In one of the most dangerous and most Unconstitutional acts in US history, Congress and the President are abusing the budget reconciliation process to dictate, via a “Clean Electricity Payment Program,” that Americans use >50% unreliable solar+wind electricity by 2030.
Thanks to government mandates and subsidies, solar and wind--"unreliables"--provide about 10% of American electricity. This 10% has already caused big electricity price increases and huge reliability problems. Politicians should admit their failure, apologize, and reverse course.
Instead of admitting that the US's 10% solar+wind electricity is causing huge cost and reliability problems, our government, led by the Senate, is quintupling down on this disaster by pushing a "Clean Electricity Payment Program" that would require >50% solar+wind in 8 years!!
The CEPP would mandate 80% "clean electricity” by 2030--but does nothing substantial to reverse the criminalization and defunding of nuclear. So nuclear will decrease from its 20% share today. Hydro, at <7% today, has little room for growth. That means >50% solar/wind!
Unreliable wind and solar cannot replace fossil fuels. Because they can always go near zero--as we saw recently in Texas--they don't replace the cost of reliable power plants, they add to the cost of reliable power plants. That's why more wind and solar = higher prices.
Consider: Germans, to get 37% of their electricity from wind/solar, have doubled their prices--now 3X US prices. And they can only get away with 37% because they have neighbors to bail them out when solar/wind fall short. The US as a whole has no such neighbors.
In California, we get 24% of our electricity from wind and solar--and we have skyrocketing prices along with disastrous shortages and blackouts. And it would be far worse if we couldn't import 30% of our electricity from neighbors.
Contrary to media denial, government favoritism for solar and especially for wind were absolutely to blame for the Texas blackouts. TX defunded reliable power plant construction as well as resiliency measures (like weatherization) to pay for solar/wind.
During TX's February cold spell, wind and solar disappeared when they were needed the most. Its expensive batteries, which could store a mere 40 seconds, didn’t help, either. What would they have done under the CEPP's 50% solar and wind??!!
Sources: Used with permission from Alex Epstein's Energy Talking Points on a Clean Energy Standard. (CES) https://energytalkingpoints.com/clean-energy-standard/
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