Energy Future Holdings files for Chapter 11

17 Comments on "Energy Future Holdings files for Chapter 11"

Davy, Hermann, MO on Wed, 7th May 2014 7:05 am 



The beginning of the unintended consequences of the US shale gas gold rush coming home to roost. Expect more of this as the cost of money rises with a coming financial correction. Also look forward to the unintended consequences of the phony and distorting US gas lobby and US inept government policy results. Some of these inept policies are being driven by the lying American Subaru environmental lobby who believe all we need to do is change over to a shiny AltE economy and all our ills will go away. We are going to see gas issues in the future from all these groups distortions. If we mothball too much Nuk and coal we will see an unstable grid. Grids don’t like instability. We are going to see gas issues for the residential crowd. This will get the DC cabal’s attention. They are too busy at the moment milking the US people and economy to notice these dangers. I dislike the whole Nuk issue and AGW situation but there are serious tradeoffs ahead. Environmentalist need to admit a turn away from carbon is a turn away from Bau leading to the loss of lives. This population control may turn out to be a good thing except if you are part of that population die-off. The gas lobby is criminal, the DC cabal mafia inept and short sighted, and misleading environmentalist will ruin a basic necessity of a significant portion of the US population. This bankruptcy is a canary in the coal mine so expect more issues relating to US shale gas. These issues will turn very dangerous in a short time.

Kenz300 on Wed, 7th May 2014 7:16 am 



The future of energy is wind and solar power not fossil fuels.

rockman on Wed, 7th May 2014 8:54 am 



Just to be sure folks understand the root problem for these folks: the success of US NG development including the contribution from the shales. From:http://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/20140501-how-big-is-the-energy-future-holdings-bankruptcy-first-hearing-packs-three-courtrooms.ece

“Energy Future, which was taken private in a record $48 billion leveraged buyout in 2007, filed for bankruptcy April 29 after falling natural gas prices pulled down electricity rates in Texas. It listed $49.7 billion in liabilities, the most ever for an energy-industry bankruptcy.”.

The increase in wind generated electricity didn’t help either. For whatever reason the folks who borrowed so much money to take them private made a very wrong guess where electricity prices were going. As did the folks that loaned them the money. Maybe they spent too much time on doomer web sites. LOL.

And their problem certainly wasn’t a lack of demand. The Texas economy has been booming. Not only is Texas the largest net electricity generating state we are producing almost 80% more than the #2 state…PA. Here’s a chart that might shock some folks. It also explains why Texas is also the largest consumer of coal. From: http://www.eia.gov/state/rankings/?sid=TX#series/51

Boat on Wed, 7th May 2014 9:21 am 



Davy,
I have a google account that tracks news. One of my key word selections id Nat Gas production. For every story like this one there are dozens of others showing money being made in the fracking business.

Coal isn’t dying just transforming. Read this discussion and check out CHP. The future of coal is here and the rest is a smoke screen.

http://news.yahoo.com/beverly-hills-condemns-brunei-hotel-boycott-grows-121125191.html

Boat on Wed, 7th May 2014 9:22 am 



http://peakoil.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=69587

oops lol…this is the right link

rockman on Wed, 7th May 2014 10:46 am 



Boat – That’s why I posted that link: Energy Future Holdings has no direct involvement in frac’ng or even NG production. They simply sell electricity and obviously had a very bad business model on that account.

Boat on Wed, 7th May 2014 1:12 pm 



rockman,
Combined Heat and Power, (CHP) apparently wasn’t a big enough blip on my radar.
Maybe you or some of the guys can chime in with links to some fascinating questions.
Is CHP using ng one of the major reasons our gulf refineries are so competitive in the world?
IF CHP runs 60-70% efficient and old coal is 27-33% how high would ng prices have to go to in the new coal plants at 45% efficiency with the newer cleaner coal plants mandated by the government.
I ask because the supreme court approved the way for the EPA to do this so I assume it will happen down the road.
I read Obama mandated 40 GW from CHP by 2020 a rise to 120 gw from the 80 now. But it didn’t say if a fuel was mandated. There is CHP that uses biomass.
Are there any charts that show when CHP is being used in a refinery a breakdown of when it is feasible to change fuels?
I may have missed earlier discussions so I am in catch up mode. Thanks ahead for any input.

Bandits on Wed, 7th May 2014 3:41 pm 



Kenz for pities sake man when are you going to get it through your leaden skull that wind and solar are not a solution.
They were made possible by FF, they are maintained by FF, they cannot function effectively without FF. The very first electric car was only made possible with the use of fossil fuel and we’ve not progressed an iota since then.

Renewables are NOT ALTERNATIVES. They were not turned to because of some compassionate feelings for the plight of the planet. They are a money making industrial enterprise, simply an extension of the FF industry, they are extending the burn, allowing as much as possible to be burnt and therefor as much environmental damage to be inflicted prior to collapse.

Renewables are allowing tar sands development, deep water and ultra deep water drilling, shale fracking, ethanol production, coal bed fracking, mountain top removal, arctic exploration and drilling.

These things are not decreasing because of your glorified renewables, they are increasing, allowing for for further population increases, pollution and environmental devastation.

Harquebus on Wed, 7th May 2014 5:26 pm 



Forget it Bandit. Kenz300 is just another idiot who can not be convinced otherwise.
Manufacturing renewable generators using renewable energy alone is a concept that has to be proved. Forget the dreamers whose minds are set, they are not worth our time.

rockman on Wed, 7th May 2014 6:29 pm 



Guys – I try not to pick on Ken even though he does make it difficult at times. He’s a man on a mission. A mission with little chance of success IMHO put it’s one he chose. Texas is a good example of what Ken is up against. We have as much wind power as the #2 and #3 states combined. But it was used to offset coal consumption…it supplemented it. Texas is the largest coal consuming state and #1 in e- capacity…almost 80% more than the #2 state…PA. That isn’t a coincidence. And yet there are periods when wind makes up 10% of our e- consumption. So far it doesn’t appear the alts are replacing fossil fuels but just filing in deficits. And that seem like it will change anytime soon: more alts won’t necessarially mean less ff consumption IMHO.

Ezrydermike on Wed, 7th May 2014 6:43 pm 



some of these coments seem so very extreme. of course, renewable energy systems require the use of fossil fules, using fossil fuels requires fossil fuels. but why these claims that renewable energy development must be fossil fuel free or it’s just shit? What is wrong with redirecting the use of ff to more appropriate uses instead of just burning it?

“Renewables are allowing tar sands development, deep water and ultra deep water drilling, shale fracking, ethanol production, coal bed fracking, mountain top removal, arctic exploration and drilling.”

What is the point of this statement?

anyway…

http://dailyfusion.net/2014/04/solar-energy-materials-27768/

Kenz300 on Wed, 7th May 2014 7:04 pm 



The Time for Wind and Solar Energy Is Now

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/05/the-time-for-wind-and-solar-energy-is-now

Beery on Wed, 7th May 2014 7:17 pm 



Wait… Where’s Plantagenet? Surely this is a huge Obama conspiracy – after all, Obama is VERY black. Could he organized his Black Panther minions to silence Planty? The truth is out there!

rockman on Thu, 8th May 2014 4:55 am 



Ez – that’s why I posted about Texas. First, ff development of any kind uses very little electricity. Much more diesel and NG. But the debate always seems to center around the alts replacing the ff. That may happen in a small percentage of cases but I suspect the vast majority of situations will be like Texas: a supplement and not a replacement. And for simple economics: for an alt to replace a ff source that infrastructure (which is huge sunk cost compared to the daily operations cost) has to be abandoned and replaced with a new big capex project.

But in a supplemental case the profitable (if only marginally) ff infrastructure keeps cash flow up. At that point it’s up to the alt’s economics to justify its build out but doesn’t have to replace the economic value of the ff infrastructure.

Which is exactly how it has gone with wind power in Texas. The state provide enough financial incentive to allow wind farms to become as an attractive investment as a new coal plant. And coal plants in Texas (the largest coal consuming state with its own huge reserve base) are very economical. Which is why electricity production capacity in the state is huge compared to even the #2 state.

Wind has been very successful in Texas. And even with out the fed subsidy new big farms (including offshore) are planned. But they will not replace existing coal fired plants but will stand in for future coal burner expansion. Which isn’t a bad thing, of course. But it doesn’t mean Texas will be burning less coal in the future than it does now.

In fact in one plant (the second largest source of GHG in the country) they be burning more coal in the future. The plant can run on NG or coal. They are building a $400 million pipeline to carry the GHG to an old oil field where the GHG will be sequestered. That will allow more coal generation especially as NG prices will surely rise in the future.

Boat on Thu, 8th May 2014 12:33 pm 



rockman,
Excellent point about not replacing costly infrastructure. Do you know if they’re using cogeneration to help process that coal?

rockman on Thu, 8th May 2014 7:24 pm 



Boat – Here you go. From 2012: http://www.cospp.com/articles/print/volume-13/issue-1/features/will-the-coming-texas-power-crunch-create-another-chp-boom.html

“Beginning with a 2 MWe unit built back in 1921, Texas boasts 125 CHP facilities with a combined capacity of about 17,000 MWe. This is the largest CHP fleet of any state in the union and it generates about 20% of Texas’s electricity. The bulk of the current fleet is comprised of large (100–1000 MWe+) systems at industrial sites along the Texas coast. But the recent trend has been towards smaller systems that better match the thermal requirements at smaller industrial, commercial and institutional sites. Many of the systems developed over recent years are 50 MWe and smaller.”

Boat on Thu, 8th May 2014 8:52 pm 



rockman,
Great artical. The lack of water and efficiency and price of ng points to fast growth in CHP even though it is expensive.