ENERGY SECURITYTexas May Put Restraints on New Big Businesses Hoping to Tap into the Energy Grid
Texas will need a lot more energy in the future. According to ERCOT, the state’s energy demand may double in six years.
Texas will need a lot more energy in the future.
Driven largely by demand from businesses such as data centers and the oil and gas industry, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator, predicts the state’s energy needs will nearly double in six years.
State Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, worries ERCOT is not working with a full picture.
He told a legislative panel as much in February.
“We do not have accurate load forecasting. No one knows if the forecast is real,” he said. Large companies, he added, are requiring ERCOT to plan “for load growth at dramatically higher levels than experienced ever in the history of Texas, and frankly, ever in the history of the United States.”
And “without credible data, we run the risk of overbuilding, with high costs being passed on to consumers, or underbuilding, further exacerbating scarcity,” he said.
He believes his legislation, Senate Bill 6, will put restraints on the state’s open-energy market, and help the grid plan for the future to save rate payers money and avoid another catastrophe when extreme weather strikes again.
The bill, which has already won Senate approval and is expected to start its journey in the Texas House Wednesday with a committee hearing, would place more requirements on businesses meant to help ERCOT better forecast the electricity needs. Businesses would also have to pay more in advance of operating.
While business groups have said they agree the grid needs more security, they believe King’s bill is too heavy-handed. They said some of his proposals won’t help ERCOT’s planning and put their operations at risk.
They want changes to the bill, such as removing language that would grant ERCOT the ability to disconnect power to major energy users during an emergency, and new rules on arrangements between power generators and companies.
Michael Jewell, an attorney who has represented large industrial companies on energy issues and policy, said King’s legislation will need to strike a balance between addressing the growth without scaring companies away.
“This legislation is important to finding that balance, that we can bring these large loads into the ERCOT region, grow the Texas economy, and support the development of this technology,” he said. “But we also want to be sure that we, as Texans, will continue to have reliable electricity.”
King’s bill only applies to industrial-sized facilities, or those needing more than 75 Megawatts.
