Michael Giberson
I spent the middle of last week in Austin at the University of Texas-Law conference on wind, solar and geothermal energy law, and as a side bonus got to hear some informal, Austin-based commentary on the Tres Amigas proposal to interconnect the Eastern, Western, and Texas electric grids. It will give you some idea of the thinking in the state capital that I heard the term “Dos Amigas” used more than a few times.
During the pre-conference “fundamentals” discussion, in response to a question that asked whether stronger transmission links to other states would help accommodate added growth in Texas wind power, a current member of the Public Utility Commission of Texas arose from the audience, climbed onto the dais, and took the microphone to say, among other things, “ERCOT is just fine the way it is.” The other main point of his comment was to suggest that the Southwest Power Pool, which has long covered the wind resource rich Texas Panhandle (with relatively weak links elsewhere, but a plan to beef up those links), would ably serve to sell the wind resource out of state while not compromising ERCOT’s jurisdictional status with respect to the feds.
Later in the conference a speaker offered a Texas policymaker’s view: ERCOT has its well-regarded CREZ plan to spend $5 billion on transmission enhancements primarily intended to allow wind generation in far west Texas, central west Texas, and the Texas panhandle to be delivered downstate to consumers in the Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio regions. If those lines link to Tres Amigas, then the prospect arises that consumers elsewhere will – in effect – “drink our milkshake.” Texas policymakers don’t want other consumers to drink our milkshake, especially after ERCOT consumers spend $5 billion to build there own transmission “straw” into the Panhandle region. (Yeah, I watched “There Will Be Blood” a week or so ago, hence the milkshake and straw references. The presenter did not use this language.)
Peter Behr, writing for ClimateWire, has a more journalistic report on the debate over Tres Amigas. Behr reports that Occidental Petroleum – a large power consumer within the ERCOT region – has actively opposed the Tres Amigas project in filings at FERC, as has the Texas Industrial Energy Consumers. I haven’t read their filings, but apparently they believe ERCOT power prices will be higher on average with Tres Amigas than without, and as consumers they prefer lower prices.
In my opinion, however, they are more likely to get slightly lower (and somewhat less volatile) prices with better links to the rest of the grid. That’s the way market expansion usually works.
Tres Amigas posts its FERC filings and related documents on its website. Here are links to a couple of the opposing views filed at FERC. The “Supplemental Protest of Occidental…” includes the expert witness testimony that Behr discusses in his story:
- Comments of the Public Utility Commission of Texas under ER10-396. (2010-Jan-19)
- Supplemental Protest of Occidental Permian, Ltd., Occidental Chemical Corporation and Occidental Power Marketing, L.P. under ER10-396. (2010-Jan-19)
Not all Texas policymakers oppose Tres Amigas. Member of Congress Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) sent FERC a letter indicating the project would encourage investment in renewable power and urging the Commission to give the project a “fair and deliberate view.” And, as the ClimateWire story suggests, developers aiming to exploit the extensive power generation potential of the region are strongly behind the project.
