Margin of Error Too Thin on Electricity Supply

September 8, 2011

Another near-miss in August demonstrates again that Texas is riding too close to the line when it comes to electricity supply. When summer’s unrelenting heat prompted millions of Texans to run their air conditioners, the demand for electricity came dangerously close to outstripping available supply. This scenario was almost a repeat of the one in February, when demand for heating during one of the coldest snaps in recent years came close to triggering unplanned power interruptions. What’s going on here?

First, both weather events were extreme. The heat August 1-4 topped 100 degrees in almost every part of the state, putting a strain on power plants feeding the grid controlled by ERCOT, the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the flow of electric power to 85 percent of the state’s customers. The drought that has gripped the state has also made the problem worse, hobbling some power plants that don’t have enough available water to cool their turbines.

Weather won’t always be as extreme, and the drought—we all hope and pray—will break. But there are other factors that figure into the power demand picture that won’t go away: the state’s growing population and the strong business climate.

The more people who move to the state, the more electricity customers there will be. And Texas continues to grow, adding almost 5 million people from the 2000 to the 2010 census. A lot of that population growth is because people are coming here to work.

Texas’ economy appears to be weathering the national recession better than in other states. That business strength increases demand for electricity to power factories and stores.

Building new generation facilities is not easy. It never has been. But the lack of a comprehensive national energy policy, which has been stalled in Congress for years, and an increasingly stringent set of regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have made it harder recently. Uncertainty about direction of the country’s energy future makes investors leery of putting money up to pay for new generation.

If we don’t get our energy priorities straight, the next big heat wave or cold snap could result in more than a near-miss—it could leave you in the dark.

Tell your representatives in Washington that energy policy is too important to leave on the back burner.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

South Plains Electric Cooperative has also seen growth in electric demand. In contrast to what is happening elsewhere in Texas, our wholesale power suppliers, Golden Spread Electric Cooperative (GSEC) and Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, are adding significant new generation facilities to their portfolios.

GSEC has two projects utilizing abundant wind supplies and minimizing the use of our precious groundwater. Antelope Station is a 168-megawatt natural gas powered, quick starting, facility north of Abernathy. It utilizes 18 large reciprocating engines, each capable of producing 12,700 horsepower connected to a 9.4 megawatt electric generator. The engines use radiators similar to your vehicles for cooling, rather than our groundwater. These engines can be started and brought to full output in less than five minutes. The quick start units provide back-up to the Golden Spread Panhandle Wind Ranch. It was recently completed west of Amarillo and will produce 70 megawatts of power when adequate wind is blowing.

Brazos completed construction on its Jack 2 station near Jacksboro. This combined cycle, natural-gas-fired plant will produce 620 megawatts. Brazos has also partnered with several other Texas providers to construct the Sandy Creek power station which is fired with western coal and utilizes the most up-to-date environmental equipment. Brazos’ share of the output will total 375 megawatts.

All the new generation plants come at great expense, but the cost of doing nothing looks to be even more expensive.

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