Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘electric reliability council of texas’

Texas Coalition for Affordable Power Release Report on Electric Deregulation

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , , on January 30, 2012 | 11 Comments »

Texas Coalition for Affordable Power’s (TCAP) report on electric deregulation in Texas says the industry has failed to deliver, while industry and agency critics find fault with the reports price and reliability comparisons. Texans have paid higher prices for power that is less reliable – as evidenced by two rolling blackouts – during a decade [...]

Read Full Post »

ERCOT says Luminant can shut two Monticello power units

Posted in Air Quality, Energy, tagged , , , on December 20, 2011 | 4 Comments »

Planning for Texas’ energy future must include drought proofing our energy supply with energy efficiency and renewable energy, not propping up old dirty fossil fuel plants.  To that end, we applaud the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT – the Texas electric grid operator) for calling Luminant’s bluff to shut down the aging Monticello coal [...]

Read Full Post »

Drought and coal-fired power plants don’t mix

Posted in Coal Plants, Utilities, Water, tagged , , , on November 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

According to the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), at the end of summer 2011, Texas had suffered the driest 10 months since record keeping began in 1895.  Rivers, like the Brazos, actually dried up. And if that wasn’t enough, the dry weather came with brutal heat.  So brutal, that seven cities recorded at least 80 [...]

Read Full Post »

Continued Drought Concerns ERCOT for 2012

Posted in Coal Plants, Efficiency, Water, tagged , , , , , on October 19, 2011 | 1 Comment »

The worst drought in more than 50 years in Texas is expected to continue as a weak La Nina weather pattern is predicted to strengthen this winter.  Drought has already reduced cooling water needed by coal-fired power plants and may limit electric output from power plants next summer, an official from the Electric Reliability Council [...]

Read Full Post »

Public Citizen, Sierra Club and SEED Coalition Fear Luminant Will Simply Run Units Next Summer Without Cleaning Up the Air Emissions

Posted in Air Quality, Coal, tagged , , , , on October 6, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Public Citizen, Sierra Club and SEED Coalition are calling on Luminant to come clean and retire, rather than idle, the old dirty coal plant, Monticello 1 and 2. After receiving notice that Luminant Generation Company, LLC, has filed a Notification of Suspension of Operations for Monticello Units 1 and 2 with the Electric Reliability Council [...]

Read Full Post »

ERCOT calls for energy conservation this weekend

Posted in Efficiency, Global Warming, Utilities, tagged , , , , , , , on August 26, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Its predicted that the entire state will have record temperatures this weekend. Please take all measures to avoid using unnecessary energy. They might have a hurricane on the east coast but we have a heat wave in Texas and there might not be enough electricity to go around. Statement from ERCOT CEO Trip Doggett on [...]

Read Full Post »

SPIN BABY SPIN – Renewables continue to grow in Texas

Posted in Energy, Renewables, solar, tagged , , , , , , on August 19, 2011 | 2 Comments »

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the operators of the Texas electric grid, has released its Emerging technologies report that includes the state of renewables on the Texas grid. Some interesting facts show that wind generation continues to provide a significant amount of energy to the grid as the technology matures, new turbines are [...]

Read Full Post »

With a little help from the wind, ERCOT is holding power emergencies at bay

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , on August 9, 2011 | 5 Comments »

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is expecting to keep rolling blackouts at bay this week.  While we came perilously close to having statewide rolling blackouts last week, it turns out, coastal wind power proved helpful in averting an electric crisis then, according to ERCOT’s president. Unlike wind farms in West Texas, which tend [...]

Read Full Post »

Temperatures in Texas soar — and so do energy prices

Posted in Energy, tagged , , , on August 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

This is a reprint of a post by Jake Dyer from the RechargeTexas.com blog The rolling blackouts that swept through Texas last February have been blamed on the unexpected failure of generation plants. The temperature dropped during a cold snap, the plants froze up, and then — before anybody really knew what hit them — [...]

Read Full Post »

Rolling Blackouts – are we close?

Posted in Global Warming, tagged , , on August 2, 2011 | 2 Comments »

ERCOT announced a yellow alert at 3:15 today when they smashed through the state electric use record by over 2,000 MW.  With only 1800 MW of reserve available around 4:30, we are periously close to triggering rolling blackouts.  With no end in sight for this excessive heat wave, it is imperative that Texans severely curtail [...]

Read Full Post »

PUC Sunset bill give the agency more oversight of ERCOT

Posted in Energy, Sunset, Texas Legislature, tagged , , , , , on March 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

The Public Utility Commission (PUC) sunset bill (H.B. 2134) would give the PUC the authority to approve or change the annual budget of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT),  stipulates that no member of the PUC could work for ERCOT for at least two years after he or she had stepped down, and fines would quadruple [...]

Read Full Post »

Senate joint committee chairs differ in response to hearing on rolling blackouts

Posted in Consumers, Energy, tagged , , , on February 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

John Carona, republican senator from Dallas and chair of the Senate Business and Commerce committee (one of the two Senate committees that jointly heard testimony on the rolling blackouts earlier this week) told the Dallas Morning news that he doesn’t think the Legislature needs to inact any new laws to prevent another day of rolling outages. [...]

Read Full Post »

Which power plants caused the rolling blackouts?

Posted in Energy, tagged , , , , , on February 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

ERCOT just released an updated list of all of the power plants that were not operating Feb 2, contributing to the power shortages that caused the rolling blackouts.  That document is here, but we present the data below for your convenience. Notice a trend? Natural gas and Lignite coal were the main power sources that [...]

Read Full Post »

Public Citizen testifies on rolling blackouts in Texas Senate, Fraser threatens re-regulation

Posted in Energy, tagged , , , , on February 15, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Senator Troy Fraser, the chair of Senate Natural Resources Committee, warned the major electric generation companies this afternoon that unless they move swiftly to shore up their power plants against extreme weather, they can expect more regulations from state government. Fraser said he would prefer free market solutions, but is prepared to impose new regulations, [...]

Read Full Post »

ERCOT Board to review February 2nd “Event”

Posted in Energy, tagged , on February 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

ERCOT has moved their regularly scheduled board meeting up from Tuesday to Monday, February 14th to allow for a special 2 hour time to take up a review of February 2, 2011 Energy Emergency Alert (EEA) Event.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 28 other followers