Texas governor looks to double state energy fund to $10 billion
July 1 (Reuters) - Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said on Monday they will seek to expand the Texas Energy Fund program to $10 billion to build more natural gas plants to meet the state’s growing demand for electricity.
The statement said Texas currently has about 85,000 megawatts of power available including wind, solar, coal, nuclear and natural gas, but may need 150,000 megawatts by 2030.
The fund was approved last year to provide a $5 billion low-interest loan program to incentivize the building of dispatchable natural gas plants.
“Texas has already received notice of intent to apply for $39 billion in loans, making the program nearly eight times oversubscribed,” the statement said.
(Reporting by Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”