Thread by @douglewinenergy

Work session at the @PUCTX on rolling outages, load shedding, and transmission starting momentarily. I'll tweet some of the major takeaways here.
You can watch here: texasadmin.com/tx/puct/work_s…
Speaker slides here interchange.puc.texas.gov/Documents/5226…
Agenda below
#txlege #txenergy #energytwitter

@AEPTexas said they had 11 critical load customers before the storm in Feb, 171 now. 160 facilities didn't fill out a 2 page form pre-Feb. Wow.


This adds new detail to this from @byjayroot @jblackmanChron @Dexinvestigates #txlege houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas…

@TNMP had 2 gas facilities registered as critical infrastructure before the storm. Now has 177. This really is stunning. They're a small player but have a significant Permian footprint.
#txlege #txenergy #TexasBlackouts

Liz Jones of @oncor asks the @PUCTX for clarification on the load management section of SB3. Not clear if that fits within current #energyefficiency programs or somehow exists outside of them. She's speaking of this in Section 16
#txlege #txenergy

#transmission session of @PUCTX work session kicking off now and can be watched later at texasadmin.com/tx/puct/work_s…

First speaker Warren Lasher, System Planning at @ERCOT_ISO

Very interesting slide from @ERCOT_ISO's Warren Lasher. Oil and gas production and processing in the Permian is driving reliability problems and the boom and bust nature of the business makes building transmission to the Permian very difficult.

Note that S. TX is challenged both for export of #wind and #solar & import for reliability when generation is below expected. DFW & Houston are both economic & reliability needs driven by huge population growth. W TX has economic need to get more cheap generation to load centers.

Wayman Smith of @AEPTexas says that the variability of demand (see the green line) is driven by resistance heating.

My words not his: #energyefficiency would help with this!!! If you're only talking about supply, you're only dealing with half the problem!

#txlege #RGV

Asked by commissioners will we have a problem, Smith says much of that depends on demand. Reminder that #energyefficiency programs to replace resistance heat with highly efficient heat pumps can happen very quickly. Transmission takes 6-8 years. Need both, not an either/or.

Sharyland Utilities raising issue that #SB1281 which should speed up much needed transmission isn't due for rulemaking by the @PUCTX until June 2022 with ERCOT implementation after that. Meanwhile transmission constraints limit generation that needs to move in or out of the #RGV.

Finally, Warren Lasher makes the point that insufficient transmission means #renewables trapped in the #RGV without access to other parts of the state drive prices lower, reducing incentive for new generation of all kinds. #txlege #txenergy

Lasher says that #sb1281 requires a look at improving reliability in extreme weather scenarios and says ERCOT will recommend a new reliability line further connecting the #RGV to the rest of the state. Will take ~6 years to get done. #txlege #transmission