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ERCOT Abandons Congestion Plan, Pinpoints Key Texas Grid Weaknesses

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ERCOT Abandons Congestion Plan, Pinpoints Key Texas Grid Weaknesses


ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told his Board during a planning session this week that his agency will abandon a plan to relieve congestion on a key transmission line due to lack of customer response. Vegas said Tuesday that a planned conservation program has failed to attract significant commitments from big power consumers.

“The contract for capacity that was issued to support summer conditions resulted in a very low submission,” he told the ERCOT board. “It’s clear … we need to modify the approach for developing the next set of demand response capabilities in the ERCOT market.”

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The issue at hand high-capacity transmission line designed to carry electricity generated by South Texas wind installations hundreds of miles north to the Dallas/Fort Worth market. During mid-day periods of high demand last summer, the line became congested with too much input, causing ERCOT to have to issue conservation warnings on as many as 11 days in August. The agency’s plan to address that issue was to solicit applications for voluntary conservation by major power users near the congestion point in South Texas for 500 MW of consumption, but the solicitation for bids attracted only three applications, all of which were for less than 10 MW.

Two Critical Grid Weak Spots

The failure of the plan – and the need to devise it to begin with – highlights a pair of key weaknesses in the Texas grid as currently constructed:

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  • The fact that the construction of new thermal generation capacity in high-demand regions like the DFW market has failed to keep pace with demand growth; and
  • The heavy reliance on costly transmission lines to move power generated by wind or solar industrial sites hundreds of miles to those demand centers.

Where wind is concerned, the problem in the state is that the only regions truly fit to host the big industrial sites are in the West Texas/Panhandle region and in deep South Texas, where populations are sparse. Over the first decade of this century, Texas spent $7 billion to build high-capacity transmission lines called the CREZ lines to carry wind-generated power from West Texas to the Houston and DFW markets. That final tab was 700% bigger than initial estimates provided by wind developers. Additional transmission has had to be added along with the more recent build-out of wind generation in South Texas.

The obsession by the state’s policymakers and regulators to pack the grid with intermittent and often unpredictable wind and solar at the expense of encouraging the installation of additional thermal or nuclear capacity has resulted in an increasingly unstable grid that requires ERCOT to often invoke novel plans like this one. It didn’t get a lot of news coverage, but this past winter, ERCOT even resorted to the extreme measure of trying to convince owners of mothballed coal-fired generation plants to reopen them as part of a plan to avoid blackouts during a major winter storm event.

Help Is On The Way

San Antonio-based CPS is currently in the process of upgrading the transmission line that caused the near-crisis situations last summer, but the anticipated completion date of that project is still three years away. As I reported here last week, help in the arena of new thermal capacity is also on the way after the new Texas Energy Fund to incentivize development of more natural gas generation attracted an overwhelming response from generation companies. But those projects will also take years to plan and build.

Looking out farther into the future, help could also be on the way in the form of modular nuclear power, after Dallas-based Natura Resources received the good news from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that a construction permit for its planned molten salt reactor to be sited on the campus of Abilene Christian University (ACU) will be approved in September.

In a recent interview, Natura CEO Doug Robison told me the project, which is a demonstration project developed in conjunction with ACU, the University of Texas, Texas A&M University, and the Georgia Institute of Technology, has an anticipated startup date in 2027. The eventual success of that project could spur development of an array of such modular reactors – Robison says the reactor itself is roughly the size of a home refrigerator – that have the advantage of being installed in the middle of major demand centers rather than hundreds of miles distant.

The Bottom Line

Unfortunately, while this set of prospects for a more stable grid to come remain years away from reality, Mr. Vegas and his grid managers and planners at ERCOT will continue to have to devise novel ways to keep power flowing to a rapidly growing array of big demand centers. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.



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Texas

2024 Texas Election Guide: How to register to vote and make your voice heard

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2024 Texas Election Guide: How to register to vote and make your voice heard


At ABC13 Houston, we believe our democracy works best when everyone participates.

This year, Texas voters will cast ballots for our next president and vice president, U.S. Senator, congressional and state representatives, and decide on multiple judicial races.

Your last day to register to vote is Monday, Oct. 7, 2024.
Check your Texas voter registration | Register to vote (print, sign and mail)
Find your polling place

Texas does not offer online voter registration, but you can visit VoteTexas.gov to fill out, print, sign and mail your application. To be eligible to vote in the November general election, your registration form must be received or postmarked by the Oct. 7 deadline.

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You can also register to vote in person at your local Voter Registrar’s office.

Even if you’ve voted before, you should still double-check your registration.

More than a million Texans have been removed from voter rolls since 2021, and the League of Women Voters told ABC13 that some voters have been removed if they didn’t register in the last two federal elections.

Early voting will begin Monday, Oct. 21 and run through Friday, Nov. 1.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.

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Voting by mail in Texas is limited to voters who are:

  • Ages 65 and older
  • Sick or disabled
  • Expected to give birth within three weeks of Election Day
  • Out of the county on Election Day and during the early voting period
  • Confined in jail, but otherwise eligible
  • Civilly committed under Chapter 841 of the Texas Health and Safety Code

The last day to register to vote by mail in Texas is Friday, Oct. 25.

Click here to download an application to vote by mail.

What you can (and can’t) bring to the polls

All voters must present one of the following forms of photo ID:

  • Texas driver license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)
  • Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS
  • Texas personal identification card issued by DPS
  • Texas handgun license issued by DPS
  • United States military identification card containing the person’s photograph
  • United States citizenship certificate containing the person’s photograph
  • United States passport (book or card)

You can still vote if you do not possess or cannot reasonably obtain one of these photo IDs. You will need to fill out a Reasonable Impediment Declaration at the polls and show a copy or original of one of the following approved IDs:

  • Certified Domestic Birth Certificate or Court Admissible Birth Document
  • Current utility bill
  • Bank statement
  • Government check
  • Paycheck
  • Government document with your name and an address, including your voter registration certificate

If you need assistance, voters may request help by any person other than the voter’s employer, an agent of their employer, or an officer or agent of a labor union to which the voter belongs.

You are not permitted to use a wireless communications device or any device which records audio, images or video within 100 feet of a voting station. This includes smartphones, digital cameras or sound recorders. Election judges are authorized to require anyone to turn off or deactivate any device.

While you may be excited to vote for a particular candidate, you should not wear any campaign t-shirts, buttons, hats or other accessories to the polls. This is considered electioneering, which is not permitted within 100 feet of the voting stations.

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What’s on my ballot?

For a glance at what you’ll see at the top of your ballot, click here (PDF).

For down ballot races, see your county election authority’s website for details:

Harris Co.
Fort Bend Co.
Montgomery Co.
Galveston Co.
Chambers Co.
Liberty Co.
Waller Co.
Austin Co.
Brazoria Co.
Calhoun Co.
Colorado Co.
Grimes Co.
Jackson Co.
Matagorda Co.
Polk Co.
San Jacinto Co.
Trinity Co.
Walker Co.
Washington Co.
Wharton Co.

Copyright © 2024 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.



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Texas Supreme Court allows State Fair of Texas gun ban to take effect

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Texas Supreme Court allows State Fair of Texas gun ban to take effect


Texas Supreme Court allows State Fair of Texas gun ban to take effect – CBS Texas

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Most visitors will not be allowed to take guns into the State Fair of Texas after the state Supreme Court turned away a last-minute request from the Office of the Attorney General. Lacey Beasley reports on what security measures fairgoers can expect.

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Texas A&M Commit Cancels Visit With Texas Longhorns

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Texas A&M Commit Cancels Visit With Texas Longhorns


After coming up short to the Texas Longhorns in the race for a pair of highly-touted players on the 2025 recruiting trail, the Texas A&M Aggies have secured a win over their heated rivals.

Per Ryan Brauninger of TexAgs, Texas A&M three-star defensive line commit Chace Sims has cancelled his official visit to Texas this weekend. The Randle High School (Richmond, TX) product was set to visit the Forty Acres for the Longhorns’ SEC opener against Mississippi State on Saturday, but has instead decided to cross Texas off his list barring a change of heart at some point down the line.

This development comes after the Aggies fell short to Texas in the recruiting races for a pair of five-star players in receiver Kaliq Lockett and safety/linebacker Jonah Williams.

Sims originally committed to Texas A&M on July 2 after taking his official visit to College Station on June 21. He also took OVs to Texas Tech (June 21), Kansas (June 14), Washington (May 31) and SMU (May 17).

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Texas A&M recruiting analyst Jaxson Callaway reported Thursday that Sims’ decision to cancel his Texas official visit “had been trending this way.”

“Pretty big development for the Aggies recruiting class, as Chace Sims has cancelled his previously scheduled official visit to Texas,” Callaway tweeted. “Had been trending this way after his trip to College Station this past weekend, but now decided upon.

The Aggies offered Sims in February. He received offers from other programs like LSU, TCU, Kansas State, Arizona, Baylor, Pittsburgh, California and more.

According to 247Sports’ rankings, Sims is the No. 69 defensive tackle and No. 91 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class.

Sims is currently a part of a 2025 that’s highlighted by five-star quarterback Husan Longstreet and four-stars like cornerback Adonyss Currie, defensive linemen Kiotti Armstrong and DJ Sanders, athlete Noah Mikhail, edge Marco Jones and many more.

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During the 2023 season, Sims posted 11 sacks. He’s tallied 120 tackles (26 for loss), 12 sacks and two forced fumbles over the past two seasons combined.



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