Dinosaur utility companies unwilling or unable to change are getting slammed by the fast-dropping price and expanding availability of solar energy and wind power. Relying on coal and nuclear is no longer feasible for utilities. Instead, it’s change or die. Texas is spending almost $7 billion to expand their grid, bringing wind power for rural areas to the cities. Traditional utility companies are getting hit hard.
“The transmission is finally there in Texas to bring all the wind power to the population centers and it’s a disaster for the generation companies,” Andy DeVries, an analyst at CreditSights Inc., said in a telephone interview.
Traditional power companies across the U.S. and Europe are struggling to compete in wholesale markets with newer generators supplying subsidized wind and solar energy. In Texas, wind has more than doubled in the past six years and now makes up 13 percent of the state’s generation capacity.