Texas House goes further than Senate to protect state’s main power grid.

News

May 24

The Texas House for hours on Sunday debated its proposal to better prepare for extreme weather. The chambers have a little more than a week to wrap up remaining work.

BY MITCHELL FERMAN MAY 23, 2021 UPDATED: 11 AM CENTRAL

Texas Tribune

After hours of debate Sunday, the Texas House moved to strengthen the state’s main electricity grid in the wake of February’s catastrophic power outages, giving preliminary approval to a proposal that goes further than the Senate’s in preparing for extreme weather.

The upper chamber already passed Senate Bill 3, but the House State Affairs Committee added more requirements for natural gas facilities to properly prepare for extreme weather, though the legislation doesn’t currently say who would cover costs for weatherizing such infrastructure and critics on Sunday raised concerns about how the state would ensure companies actually weatherize.

The House granted final approval to the bill Monday. Now the measure is likely headed to a conference committee where the House and Senate would iron out their differences, unless the Senate decides to accept the House's changes. The two chambers have about a week to get the measure across the finish line.

The House proposal also would not target renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, to cover the costs of having reserve power available to the main Texas grid. SB 3 would instead require the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which oversees the state’s main power grid operator, to review whether there could be more reserve power available from non-renewable sources.

Under the House proposal, Texas regulators would also have to ensure natural gas facilities do not lose electricity during an emergency, as many did in February, exacerbating blackouts.

One notable effort Sunday came from one lawmaker who tried to add a provision to SB 3 that would have studied the feasibility of having a significant power reserve available to the grid for emergencies only. The provision echoed the push by billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to build 10 new natural gas power plants across the state for emergency use only, an $8.3 billion price tag paid for by Texas electricity customers.

After much debate, the provision to warrant a study failed, likely sinking Berkshire’s pricey pitch and the prospect of the corporation building emergency power reserves in Texas.

For more:

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/23/texas-power-grid-legislation/