A recent report from Deloitte provides a good perspective on the prospects for wind and solar electricity. Some takeaways: Costs of wind and solar are now competitive with coal and gas. “Power purchase agreement (PPA) prices for wind and solar power are also competitive with other resources. The weighted average…
After the Texas freeze last February that resulted in loss of electric service to millions of Texans, the Texas Legislature passed laws requiring the Texas Railroad Commission and the Public Utility Commission of Texas to address the issues raised by the systems’ failures. One of those issues was the failure…
Here’s a novel idea: use gas that would otherwise be flared to generate electricity in the field and use it to mine bitcoin. Believe it or not, it is being done. In North Dakota, Equinor and Enerplus are among the operators using the process. New companies like Crusoe Energy have…
Two recent articles caught my eye: “The world’s biggest plant to capture CO2 from the air just opened in Iceland,” from the Washington Post. “Utilities eye mini nuclear reactors as climate concerns grow,” from the Wall Street Journal. The plant in Iceland, dubbed Orca, can remove 4,000 tons of CO2…
Excellent post by Tiffany McDowell of Texas A&M Ag Extension on what landowners should know about hunting leases. Find it here. For example, did you know that landowners leasing their property for hunting must obtain a Hunting Lease License (different from a hunting license) from Texas Parks & Wildlife? There…
“Electric power markets in the United States are undergoing significant structural change that we believe, based on planning data we collect, will result in the installation of the ability of large-scale battery storage to contribute 10,000 megawatts to the grid between 2021 and 2023—10 times the capacity in 2019.” EIA…
Abbott said the legislature’s response to the breakdown of Texas’ electric grid “fixed all the flaws.” News media reports and experts are questioning that conclusion. A UT Austin study concludes that lawmakers did not do enough to prevent future power failures and recommended 20 additional policy changes. It is estimated…
Every once in a while I like to write about something other than oil and gas. I got these interesting facts about eggs from a friend. The color of eggshells is solely dependent upon the breed of the chicken providing the eggs. There is no difference in taste imparted by…
In a recent article, reporter Chris Tomlinson of the Houston Chronicle castigates Railroad Commission Chair Christi Craddick for testifying before a state legislative committee in March that the State’s oil and gas industry had no responsibility for the February power blackouts in Texas. Craddick testified: Some media outlets would have…
Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, blogger at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, alerted me in her blog to a bill passed in the last session of the Texas Legislature, HB 365, that Texas landowners should know about. The bill amends the Texas Farm Animal Liability Act, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter…