the negative price was $8.52 per megawatt hour.

(more in link)

[boutons_deux]

from a post in YOUR thread

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206355&p=8193749&viewfull=1#post8193749

[CosmicCowboy]

from a post in YOUR thread

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206355&p=8193749&viewfull=1#post8193749

Sorry loser...unlike you, Spurstalk is not the focus of my life. I don't follow all threads all the time.

[boutons_deux]

A Texas Utility Offers a Nighttime Special: Free Electricity

DALLAS — In Texas, wind farms (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/w/wind_power/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) are generating so much energy that some utilities are giving power away.

Briana Lamb, an elementary schoolteacher, waits until her watch strikes 9 p.m. to run her washing machine and dishwasher. It costs her nothing until 6 a.m. Kayleen Willard, a cosmetologist, unplugs appliances when she goes to work in the morning. By 9 p.m., she has them plugged back in.

And Sherri Burks, business manager of a local law firm, keeps a yellow sticker on her townhouse’s thermostat, a note to guests that says: “After 9 p.m. I don’t care what you do. You can party after 9.”

The women are just three of the thousands of TXU Energy customers who are at the vanguard of a bold attempt by the utility to change how people consume energy. TXU’s free overnight plan, which is coupled with slightly higher daytime rates, is one of dozens offered by more than 50 retail electricity companies in Texas with a simple goal: for customers to turn down the dials when wholesale prices are highest and turn them back up when prices are lowest.

It is possible because Texas has more wind power than any other state, accounting for roughly 10 percent of the state’s generation. Alone among the 48 contiguous states, Texas runs its own electricity grid that barely connects to the rest of the country, so the abundance of nightly wind power generated here must be consumed here.

Wind blows most strongly at night and is inexpensive because of its abundance and federal tax breaks. A shift of power use away from the peak daytime periods means lower wholesale prices, and the possibility of avoiding the costly option of building more power plants.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/business/energy-environment/a-texas-utility-offers-a-nighttime-special-free-electricity.html?_r=0

I'd really love CPS Energy to implement steep time-of-day metering and serious net metering instead of the $0.014 / KwH non-rollover credit for my solar delivered to their network.

[rmt]

A Texas Utility Offers a Nighttime Special: Free Electricity

DALLAS — In Texas, wind farms (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/w/wind_power/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) are generating so much energy that some utilities are giving power away.

Briana Lamb, an elementary schoolteacher, waits until her watch strikes 9 p.m. to run her washing machine and dishwasher. It costs her nothing until 6 a.m. Kayleen Willard, a cosmetologist, unplugs appliances when she goes to work in the morning. By 9 p.m., she has them plugged back in.

And Sherri Burks, business manager of a local law firm, keeps a yellow sticker on her townhouse’s thermostat, a note to guests that says: “After 9 p.m. I don’t care what you do. You can party after 9.”

The women are just three of the thousands of TXU Energy customers who are at the vanguard of a bold attempt by the utility to change how people consume energy. TXU’s free overnight plan, which is coupled with slightly higher daytime rates, is one of dozens offered by more than 50 retail electricity companies in Texas with a simple goal: for customers to turn down the dials when wholesale prices are highest and turn them back up when prices are lowest.

It is possible because Texas has more wind power than any other state, accounting for roughly 10 percent of the state’s generation. Alone among the 48 contiguous states, Texas runs its own electricity grid that barely connects to the rest of the country, so the abundance of nightly wind power generated here must be consumed here.

Wind blows most strongly at night and is inexpensive because of its abundance and federal tax breaks. A shift of power use away from the peak daytime periods means lower wholesale prices, and the possibility of avoiding the costly option of building more power plants.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/business/energy-environment/a-texas-utility-offers-a-nighttime-special-free-electricity.html?_r=0

I'd really love CPS Energy to implement steep time-of-day metering and serious net metering instead of the $0.014 / KwH non-rollover credit for my solar delivered to their network.




This sounds great. I wonder how much wind Florida has. We have so much sun, but solar power is SO expensive. I'm still running my air conditioner :depressed

[boutons_deux]

I wonder how much wind Florida has. We have so much sun, but solar power is SO expensive.:depressed

FL had too much Repug windbags that support the electric utilities blocking, penalizing rooftop solar.

http://apps2.eere.energy.gov/wind/windexchange/wind_resource_maps.asp?stateab=fl

compare with TX:

http://apps2.eere.energy.gov/wind/windexchange/wind_resource_maps.asp?stateab=tx

============

no offshore wind:

http://apps2.eere.energy.gov/wind/windexchange/windmaps/offshore.asp

[rmt]

FL had too much Repug windbags that support the electric utilities blocking, penalizing rooftop solar.

http://apps2.eere.energy.gov/wind/windexchange/wind_resource_maps.asp?stateab=fl

compare with TX:

http://apps2.eere.energy.gov/wind/windexchange/wind_resource_maps.asp?stateab=tx

============

no offshore wind:

http://apps2.eere.energy.gov/wind/windexchange/windmaps/offshore.asp

Traditionally, Florida is a swing state - unlike Texas which is red. Most of FL is repub but the big urban areas - Miami, Broward, West Palm Beach, Orlando are heavily democrat. Miami-Dade teachers voted themselves this new salary schedule whose highest level is lower than the previous one. So stupid - do they not know that their pensions are based on the top 5 years.

[boutons_deux]

Traditionally, Florida is a swing state - unlike Texas which is red. Most of FL is repub but the big urban areas - Miami, Broward, West Palm Beach, Orlando are heavily democrat. Miami-Dade teachers voted themselves this new salary schedule whose highest level is lower than the previous one. So stupid - do they not know that their pensions are based on the top 5 years.

Presidential voting is now divorced from state voting, and Presidential voting isn't a direct election anyway.

That's why Repugs, with voter suppression and gerrymandering, control FL legislature, governorship, and most state-wide offices, and FL Supreme Court. That's why Repugs are changing electoral votes away from winner take all to some kind of whacked "proportional" electoral voting.

[rmt]

Presidential voting is now divorced from state voting, and Presidential voting isn't a direct election anyway.

That's why Repugs, with voter suppression and gerrymandering, control FL legislature, governorship, and most state-wide offices, and FL Supreme Court. That's why Repugs are changing electoral votes away from winner take all to some kind of whacked "proportional" electoral voting.

So explain to me the sense in illegal immigrants being counted for electoral votes (and affecting elections when they can't vote) - so that the winner take all is skewed. And please explain to me the sense in Dems pushing against voter ID. I need to show ID when I go to the doctor/hospital, get on a plane, drive a car, sign up for school/college, get a library card, cash a check, sign my kids up for recreational soccer and you Dems want anybody to vote without ID? Ridiculous.

[boutons_deux]

are illegal immigrants counted as legal residents by census takers?

voter ID by slave states and red states is voter suppression of poor, old, weak, immobile voters. Any fee for IDs is considered an illegal poll tax.

the current next step in Repug/VRWC voter suppression is that only voters should be considered in districting, not all residents.

Do you have any proof of voter fraud, by American citizens or illegal aliens?

[ChumpDumper]

So explain to me the sense in illegal immigrants being counted for electoral votes (and affecting elections when they can't vote) - so that the winner take all is skewed.How does one count an illegal alien?
And please explain to me the sense in Dems pushing against voter ID. I need to show ID when I go to the doctor/hospital, get on a plane, drive a car, sign up for school/college, get a library card, cash a check, sign my kids up for recreational soccer and you Dems want anybody to vote without ID? Ridiculous.There is no voter fraud that would necessitate the laws that were passed and justify the legal voters that will be refused the vote. Bush made voter fraud the priority of his justice dept for several years. It simply wasn't there.

The voter ID laws are in place to deny people who usually vote Democrat the vote. That is all. It has more of a legal sheen than just purging the voter rolls in Democratic areas, but Florida does that too -- so be happy for that. Republicans are doing everything in their power to restrict Democrat votes. Hooray for your side.

[rmt]

How does one count an illegal alien?There is no voter fraud that would necessitate the laws that were passed and justify the legal voters that will be refused the vote. Bush made voter fraud the priority of his justice dept for several years. It simply wasn't there.

The voter ID laws are in place to deny people who usually vote Democrat the vote. That is all. It has more of a legal sheen than just purging the voter rolls in Democratic areas, but Florida does that too -- so be happy for that. Republicans are doing everything in their power to restrict Democrat votes. Hooray for your side.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/illegal-immigrants-could-elect-hillary-clinton-213216

[boutons_deux]

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/illegal-immigrants-could-elect-hillary-clinton-213216

any evidence that illegal immigrants actually vote (illegally)?

[ChumpDumper]

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/illegal-immigrants-could-elect-hillary-clinton-213216That is not a partisan issue. That is a constitutional issue. Slaves used to count for apportionment too.