Re:Clearing price for supplying power to Texas grid –$31.65
by njarboe on Saturday February 20, 2021 @05:37PM
(#26208633)
"You can't simply mandate that energy prices will be a certain amount if the power plants still have to buy natural gas and other power sources from the free market."
You can and that is what California did[1]. It lead to large scale blackouts, the first bankruptcy of PG&E, the successful recall of California's governor Gray Davis, and brought to light Enron's crazy company culture which lead to its bankruptcy.
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000%E2%80%9301_California_ele...
Re:Clearing price for supplying power to Texas grid –$31.65
by Florinator on Saturday February 20, 2021 @05:38PM
(#26208639)
I think you've just described Germany, which has the highest electricity prices in the world.
Re:Clearing price for supplying power to Texas grid –$31.65
by imtringued on Sunday February 21, 2021 @05:31AM
(#26212383)
The electricity prices in Germany are growing faster than the cost of electricity. It's a counter productive tax structure at work, not a failure of renewable energy.
Re:Clearing price for supplying power to Texas grid –$31.65
by monadic5 on Sunday February 21, 2021 @04:08AM
(#26212030)
Germany isn't an international embarrassment at the moment.
Re:Clearing price for supplying power to Texas grid –$31.65
by refurb on Sunday February 21, 2021 @04:42AM
(#26212154)
International embarrassment?
Didn’t Europe have a heat wave 5-10 years ago where tens of thousands died?
I’d be careful throwing stones about extreme weather if I lived in a glasshouse too.
You can't simply mandate that energy prices will be a certain amount if the power plants still have to buy natural gas and other power sources from the free market. If you tried, the power plants would simply shut down when it wasn't profitable according to the legislated rate, making the problem even worse.
If you tried to legislate that power plants or energy producers must sell energy at a fixed cost no matter what it costs them to produce and they can't shut down, they have to price that risk into their long-term model. You're now paying more for the same service just to make it worth someone else's while to take the risk.
The energy market at least provides a feedback loop to large, energy-consuming businesses. Large consumers of electricity like manufacturing facilities will simply decide to shut down when energy prices are too to be profitable, and wait for the cost to go down. You don't see this as a homeowner, but there are industries that adjust their schedules around energy pricing.