The Public Utility Commission will meet Thursday to release its draft recommendations to prevent rolling blackouts in the future. Record cold in February led to rolling blackouts, which the Department of State Health Services says led to 210 deaths.
"The potential costs of a major electricity system failure are so high, we really need to think about building a whole suite of resources and rules that really provide layers of protection for Texans," says Suzanne Bertin, managing director of the Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance.
A group of consultants who have worked with ERCOT, PUC, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission met Tuesday. They say PUC should adopt a "layered approach" to "restore confidence in the Texas electricity system."
Alison Silverstein, a former senior adviser to PUC and FERC, says PUC has been in a "super hurry" to address the problem.
"I think when they started this, they were prioritizing issues the governor and legislature told them to do first, which was supply-side," she says. "That's always everybody's go-to first response is let's fix the supply-side of the market."
Silverstein says supply issues did contribute to rolling blackouts in February, with some natural gas transmission lines freezing and some plants not able to continue working in extreme cold.
But she also says the state could avoid future blackouts by improving energy efficiency in homes and businesses and shifting electricity use away from times of peak demand. She says those solutions would cost 39% less than proposed new natural gas plants.
"This is an extraordinary level of savings we are offered here," Silverstein says. "It would create a massive buffer of cost reduction."
PUC will lay out recommended changes Thursday morning. The commission hopes to finalize a plan by the end of the year.
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