Latest news with #SB6
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ERCOT CEO on summer preps, artificial intelligence stressing grid
The Brief The head of ERCOT, Pablo Vegas, expressed confidence that the Texas power grid will have enough supply to meet demand this summer, despite a gloomy forecast in February. Vegas stated that over 3,000 power plant and transmission substation inspections have been conducted since issues during the 2021 winter storm, showing facilities are prepared for peak summer heat. While acknowledging a focus on natural gas by lawmakers, Vegas noted the significant growth of solar, wind, and battery storage, and highlighted new legislation (SB 6) requiring data centers to use on-site backup generation during grid emergencies as a "game-changer" for future reliability. AUSTIN - The head of ERCOT says the grid will have enough power supply to meet demand this summer. The outlook comes after a gloomy report in February that warned of a fast-approaching power shortage. What they're saying ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas spoke with FOX 7's Rudy Koski about the positive outlook and why his optimism goes beyond the summer months. Vegas: "We do have enough power. The grid is ready for that. We've been doing our inspections for the summer season. Some people may not know, but we actually inspect the power plants and the transmission substations in the winter and the summer both. So we want to make sure that they're ready to run in the peak heat and the peak cold and so we've done over 3,000 inspections since this program started. That was something that came out of Winter Storm Uri, a new formal program that ERCOT administers and the inspections are showing that the operators are taking this very seriously, that they're readying their power facilities in order to be able to operate during the peak summer heat." Koski: "We heard all about how the Texas power plants are really built for the hot Texas summer, but with that said, and with those inspections, any problems? Any issues that you saw that you say, I have to address this?" Vegas: "I can tell you there's been nothing significant or concerning that makes me think this is going to be a problem, [or that] we're not going to be able to deal with this summer." Koski: "We just wrapped up the legislative session and state lawmakers really put an emphasis on natural gas plants. But we do know that solar and wind have played a big role in getting us through some peak periods and times. Are you happy in how this new triplet-type situation is merging together and then throwing in batteries?" Vegas: "What we're finding is that each of the different supply resources, whether it's wind or solar, whether it's the traditional gas, nuclear, coal, or the brand new batteries that we're starting to see quite a lot of growth on in our system, all of them are bringing something unique to the game." Koski: "Are you worried that lawmakers are a little bit too focused on natural gas? Are you worried about that kind of rhetoric?" Vegas: "No, because I think what's really underlying it is a desire for balance. We've seen predominantly, almost limited to, wind and solar and batteries growing on the ERCOT grid over the last five years, and very little natural gas. I think legislators and policymakers are concerned about this imbalance for the long term." Koski: "You mentioned the growth of back in February, ERCOT caused a little bit of a stir by saying power demand could nearly double by 2030, supply could fall short by 6% by the summer of 2026 and then there would be an even wider gap in 2029. Does that report still hold?" Vegas: "The core growth story is still the same. So we still expect tremendous economic growth. A lot of it is driven by data centers. You've heard the discussions about artificial intelligence and the amount of energy demand that that uses. That continues to be at the center of the focus and the center of the story. However, the legislature made some really important changes during this last session. They passed a bill called Senate Bill 6. And what Senate Bill 6 did is it kind of defined the rules of the road for how data centers would perform and operate in the ERCOT grid. And one of the key requirements is that data centers, which happen to be built, they all are built with backup generation on site. Those backup generation facilities, if the grid were to get into an emergency condition and be very scarce, those data centers would come off of the grid and use their backup generation. That's now put into law. And that's something that is a game-changer when it comes to reliability. And so that provision, once implemented, is going to, I think, pave the pathway for safe growth on the data center side. And that going to really change the picture of that forecast. I think it's going to change the reliability and improve the numbers when we do our next update." Koski: "Are you confident that the [local power providers] are ready for the summer?" Vegas: "I think there were a lot of lessons learned, Rudy. A lot of lesson learned as to how to do better, how to communicate better, how to prepare better, how to manage vegetation better, how to stage people when there is an issue and respond more quickly. I saw a lot of lessons learned and come out of the experiences from last summer and I do believe that our utility partners are ready for the summer weather ahead of us." The Source Information in this article comes from FOX 7's Rudy Koski's interview with ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas.
Forbes
22-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Gov. Greg Abbott Signs SB 6 To Improve Texas Grid Reliability
AUSTIN, TX - JUNE 08: Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks during a press conference where he signed ... More Senate Bills 2 and 3 at the Capitol on June 8, 2021 in Austin, Texas. Governor Abbott signed the bills into law to reform the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and weatherize and improve the reliability of the state's power grid. The bill signing comes months after a disastrous February winter storm that caused widespread power outages and left dozens of Texans dead. (Photo by) Concerns that the Texas power grid, managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), could soon begin to groan under the weight of surging demand, led the Texas Legislature to pass Senate Bill 6 (SB 6) in the 2025 session. Signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on Saturday, this bill is an aggressive attempt to shore up reliability on the Texas grid while making large-load customers bear a fair share of the cost. Texas has always prided itself on doing things big, including maintaining its status as a national energy powerhouse. From leading the shale oil and gas boom, to supporting state-of-the-art ports moving the lion's share of U.S. crude and LNG exports, to leading the nation in both wind and solar generating capacity, Texas has fueled America's growth while taking a different path than other large population states like California, New York, and Florida. SB 6 is a legislative balancing act designed to ensure Texas continues to play a leading national role in hosting the nation's rapidly expanding AI industry and its associated datacenters while simultaneously achieving a higher level of grid reliability and energy security. Authored by Senator Charles Schwertner and championed by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, SB 6 targets one of the elephants in the room: massive electricity consumers, defined as those with loads of 75 megawatts or more. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick delivers remarks at the Safer Houston Summit before Gov. Greg Abbott signs ... More Senate Bill 6, named the Damon Allen Act in memory of a state trooper who was murdered by an individual out on bond in 2017, into law Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, at Bayou Events Center in Houston. Rep. Reggie Smith, and Kasey Allen, widow of state trooper Damon Allen, were present at the signing. (Photo by Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images) In addition to high tech datacenters, the bill's provisions will also impact operations like cryptocurrency mining centers and heavy industrial plants. Such industrial giants have flocked to Texas in recent years to take advantage of comparatively cheap electricity and a business-friendly policy structure. But the Texas grid has at the same time shown clear signs of struggling to maintain reliability amid a rapid economic and population expansion, and recent projections by ERCOT of massive demand growth over the coming decade motivated the legislature to take proactive action. This is a welcome change from past episodes that saw policymakers taking action only after disaster had struck, as was the case with Winter Storm Uri, which devastated the state in February 2021 following a decade of failure to act to address well-known weaknesses in the grid. How SB 6 Improves Texas Grid Reliability The bill signed by Gov. Abbott mandates that large-load customers register with ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission (PUC), provide backup generation (like on-site gas or diesel generators), and shoulder new transmission fees to fund grid upgrades. The new law also greenlights proprietary, behind-the-meter power generation for these facilities, reducing their draw on the grid. Such generation will consist mainly of natural gas plants in the near term, with aspirations for more nuclear generation in the longer term. SB 6 also gives ERCOT enhanced tools for large load forecasting, enabling both ERCOT and the PUC to review large load projects which involve taking existing generation off the grid. It establishes a process for curtailing large loads before residential and small business customers during emergency situations, a key step that would require backups for large load customers and thus let ERCOT curtail the load during emergencies without centers powering down. The legislature also tossed in a provision which lets water and sewer corporations generate power in hopes of enhancing rural resilience. 'Texas is open for business, but we won't let unchecked growth crash our grid,' Lt. Gov. Patrick declared when he unveiled his 40 priority bills for the 2025 session in March, with SB 6 near the top. His point is hard to argue with: ERCOT projected in April that Texas power demand will double by 2030, to as high as 208,000 megawatts, driven largely by data centers and industrial loads. A Pillsbury Law analysis notes that 'SB 6 ensures large-load customers contribute to the infrastructure they rely on, protecting residential ratepayers from footing the bill.' The math is compelling: Data centers alone could account for 20% of ERCOT's peak load by 2030. Without proactive policy intervention like SB 6, the grid would be at higher blackout risk during major weather events. The Outlook Ahead For The Texas Grid The legislature's embrace of behind-the-meter natural gas and nuclear power is a pragmatic nod to both the need to enhance reliability and to the state's resource abundance. Texas ranks as far and away the largest natural gas producing state in the country. A recent study published by the Environmental Integrity Project reports that the state is in the early stages of a significant gas plant boom, with at least 130 projects either already in the queue or in the planning stage. Altogether, the plants would combine for 58 gigawatts of new 24/7 power generation. Nuclear appears poised for a national comeback spurred by rising public confidence and favorability and by the rapidly shifting energy policy direction under the Trump administration. Last week, the Department of Energy led by Secretary Chris Wright rolled out a new initiative to reform the system for nuclear reactor testing and spur development of new generation reactors on the site of the DOE National Labs. Critics will no doubt argue that Texas policymakers should encourage big new industrial power users to focus on wind and solar for their behind-the-meter generation. But, as I've detailed here in prior pieces, a consensus has formed among the big datacenter developers that renewables alone can't handle the 24/7 demands of data centers, and SB 6's critics consistently ignore that wind and solar lean on gas peaking plants when lack of wind, bad weather and the setting sun render them dormant. The bill's supporters argue that SB 6 is less about ideology and more about fairness, centered on the principle that residential customers shouldn't subsidize grid upgrades for tech giants. As Schwertner put it during Senate debates, 'This bill ensures those who strain the system invest in its stability.' All in all, SB 6 represents a straightforward move by Texas policymakers to ensure that ERCOT and the PUC have the appropriate tools to incorporate large loads onto the grid and ensure minimal risk from a cost and reliability standpoint while maintaining the state's ability to lead the country in the kinds of large industrial power users. It is a pro-market, pro-development, proactive approach to high-grading the Texas grid, a welcome change from the reactive, disaster-driven processes of the past.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas House OKs bill to boost power grid protection, strengthen ERCOT's emergency authority
A proposal to grant regulators increased oversight of electric generation and transmission, along with equipping the state power grid's manager with tools to better forecast energy needs, passed the House on Tuesday. The legislation is now heading back to the Senate to review the lower chamber's changes to the bill. Senate Bill 6 is the Legislature's latest effort to reduce the risk of widespread outages during peak demand times by allowing the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the state power grid, to cut power to large-scale consumers during an emergency. That should encourage power-hungry operations like data centers to develop their own backup systems, said Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, who sponsored the bill in the House. "You certainly don't want large-load customers that sometimes are data-centered for military operations, or whatever, to just be without power when there's an emergency," King said during the floor debate. According to the bill analysis, SB 6 focuses on four main objectives: Ensuring that transmission costs are properly allocated. Establishing measures to protect grid reliability. Promoting transparency and credibility in load forecasting. Protecting residential customers from outages by requiring large loads to share the load-shed obligation during shortages. More: Renewables bailed out Texas' grid earlier this month. Now the GOP wants to restrict them In March, ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told a congressional committee that Texas set an all-time peak demand record of 85,508 gigawatts in the summer of 2023 — a record he expects the state will break sooner than later because, in part, large-scale consumers are bringing their operations to the Lone Star State. "Texas has become a magnet for industries that require increasing amounts of electricity, from semiconductor plants to data centers, broad industrial growth and large-scale industrial electrification in the Permian Basin," Vegas told the House subcommittee on energy. Under the bill, ERCOT would be able to expedite connecting large consumers to the grid, provided they install on-site backup power sources. The House and Senate versions of SB 6 are different, so unless the Senate agrees with the House's changes, a conference committee will have to reconcile the two versions into a final bill. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas House OKs power grid-protection bill, boosts ERCOT's authority
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bills targeting library operations die in Alabama Legislature
Books in the young adult section of the Ozark - Dale County Library on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023 in Ozark, Ala. Two bills -- one that could have subjected librarians to obscenity prosecutions and one that would have allow city or county governments to remove library board members failed to move in the Alabama Legislature's recently-concluded 2025 regular session. (Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector) The battles over library content continue throughout Alabama. But two bills that could have affected how libraries operate failed to move in the Legislature's 2025 session. One measure, HB 4, would have applied state obscenity laws to public libraries and their employees if there were materials judged to be obscene in the children's section. The other, SB 6, would have allowed cities and counties to terminate members of the library boards without cause. The battles over library books began in Alabama in 2023, after a parent using the Autauga-Prattville Library complained about a book in the children's section that had inclusive pronouns. Similar fights have erupted all over the state. Supporters of restrictions say they are trying to get obscene material out of children's sections of the library. Critics say those restrictions target books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes and not necessarily obscene books. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'Our devoted and beleaguered librarians will not have to worry about being handcuffed and jailed for refusing to censor books under House Bill 4, the 'Jail the Librarians bill,' which never made it out of its House Committee,' said Read Freely Alabama, a group that opposes new library restrictions, in a statement shortly after the 2025 legislative session ended. 'Furthermore, the bill which would have politicized our library boards even more (SB 6) once again died before making it to the Senate floor.' Multiple messages seeking comment were left with Rep. Arnold Mooney, R-Indian Springs, the sponsor of HB 4, and Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, the sponsor of SB 6. Amy Minton, a member of the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) Board and an advocate of additional restrictions on library content, said in an interview that she was 'a little surprised that people get so upset about the obscenity or sexually explicit materials.' 'If they don't have it in the library, why do they get so upset about them being asked to be moved, whether through a law or policy?' she said. HB 4 would have amended the state's obscenity laws to make public libraries and librarians criminally liable for making materials that are sexually explicit or harmful to minors available. The legislation would have allowed residents served by the library to file a notice with the staff that they believe there are sexually explicit or inappropriate materials found in sections of the library dedicated to minors. Libraries would then have to relocate the materials to the adult section or remove them entirely. They can also notify the public that they have determined the item is in the appropriate section, which any resident can then challenge. Noncompliance would have subjected librarians to prosecution under Alabama obscenity laws, which can be as severe as a Class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. SB 6 would have mandated that library board members be appointed to a four-year term and that members could be removed from the board with a two-thirds of the members of the governing body, either the city or county, agree by vote. The House Judiciary Committee never considered HB 4. SB 6 got approval from the Senate County and Municipal Government Committee, which Elliott chairs, but did not come to a vote on the Senate floor. Mooney's obscenity bill was approved further along in the 2024 session, receiving approval from members of the House and even getting approved in the Senate Children and Youth Health Committee before it stalled in the Senate. Elliott's legislation was approved in the Senate and the House County and Municipal Government Committee where it remained as the session ended. Advocates of restrictions have succeeded in convincing the Alabama Public Library Service, the state agency that oversees local library funding, to impose policy changes that favor more restrictions. In March, the APLS Board suspended funding to the Fairhope Public Library in Baldwin County while also voting to have Pack terminated after Minton made a motion. Supporters of the library raised money to replace the lost funding and defended the library at city council and APLS meetings. Alabama GOP chair John Wahl, who currently serves as chair of the APLS Board, said at a meeting earlier this month that members are waiting for the Fairhope Public Library to complete its review of the books that parents challenged before resuming funding to the library. 'We know that the fight isn't over. As we speak, a stacked and extreme Alabama Public Library Service board continues its assault on libraries, stripping funding from those who will not cave to their demands,' Read Freely Alabama said in the statement. 'And even today, as this session closes, opposing forces are already crafting legislation for a chosen representative to prefile, and are regrouping to continue their assault on our freedoms and beloved public institutions at the next legislative session.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmakers propose new bill to lessen crypto industry's impact on households: 'We need to rise to the challenge'
Cryptocurrency miners and data centers have found a home in Texas because of abundant, cheap electricity. However, as CCN reported, newly proposed legislation could create stricter standards to limit these activities because they are raising utility rates for households. Cryptocurrency regulations focus on energy consumption, tax considerations, and environmental impacts. Multiple states have laws to manage the energy demand of crypto mining and to protect miners from regulations that might otherwise treat them like data centers. Regulations develop frameworks for the cryptocurrency industry and can help prevent legal issues like money laundering and fraud. Lawmakers in Texas have suggested new regulations on cryptocurrency mining out of concern for residents' energy bill costs. Mining consumes vast amounts of energy, and Texas has been able to supply that energy through natural gas, wind turbines, and other sources. Major mining operations have built enormous facilities in Texas because of dynamic pricing schemes that offer discounted rates and the opportunity to sell unused power back to the grid. However, these activities have contributed to strain on the Texas grid. Proponents of the Texas bill say that large mining operations now require more oversight to stabilize the energy grid. A big reason for this is that while crypto miners generate tens of millions of dollars monthly, ordinary Texas citizens are seeing their utility bills rise. "I think we need to rise to the challenge of getting the needed generation onto the grid," said bill sponsor Senator Charles Schwertner, per the Texas Tribune. "But there is eventually a prioritization that could be discussed, and obviously Texans — their families, their homes, their businesses — are the most important individuals, the most important clients for electricity." Laws like the proposed Senate Bill 6 (SB6) in Texas have the potential to keep utility costs affordable for homeowners while ensuring crypto operations are accountable for their energy usage. Do you think your city has good air quality? Definitely Somewhat Depends on the time of year Not at all Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Electricity used to power mining and AI data centers affects energy prices for people completely unaffiliated with those industries. To keep energy affordable in Texas and worldwide, it is crucial to invest in renewable energy, promote energy conservation, and improve energy efficiency. These goals can be achieved by developing clean energy infrastructure, implementing policies that reward clean energy adoption, and embracing smart grid technologies to minimize energy waste. Meanwhile, greener digital currencies and eco-friendly blockchains can help reduce excessive energy consumption. With energy demands growing rapidly due to advancing technology, it is important to balance profits with climate sustainability and people's livelihoods in our communities. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
