Amid intense heat this summer, Texas is looking toward the future of its energy market
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The extensive, intense Texas heat, the voluntary call Monday for Texans to conserve power and a growing population serve as a reminder that Texas needs more power generating plants.
Joshua Rhodes, a research associate at the Webber Energy Group at the University of Texas said, "With growing populations and with the fact that it's triple digits across every major metro area, or actually every square inch of the state really, everybody wanted air conditioning at the same time. We had to deliver a record amount of electricity."
As ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas navigate supply and demand this summer, they're also looking toward the future of the energy market in Texas. "Even if we didn't have these kinds of heat domes, we would need more power plants."
An independent firm hired by the state is in the process of evaluating proposals for the energy market and will present them to the PUC by the end of August.
Rhodes said the state should require companies to provide reliable energy without picking one technology over another.
"We need things that are firm, and whether that's renewables paired with energy storage, or that's natural gas, or that's some other type of generation that we're able to turn on," Rhodes said. "We need to define that. We need firm capacity, and then let the market figure out how to best deliver that firm capacity."
Rhodes said there are more wind and solar powered generation plants in the pipeline than natural gas fired plants.
There are also batteries that store wind energy, such as a facility near Granbury that Vistra Corp. showed to the public in May.
At the time, we asked Vistra's President Jim Burke about the kinds of plants he believes need to be brought online to keep up with the rapid population growth and extreme heat.
Burke said, "I think at the rate Texas is growing, it's going to have to look at traditional resources like gas-fired generation if it wants to keep up the growth that it is. Otherwise, consumers are going to get more alerts and more conservation calls."
This week's voluntary call for Texans to conserve energy concerned Michael Levy, whose family has operated Desperados Mexican Restaurant for 45 years.
"We're just getting over this pandemic, we're hit with another obstacle, it's concerning," Levy said.
What's key he said is keeping hot and cold foods at certain temperatures.
"We've got to keep everything at the proper levels," Levy said.
Levy said at their Garland and Dallas locations, they are preparing just in case there are power outages. Without electricity, he said they could keep food cold and hot.
"We could put everything on gas burners and that's one way we could do it and we could relocate our food and put it in the freezer, but when we're opening and shutting the door, we're letting all of the cool air out," Levy said.
The bottom line he said is having a contingency plan in place.
