A report by Aurora Energy Research cautioned that passage of Texas SB 715 will reduce reliability while increasing costs for consumers.
The Texas Senate passed SB 712 in a vote 19 to 12. The bill aims to establish reliability requirements for electric generation facilities within the ERCOT power region and that the requirements apply only to facilities that have been operational for at least one year and are not self-generators.
Aurora Energy Research stated in a report that this bill (and companion House Bill 3356) “would reduce reliability of the Texas power grid while increasing electricity costs for consumers, if enacted.”
The bill also specifies new criteria under which ERCOT may not impose penalties for resource unavailability, including provisions for resources that can operate continuously for 24 hours at or above their seasonal average generation capability, as well as those with dual grid interconnections.
Aurora says that by retroactively impose firming requirements on renewable energy facilities can create an “unsustainable market.”
Specifically the report finds that:
- Competition for limited firming contracts will be fierce with only 50% of requirements fulfillable by 2026;
- No reliability benefits expected until 2029 despite immediate compliance demands;
- Thermal plants already operating at maximum during high-stress periods.
This bill follows a similar theme in the Texas legislature with bills that aim to curtail the buildout of clean energy on the ERCOT grid, most notably Senate Bill 819.
These anti-renewables bills come just as Texas takes its place as one of the top states for installed solar capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), “and that trend should continue, barring new state policies that unfairly discriminate against solar and storage,” SEIA said on its website. Its growth projection puts Texas in the number one spot in five years, expected to add 41 GW.
Read A watershed moment for Texas solar.
