Texas voting on whether to put billions toward gas plants - The Hill
Texas voting on whether to put billions toward gas plants | The Hill
The proposal, known as “Prop 7,” would provide $7.2 billion in low-interest loans for the construction of new gas-powered plants, as well as completion bonuses for that construction and repairs to existing gas plants.
It would also put $1.8 billion toward backup power sources and $1 billion in grants for power infrastructure outside of the jurisdiction of power operator ERCOT, which is in charge of most of the state’s grid.
Proponents say the measures will bolster reliability in the state in the wake of a devastating 2021 winter storm that resulted in power outages and killed hundreds of people.
Opponents call it a giveaway to the fossil fuel industry and say it could worsen climate change. They also raise questions about its actual impacts on reliability.
Bob Hebner, director of the University of Texas’s Center for Electromechanics, said putting more plants on the grid could help reliability in moments of extremely high demand.
“When we have extraordinarily high temperatures and we were running out of supply, or extraordinarily low temperatures and we run out of supply, then more supply will help,” Hebner said.
However, he said he doesn’t think the proposal is the best way to bolster reliability, describing it as “more of a showpiece than a solution.”
“When you put in a plant, you’re making a 20-year investment, and technology is changing faster than it’s ever changed before,” Hebner said. “We may not want to make a 20-year decision to use old technology. We may want to make smaller decisions along the way to get to the best solution over time.”
In a follow-up email, Hebner concluded: “We are not likely to get the resilience improvement per dollar invested from simply building these plants than we would from a more strategic approach.”
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
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.”