Four Years After Winter Storm Uri, States Can Learn from the Texas Energy Deployment Playbook

Posted by Matthew Boms on Feb 11, 2025 9:35:29 AM

Advanced Energy Sources Keeping the Lights on in Texas

Texas has come a long way since 2021, when Winter Storm Uri left millions of Texans without power for days during a stretch of below-freezing temperatures. The deadly impact, and traumatic effects for millions of Texans, forced intense scrutiny of the Lone Star State’s electricity infrastructure. As part of a series of recent winter storms, along with Winter Storms Elliot and Mara, Uri exposed serious vulnerabilities in the Texas grid.

In the four years since Uri hit, Texas has made enormous improvements toward making the grid more reliable, in part by significantly increasing energy capacity. In his recent State of the State address, Governor Greg Abbott highlighted Texas’ 35% increase in power generation. 

This growth is driven almost entirely by increases in advanced energy. In fact, over 90% of Texas’ new power capacity in the past four years came from solar, wind, and battery storage.  

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Topics: State Policy, Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance, Texas, Solar, Battery Storage

Texas’ ADER Task Force Makes Progress on VPPs, Challenges Remain

Posted by Micalah Spenrath on Jan 17, 2024 10:02:14 AM

Workshops Drive Progress for Distributed Resources in Texas (1)

Roughly one-third of Americans report having a side hustle to supplement their income. Side hustles range from delivery drivers to social media influencers and may soon include something surprising—electricity providers. That’s the promise of a Virtual Power Plant (VPP), letting consumers sell their unused energy back to the grid and get compensated for it. A VPP is formed when distributed energy resources – like solar panels, batteries, and EVs – are combined, or “aggregated” together and managed as a single resource like a power plant. 

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Topics: Wholesale Markets, Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance, Texas, Distributed Energy Resources

Pilot Project Will Reward DER Owners for Aiding the Texas Grid

Posted by Angela Kent on Nov 15, 2022 11:00:00 AM

TAEBA Aggregated DER Pilot

In Texas, regulators and stakeholders are paving the way to a cleaner, more reliable future with a pilot project that puts flexible energy resources at the forefront of the state’s grid planning efforts. Following a months-long effort involving industry stakeholders and state regulators, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) voted unanimously on November 3 to greenlight a pilot project that will allow residential participants to receive compensation for their contributions to the state’s electrical grid.

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Topics: Wholesale Markets, Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance, Texas

For Resilience, Texas Needs Distributed Energy Resources

Posted by Ignacio Guajardo and Angela Kent on Jun 28, 2022 11:30:00 AM

Blog-Post_2022-06-28 745

In the winter of 2021, Texas experienced firsthand the dangers of an electric grid dependent on the seamless functioning of a small number of large, weather-vulnerable generation sources. The inability to meet the energy needs of over 70% of the state amid a winter weather crisis signals the system’s clear need for reform; so, too, the unseasonable heat waves that hit Texas this spring, which pushed grid power to its limits. With large traditional power plants taking at least six years to become operational, Texans need adaptive solutions that will meet their needs today. In the face of rapidly growing electricity demand, uncertain forecasting, and aging infrastructure, a new TAEBA report demonstrates the power of distributed energy resources as clean, low cost, and resilient tools poised to bring Texas into the 21st century of electricity provision.

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Topics: State Policy, Regulatory, Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance, Texas

New Year, New Texas Grid?

Posted by Suzanne Bertin on Jan 5, 2022 3:00:00 PM

05-Jan-2022_Blog Image

With 2021 in the rearview mirror and colder weather returning to the Lone Star State, it's a good time to take stock of how Texas regulators responded to the electricity grid crisis following Winter Storm Uri. Heading into 2022, Texans want to feel secure that their lights will stay on, and that’s exactly what Governor Abbott has promised. But is there good reason to feel secure? See where Texas took positive steps forward for advanced energy, and where regulators should resolve to do better in the New Year.

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Topics: State Policy, Regulatory, Wholesale Markets, Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance, Texas

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