Electricity

Did PUC go too far in raising power prices to the max during 2021 winter storm? Court hears the case

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Houston Chronicle

Mark Curriden

Some of Texas’ largest energy companies and their government regulators are scheduled Wednesday to argue one of the most important cases resulting from last year’s winter storm.

Dallas-based Luminant Energy, a subsidiary of Vistra Corporation, and several other power suppliers are asking the Texas Third Court of Appeals in Austin to rule that the Texas Public Utility Commission illegally adopted two rules during the historic storm that allowed the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to increase the price of electricity 650 percent for four days.

But lawyers for the PUC and two major energy companies, Calpine Corporation and Talen Energy, argue that …

Generation

Texas renewables generate record power in early 2022, outpacing most popular gas generation

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Houston Chronicle

Shelby Webb

Wind and solar power accounted for a record 34 percent of electricity generation within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, outperforming the state’s fleet of combined-cycle gas turbines as the dominant source of electricity during the first three months of 2022, according to a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Wind turbines and solar panels produced about 32.3 million megawatt hours in the quarter, compared to 29.7 million megawatt hours churned out by the combined cycle gas turbines. The pattern is similar to last year, when renewables outproduced combined cycle gas turbines in the first four months of 2021, thanks in part to seasonally lower demand and higher wind output.

Renewables have already outpaced coal-produced power in the state, first …