Electricity

A report from the Texas Reliability Entity shows that the ERCOT grid is increasingly reliable. And that’s mostly because of solar and battery storage additions to the state’s energy portfolio. That directly contradicts President Trump’s Department of Energy. Also, at the summer heat comes back, ERCOT expects to approach record peak demand this week. And the state’s booming solar and storage will keep the power on—just as GOP politics takes aim at renewables.

A tornado touched down in the Cypress area in northwest Harris County.

A report found that solar and wind growth led the trend.

Dallas Morning News Watchdog columnist Dave Lieber reports power lines would go through Louisiana to partially connect Texas’ ERCOT grid with power sources in Mississippi.

The electricity market in Texas is doing exactly what it's designed to do — and most customers probably won't notice any effect on their bill.

An ERCOT Weather Watch is an earlier notification – approximately 3-5 days ahead – of forecasted significant weather and high demand.

SwRI is developing a turbine that runs off of supercritical carbon dioxide, a heated up fluid state of CO2, which is significantly more efficient than steam turbines used across the energy industry, with a much smaller physical footprint.

The lithium ion batteries would store power from the state’s robust renewable energy output.

Houstonian Sandra Edwards, who lost power for four days during the blackout, started getting electric bills this spring that are almost double what they used to be. That’s because electricity has its own supply chain — and everybody needs to get paid.

The 3.85% increase would generate about $73 million per year for the utility which officials said would go towards weatherization, technology, staffing, and growth for the utility. It’s a substantial decrease from more than 10% proposed earlier this year.