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[ShadowSwordmaster]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-rise-of-wind-power-in-texas/
Some select quotes.

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 Lone Star State grid operator said this week.
The announcement marks the highest quarterly wind penetration in ERCOT’s history and underscores the market challenges facing the coal industry in Texas, where power plants consumed some 86 million tons of the black mineral in 2015, or more than double the next largest coal-consuming state.

ERCOT is the primary grid operator in Texas, where it serves 24 million customers.
Robbie Searcy, an ERCOT spokeswoman, said the grid operator has never observed quarterly wind penetration at this level before.
“I think it is fair to say this is a trend we’re seeing,” she said. “Not only are you seeing these percentages of wind, wind capacity continues to grow in ERCOT.”

There is a list of caveats that come with the new data, which were released Monday as part of ERCOT’s monthly demand and energy report. First, 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.
It also follows a rebound in Texas coal use. A slight increase in natural gas prices has boosted coal’s fortunes in the state, with coal (31 percent) edging out natural gas (29 percent) as ERCOT’s primary source of electricity generation in the first quarter of 2017. Year-over-year, ERCOT’s first-quarter coal use increased 58 percent.
The increase in wind “is a trend you’d prefer not to deal with, but it’s not a trend you’re going to pace all night sweating over,” said Jim Thompson, director of IHS Coal, a consultancy.
Coal burned at Texas plants is particularly competitive because it largely comes from the Powder River Basin (PRB) in Wyoming and Montana, which boasts the lowest mining costs in the nation, he said.
Texas wind is nevertheless “real competition,” Thompson said. “The more generation that renewables take, the smaller the pie coal and gas are vying for.”
Natural gas has long been coal’s most formidable competition in Texas. Last year, gas accounted for 44 percent of ERCOT’s electricity generation. Coal and wind represented 29 percent and 15 percent, respectively.
But wind is increasingly competitive. Because turbine operators have no fuel costs, their power is generally dispatched before coal and gas.

ERCOT’s installed wind capacity has nearly doubled since 2010, leaping from 9,400 megawatts seven years ago to 18,589 MW today. In 2015, wind surpassed nuclear to become the grid operator’s third-largest power source.
And ERCOT’s installed capacity could surpass 28,000 MW by next year if all the projects with interconnection agreements with the grid operator are built.
“This is pushing coal off the grid,” said Daniel Cohan, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University.
“Texas is far and away the largest purchaser of Wyoming coal, PRB coal. As these coal plants get used less and less, many will retire in the next few years. PRB mines are losing their biggest customers,” Cohan said.

 

[Kthulhu]

I feel bad for the folks who will lose their jobs, but this is for the good of the planet. I'm glad my state is doing something right for once.

 

[VendettaRed07]

Edit: nvm

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

I feel bad for the folks who will lose their jobs, but this is for the good of the planet. I'm glad my state is doing something right for once.

Texas is slowing becoming a big player in the renewable energy market. I think some of the other Southern states are catching up too.

 

[Incarmine]

I feel bad for the folks who will lose their jobs, but this is for the good of the planet. I'm glad my state is doing something right for once.

It's good for the human species.

People criticize environmentalists for being tree-huggers or trying to save a planet that can take care of itself. Planet has survived cataclysms and mass extinctions before. But we can't.

 

[Trokil]

Funny how the market now works against the Republicans and the fossil fuel lobby.

 

[pa22word]

I get a nice chunk of change every quarter for the windmill they put on my land in OK. Pissed off the neighbors that I put it there, but he's a dickbag anyways so I hope he likes the shade I threw over his house

 

[sans_pants]

Man I dream of a renewable future. People can get jobs manufacturing panels and wind turbines, no more shitty emissions, cool futuristic skylines replacing flat boring desert


cant wait

 

[pa22word]

People can get jobs manufacturing panels and wind turbines,

You're going to be dreaming for a long time brother.

Those jobs are going to be automated.

 

[Skiptastic]

I was reading or hearing a story about this. They mentioned that even Rick Perry, hardcore Republican, fought to get wind energy up and running in Texas because it's good money and jobs. It would be fucking nuts if he helps push more of that as Energy Secretary and ends up helping the planet when he wanted to get rid of the department in the first place.

 

[Kthulhu]

It's good for the human species.

People criticize environmentalists for being tree-huggers or trying to save a planet that can take care of itself. Planet has survived cataclysms and mass extinctions before. But we can't.

You knew what I meant.

 

[Incarmine]

You knew what I meant.

I'm not criticizing you or anything like that.

I just felt it important to state that distinction cause it's a major misconception that critics cling to.

 

[Chumly]

I feel bad for the folks who will lose their jobs, but this is for the good of the planet. I'm glad my state is doing something right for once.

People need to keep in mind that wind energy provides far more jobs than coal does. So basically we are providing more jobs and a better economy by pushing wind

Unfortunately one sector is a loser in this situation but the jobs don't disappear technically....

 

[Rentahamster]

I'm not criticizing you or anything like that.

I just felt it important to state that distinction cause it's a major misconception that critics cling to.

Now I'm curious to see how support would change if the debate were more often framed in those terms.

 

[Flux]

Thought the title read the rise of white power in Texas. Didn't bat an eye.

 

[jchap]

I know one group that isn't happy about them. Crop dusters.

Before:

After:

There really are a ton of them out in west Texas now.

 

[Hyperactivity]

Texas is slowing becoming a big player in the renewable energy market. I think some of the other Southern states are catching up too.

Yup. The state is still bullish on fossil fuels, but the state seems to have the perspective "if it's efficient and could make us money, we should be utilizing it". It's not really abandoning fossil fuels as much as wanting to be efficient, but at the end of the day, it's still good progress