Sherri Burks in Dallas loaded her dishwasher in preparation for the 9 p.m. start of free hours of electricity from TXU Energy. Credit Brandon Thibodeaux for The New York Times
Something amazing is happening in Texas right now. Wind power has become so cheap and abundant that utilities are actually giving it away for free during night time hours. This has lead to many people conserving power during the day, and running appliances at night, when the wind blows the hardest.
Texas has more wind power than any other state, accounting for roughly 10% of the state’s generation. Alone among the 48 contiguous states, Texas runs its own electricity grid that barely connects to the rest of the country, so the abundance of nightly wind power generated here must be consumed here.
Wind blows most strongly at night and the power it produces is inexpensive because of its abundance and federal tax breaks. For utilities, the giveaway is hardly altruistic. Deregulation in Texas has spurred intense competition for customers. By encouraging energy use at night, utilities reduce some of the burdens, and costs, that the oversupply of wind energy places on the power grid.
Similar experiments are underway elsewhere.
In Italy, customers of Enel, a leading utility, can receive incentives for keeping their electricity use below a predetermined level at times of highest demand.
In Maryland, Baltimore Gas & Electric allows customers to earn rebate credits on their bills for every kilowatt-hour less that they use during certain high-demand times. The program is run by Opower, which manages similar programs for several utilities.
And in Worcester, Mass., National Grid has installed a home energy management system from Ceiva Energy in about 11,000 homes, connecting a range of devices like smart plugs, high-tech thermostats and digital picture frames that display the home’s energy use along with the photos.
http://nyti.ms/1SfI1yP
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