As #Texas assesses the damage from last week, and water + power flow again, there's going to be a lot going on this week. It's important the public stay engaged. Many are banking on you tuning out. Don't.

Here's what to watch for. A thread.

#txlege #txenergy
1/ Watch for announcements from retail electric providers (REPs) like this one from @JustEnergyUS which warns it may go under. Who will buy them for pennies on the dollar? Private equity? @nrgenergy or @VistraCorp? (btw, follow @JavierBlas)

2/ And what happens to their customers? They'll go to "Providers of Last Resort" program dominated by @nrgenergy and @VistraCorp. They're allowed to charge high prices as POLR. Hopefully, they won't do that. (Other REPs can apply by 3 today) Eyes open 👀

tpr.org/texas/2021-02-…
3/ Watch for word from city owned utilities and electric co-ops. Mine, @PedernalesCoop has been quiet. @cpsenergy said they may need to spread the costs from this out over 10 years (!). Their supposedly reliable coal plant, JK Spruce, went offline early.
4/ Watch for the earnings calls for @nrgenergy this Thursday and @VistraCorp on Friday. Together, they own about 1/2 the generation in @ERCOT_ISO and 75% of the retail market. Did their plants run? Do investors expect a windfall and market consolidation when other retailers fail?
5/ The @PUCTX will have more emergency mtgs this week, appropriate given it's an emergency. Yesterday, they took action to, at least temporarily, prevent bills from this catastrophe coming due, by customers or the companies/co-ops/etc that serve them.
6/ #TxLege will have hearings: both Thurs AM. It's absurd and disappointing to have them on the same day. They should stagger them.

I'm looking for the legislators that ask good questions instead of engage in political theater.

You can submit comment comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c450
7/ Also, I'm watching for the witness lists. Is it all industry or do they invite energy experts like @cohan_ds @MichaelEWebber @JesseJenkins @emilygrubert @leahstokes @DrBobBullard @KHayhoe @joshdr83 and more. They need to have several of these folks to get an accurate picture
8/ Finally, I'm watching Congress and @FERC. It is often said Texas is not under federal jurisdiction. True, for its market regulating intrastate trading; NOT true for reliability. FERC has that authority already. @RichGlickFERC spoke on this last Thursday utilitydive.com/news/congress-…
9/ And Democrats in DC will likely hold hearings, not likely this week but soon. And they may call all sorts of witnesses from Texas. @RepVeasey @RepFletcher and other @EnergyCommerce members sent questions to @GovAbbott about what happened.
10/ And finally, how does the discussion around extreme weather and climate change play out? All elected officials should acknowledge weather is getting more extreme and weird and begin reducing emissions and adapting. This is literally life and death. cnn.com/videos/tv/2021…
11/ Note that 17 Texas House member kicked off the first ever @TXClimateCaucus before this crisis. Great leadership from @ErinForYall @GinaForAustin @RafaelAnchia @ronereynolds @jasminefor100 and more. And hopefully more join them soon! texastribune.org/2021/02/10/tex…
12/ This has been a really hard week for almost all of us in TX. More than anything, I'm grateful for my neighbors who helped me in more ways than I can name. Disasters, if they don't kill you, bring you closer to people.

Texans are good. Clear eyes, full hearts. #texasforever
13/ We Texans also need to do some soul searching.

Is less government always a good thing?

Is our isolation and Texas exceptionalism hurting us?

Does electing leaders who don't follow science causing unnecessary suffering?

Are we ready for the next disaster?
14/ What is paramount here is that people stay involved. The solutions are there but all of them require public pressure. Stay informed. Attend town halls. Ask lots of questions.

We've all got to be part of this. The challenges from #climatechange can be met. #Actonclimate

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Doug Lewin

Doug Lewin Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @douglewinenergy

20 Feb
Tonight, at 5:30 with very little notice, the Texas Public Utility Commission met. Those interested can listen here at the link below. Pay special attention to the exchange with a concerned Texan

They did a few things I'll explain here #txlege #txenergy
texasadmin.com/tx/puct/open_m…
They gave until Monday at 3pm for Retail Electric Providers (REPs) to ask to be a "Provider of Last Resort" (POLR). This is the backstop for when other REPs go out of business, as many will, their customer get transferred to larger REPs like @reliantenergy and @txuenergy
Customers don't get to choose their POLR and Reliant and TXU are pushing hard to be the POLR. Customers can switch later. There's a problem: there will be far less REPs to switch to after likely dozens of companies fail. @apoorv_bh89 called this:
Read 17 tweets
18 Feb
Enjoyed talking to public radio listeners yesterday @TPRNews. A few highlights:

(1) Anyone who blames wind energy for this is wrong.
(2) The main problem was failure in gas, coal, and nuke plants and with gas supply.
tpr.org/environment/20… #txlege #txenergy 1/4
(3) Renewables generally, though not at all times, overperformed, including right now... #windenegy is a big reason power is back.
(4) #Gas, for now, should not be considerd reliable. It's not always available when most needed. About 1/3 of the gas plants are *still* out. 2/4
(5) Get water and power flowing to people again, and then let's start looking for solutions.
(6) Blaming accomplishes little but we need our state's leaders to accept responsibility. 3/4
Read 4 tweets
14 Feb
A thread on the #ERCOT situation below but most importantly, if you're in TX, if you can, reduce usage today between 4-10 and again tomorrow between 5-9am.

More below on what's happening now, what's driving this kind of event and what needs to be done.

#energytwitter #txlege
Every 6 months, ERCOT creates the SARA, seasonal assessment of resource adequacy. Their forecast was 24% lower than what will likely be peak demand today. They also had an extreme weather forecast. That was somehwere around 10% lower than what we're likley to see tomorrow.
Winter peak demand forecast was 57,699. Current day forecast is ~71,000MW and tomorrow around 75,000MW. Their extreme peak load forecast was for 67,208MW, obviously undershooting by a lot.
ercot.com/news/releases/…
Read 18 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!