House Dems push Texas to connect

WASHINGTON — Reps. Greg Casar, D-Austin, and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, introduced legislation Wednesday that would require the Texas power grid to expand interconnections to grids in surrounding states to reduce the possibility of blackouts such as the one that left millions without power during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021.

Politicians in Texas have long resisted building more substantial interconnections to other grids out of concern it would bring them under greater regulation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, leaving the power grid run by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas with little ability to import electricity from other states in times of distress.

“During Winter Storm Uri, more than 10 million Texans lost power and hundreds died as a result — Texans can’t afford inaction,” Casar said in a statement. “Whether we’re in the middle of a heat wave or a winter storm, we should be able to keep the lights on, especially as the climate crisis gets worse.”

ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The legislation introduced Wednesday would require ER-COT to build a minimum of between 2.6 and 4.3 gigawatts of interconnection capacity with the MISO, SPP and Western Interconnection grids. It would also give FERC oversight over power pricing and transmission planning in ERCOT. Additional sponsors included Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston; Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio’ and Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston.

In the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri, ERCOT came under fire for its relative lack of interconnection to neighboring grids. While those grids also struggled to keep the lights on, more interconnections would have at a minimum helped reduce the scale and duration of the blackout in ERCOT, said experts including former Texas Public Utility Chairman Pat Wood.

FERC began work last year on new rules requiring power grids to connect with one another to reduce the chance of a large-scale blackout. And while ER-COT does not fall under FERC’s regulatory authority for power pricing, the commission could require ERCOT to expand interconnections were it to determine doing so was necessary to ensure reliability.

Among power grid operators around the country, there is growing anxiety about their systems’ ability to withstand the effects of more extreme heat waves, storms and wildfires, as well as the early retirement of many coal and nuclear power plants.

In a report in December, the North American Electric Reliability Corp., which sets standards for power grids, warned blackouts would become more likely over the next decade if more is not to done to maintain existing generation while building new wind and solar farms.

Those warnings are getting attention on both sides of the aisle, with House Republicans holding a hearing Wednesday assessing the Biden administration’s role in causing coal and nuclear plants to close.

“We’ve seen baseload and firm generation sources driven out or shuttered by radical policies across the country,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “These sources are being replaced by less reliable and more expensive weather dependent generation, and everyday Americans are paying the price.”

So far no Republicans have signed on to to Casar’s bill, making difficult the task of getting the measure passed out of the Republican-controlled House.

Following Winter Storm Uri, former Gov. Rick Perry commented, “Texans would need to be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business.”