Texas regulators voted Thursday not to move forward with a grid overhaul meant to avoid a repeat of the deadly 2021 Winter Storm Uri, even as the state says growing electricity demand could raise the risk of a winter blackout.
The state Public Utility Commission nixed the grid design model known as the performance credit mechanism (PCM), which would have compensated power providers for having “dispatchable” power plants available during times of need. That was expected to spur the construction or maintenance of new natural gas plants, which can start up quickly and are not as reliant on weather conditions as wind and solar power.
Texas lawmakers passed the PCM design as part of a suite of measures to help stabilize the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid, which serves 90 percent of the state’s electricity load and faces tight conditions during periods of extreme weather. The grid policy efforts followed 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, which saw widespread power failures that stretched for days during freezing weather and contributed to more than 200 deaths.
But after months of work to craft the grid design, two recent analyses found that the PCM was unlikely to do much to avoid another blackout, especially as load growth accelerates in the state. One ERCOT-backed analysis from consulting firm E3 found that the PCM model as designed would incentivize only 780 megawatts of dispatchable generation relative to the status quo, well short of the 10,388 MW needed to make the grid as reliable as required.
