Electricity

Changes to Texas’ power grid costing state hundreds of millions of dollars

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Austin American-Statesman

Bob Sechler

Officials in charge of the state’s electricity grid have repeatedly said Texans are benefitting from their efforts to manage the system more cautiously and with a greater cushion in the aftermath of its near collapse in February 2021 during a severe winter freeze.

But the cost of that insurance policy is only now becoming clear: $685 million to $860 million just within the first five months this year.

The estimate includes money spent by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the grid, to procure higher levels of reserve power than before and to make it available faster.

It also includes the impact of policy changes designed to make wholesale electricity prices rise quicker initially as conditions on the grid tighten, before topping out at …

Generation

Houston landfill site to host large solar and energy storage system

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inferse.com

By Abhinav Mishra

Solar on a former landfill in Beverly, Massachusetts. Image: Navisun

A 52 MW solar project is set to be installed on a former landfill site in Houston, Texas, bringing renewable energy closer to the city. Not only does the project make use of land space with limited second-life uses, but it also places electricity generation closer to the demand center of the city, alleviating problems with congestion at the transmission level, a key challenge for the Texas grid.
Most of the project, 50 MW, will be utility-scale electricity, delivered by Centerpoint Energy, and owned and operated by the project developers Wolfe Energy and BQ Energy. The remaining 2 MW will be dedicated as community solar projects.
The project is expected to bring 100 jobs to the local community, create enough power for 5,000 to 10,000 homes with clean, locally generated electricity, and offset 54,432 metric tons of carbon emissions each year, the …