New Texas Law to Force Renewables to Be Dispatchable – Watts Up With That?

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

Sounds like Texas is getting fed up with its electricity system being increasingly put at risk by wind and solar power.

After years of papering over the cracks with half hearted proposals, it appears that the State Legislature will formally pass a law requiring all generators, not just new ones, to be fully dispatchable.

Ed Ireland has the story:

In 2021, Winter Storm Uri pushed Texas’s electricity grid to the brink, with just 4 minutes and 37 seconds from total collapse. Snow, ice, and freezing temperatures covered all 254 counties in the State for five days, starting February 13. Wind turbines froze, overcast skies incapacitated solar panels, some natural gas wells experienced freeze-offs, and even coal plants struggled with frozen equipment.

As power generators failed and electricity demand skyrocketed, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) ordered rolling blackouts across Texas. Some local utilities unknowingly cut power to areas with electric natural gas compressors, which stopped gas flows to generating stations, causing more outages. (The Railroad Commission of Texas created a new division, Critical Infrastructure, so this problem would never happen again.) The grid’s frequency dropped dangerously below 60 hertz, nearly crashing, but a slight drop in demand and the recovery of some generation saved the grid from total collapse, which could have required weeks to recover from a “black” start of the grid.

Since then, ERCOT, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), and lawmakers have repeatedly vowed to prevent another near-disaster. They have proposed ideas such as:

• Weatherization requirements for power plants to handle extreme cold (passed in 2021 via Senate Bill 3).
• Incentives for building more dispatchable power, specifically natural gas plants, such as the Texas Energy Fund (House Bill 1500, 2023).
• Market reforms prioritize reliable power, such as the Performance Credit Mechanism, which was debated but not implemented.

None of these proposals squarely addressed the grid reliability problem until Texas House Bill 3356 and Senate Bill 715 were recently approved by legislative committees and could become law. These bills set new reliability rules for all ERCOT power generators, not just new ones. They require all power generators on ERCOT, including wind and solar, to be dispatchable, meaning they can quickly adjust to meet demand.

To comply, generators must either build their own backup power, such as battery energy storage systems (BESS), or contract with others to provide their backup power.

Read the full post here.

It’s time we did the same here!

Related