In a recent tweet, Brian Gitt noted that wind energy is not a major contributor to Texas' grid, despite calls for increased resources for wind energy. He added these thoughts to a quote from Robert Bryce and supplied data for his claims.
The theme of his tweet seems to be that relying on wind energy for the entirety or a majority of power in Texas is not practical. However, the tweet also comes on the heels of a report showing that energy companies stand to make huge profits stemming from instability in the energy industry.
In his tweet, Gitt said, "'Texas’ power woes can be understood by looking at a single chart published last week by ERCOT. -@pwrhungry' Only 3% of wind power capacity was available when Texas needed it most."
All in all, companies appear to stand to make $10 million an hour due to times of grid strain by the instability caused by wind energy. This apparently can be attributed to ERCOT regulations, Chron reported.
According to a study published by the Energy Alliance, increased ERCOT regulations have caused Texas' energy grid to become increasingly unstable, and over-reliance on wind and solar has led to disastrous situations such as the winter storm blackouts that have affected residents across the state.
Wind energy production in Texas has increased and become increasingly reliant on the grid, creating problems during peak demand. Since 2007, wind has become a 10x more important source of electricity for Texas than dispatchable sources, with the latter dropping by about 32%. As a result of this new balance, grid reliability is reduced, according to research from the Energy Alliance. To meet peak demand events, Texas increasingly relies on intermittent wind and solar as it sheds capacity from more reliable sources while adding more naturally intermittent ones. It is possible for the Texas grid to suffer reliability issues during peak demand if wind does not blow enough.
ERCOT data shows that for several days during the week of July 7, wind power only provided 3% of needed power during peak demand periods despite accounting for nearly 30% of the grid's capacity.