The Texas Senate has passed a series of bills that aim to improve the Texas power grid. The power grid in Texas has been under scrutiny after its failure to deliver electricity and heat during the 2021 Winter Storm Uri. Hundreds of people died as a result of having no power or heat, and many people blame the Texas power grid for not operating effectively. Additionally, there were concerns over last summer if the power grid would hold up under the extreme heat.

A priority for Lt. Governor Dan Patrick was to create laws aimed to regulate the Texas power grid to create a more efficient and effective system, establish power reserves in Texas, and provide a way for the building of more power plants throughout the state.

Amongst the bills, first and foremost was Senate Bill 6. SB 6 establishes a $10 billion dollar Texas Energy Insurance Program that aims to provide 10,000 MW of natural gas and similar sources of energy to act as a backup in times of emergencies when Texas needs it. This is a state-funded project to have reserves on hand in times of crisis such as a freeze or extreme heat. 

SB 6 also provides a low-interest loan program to maintain older dispatch generators and encourage improvements. “This is a smart usage of our multi-billion dollar budget surplus that will save ratepayers money over time by reducing interest rates from 6-7% to 0% for the financing of new generation plants,” wrote Patrick. 

However, there are concerns about how much this package is going to cost ratepayers. Since this is a state-funded project, that means tax dollars go towards the project. Additional concerns are that the project will actually cost more than 10 billion dollars. , a report on the project says that $10 billion will only get us to 5,800 MW. For 10,000 MW, that would cost 18 billion. 

The goal of this package is to always have enough energy to hold up the Texas power island and provide power for Texans so they do not have to worry if there will be power during an extreme freeze or extreme heat.

The rest of the package was outlined by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick in a press release he provided after it was passed by the Senate.

• “SB 7 creates a new ancillary service for dispatchable generators and a calculation that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) can use to require a generation to firm up to be more reliable.”
• “SB 1287 requires the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) to establish a cost cap for generation interconnection costs to reduce transmission costs for consumers.” This would hopefully allow power companies to build new plants where they desire instead of building only on cheap land. 
• “SB 2010 requires the Independent Market Monitor to report all potential market manipulations and all discovered or potential violations of PUC or ERCOT rules to be delivered in writing to PUC staff and requires the PUC to produce public annual reports.”
• “SB 2011 updates Voluntary Mitigation Plan (VMP) requirements to ensure such plans provide meaningful protections against market power abuses.”
• “SB 2012 places guardrails on the Performance Credit Mechanism (PCM) adopted by the PUC.” According to K&L Gates LLP and the Texas Tribune, the performance credit mechanism, established by the public utility commission, believes that the burden might fall on the repairs as well of the legislators have stated it would not be much per month. The performance credit mechanism would basically have electric companies pay and reward power generators to ensure they will provide power in times of shortage or crisis.
• “SB 2013 adds protections to prevent attacks on the Texas power grid.”
• “SB 2014 eliminates Renewable Energy Credits to level the playing field between renewable generation and dispatchable generation.”
• “SB 2015 creates a goal of 50% dispatchable energy for the ERCOT grid to level the playing field between dispatchable and renewable generation.”

Additionally, the Senate passed SB 624 increasing oversight on wind and solar power projects in the state. The aim is to protect the environment. Landowners showed up in support of the bill to address renewable projects and their impact on the environment.