Solar’s Peak Demand Power Knocks Out Old Energy

Fossil Fuels Face a $1.4 Billion Solar Problem in Texas

Chris Martin, January 17, 2018 (Bloomberg News)

“A boom in solar power is threatening to wipe out $1.4 billion a year of summertime revenue for fossil-fuel generators in Texas…Almost 15 gigawatts of solar power may crop up in the Lone Star state in the coming years, and every gigawatt stands to shave about $2.76 a megawatt-hour from wholesale electricity prices there when demand peaks in the summer…This could end up dealing a major blow to fossil fuel-burning generators that rely on those peak prices to weather the lulls in demand through the rest of the year…The Texas market is ‘especially vulnerable’ to the impact of solar penetration because…[it offers very high prices for generation during a handful of high-priced peak demand hours each year that] align with solar production…The looming threat to natural gas- and coal-fired plants in Texas mirrors the shifts that renewable energy has brought on in other markets…” click here for more

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