Texas

The past year and a half has been, to put it mildly, a weird time. Americans have grappled with the COVID-19 crisis, as well as with the associated economic fallout that revealed cracks in a number of our nation’s workforce and social systems. But recent years have also exposed the significant flaws in parts of […]

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Burns & McDonnell was selected by LG Energy Solution and Sustainable Environmental Renewable (SER) Capital Partners to provide engineer-procure-construct (EPC) services for three 10-megawatt/20 megawatt-hour lithium-ion, stand-alone battery energy storage systems. The three facilities are located in the West Texas region. The project consists of owner-provided LG Chem battery racks populated […]

An energy investment group told Texas regulators the company has a plan to help solve some of that state’s electricity reliability issues, proposing a plan similar to one put forth by billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy in March. Starwood Energy Group on April 23 sent the state’s Public Utility Commission a proposal to build […]

A well-known chocolate maker has announced two new clean energy partnerships as the company continues to increase its sustainability efforts. The Hershey Co. on April 20 said it has power purchase agreements (PPAs) to take electricity from two solar projects, one in North Carolina and another in Texas. Hershey, like many corporate power customers, has […]

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on April 13 urged Texans to conserve power as grid conditions tightened owing to a “a combination of high generation outages typical in April and higher-than-forecasted demand from a stalled cold front over Texas.” The Texas grid operator, which in February narrowly avoided system collapse as Winter Storm […]

A California company has teamed with the U.S. subsidiary of Japan’s largest gas utility to build a major solar power project just outside Houston, Texas. Rosendin, an electrical contractor with its corporate headquarters in San Jose, and Tokyo Gas America are developing the Aktina Renewable Power Project, a 500-MWac/631-MWdc solar farm spanning 4,000 acres in […]

The severe winter storm that knocked out Texas’ electricity grid in February, plunging millions of people into a cold, dark ordeal, has led to a number of takes about what went wrong. The state’s deregulated energy market has been frequently singled out as the root cause. But, while a contributing factor, it wasn’t the only […]

The natural gas sector is well aware of the challenges facing the fossil fuel industry, but analysts say gas has attributes that will keep it a big part of the U.S. and global energy mix. Natural gas has moved

Arthur D’Andrea, the chair of the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC), who took the post just two weeks ago, has resigned. D’Andrea was the only remaining PUC commissioner and is the latest state official to decamp their position in the wake of a deadly winter storm in February that overwhelmed Texas’ energy infrastructure. Texas Gov. […]

The regulatory group that oversees Texas’ deregulated power market has identified eight areas the agency will focus on as it continues to study the state’s response to a mid-February storm that left millions of electricity customers without power for several days. Texas power customers, along with electricity generators and retail power providers, continue to grapple […]

Board members of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the entity that operates and manages the electricity grid that covers much of Texas, voted late on March 3 to fire ERCOT CEO Bill Magness. The move comes as state and federal officials continue to investigate the actions of the grid operator that led to […]

The chairwoman of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas has resigned, stepping down after the state’s lieutenant governor earlier on March 1 called for her resignation, along with that of the CEO of the state’s power grid operator. DeAnn Walker, the PUC chair, in her resignation letter Monday to Gov. Greg Abbott, defended her […]

The group considered Texas’ oldest and largest electricity cooperative has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying it can’t pay money wanted by the state’s grid operator in connection with power outages during a major winter storm that hit in February. Brazos Electric Power Cooperative filed its bankruptcy petition March 1 in the U.S. Bankruptcy […]

The fallout from the severe weather that crippled the power grid in Texas and other states over the past week continues, as officials grapple with what went wrong and who should be held accountable for an energy emergency that left millions without electricity. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Feb. 19 said his office would […]

It will be some time before we know every detail that aligned to cause the tremendous number of sustained power outages in Texas, or the spiking power prices across all markets in the central states. Some things we do know. Some natural gas supply was frozen in. Some wind turbines froze up, and ice damaged some […]

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has said reforming the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is an emergency item for state legislators in the current session, as power outages continue across the state for another day due to record cold temperatures as part of a massive winter storm. The governor on Feb. 16 said he wants […]

WASHINGTON, DC (February 10, 2021) — The non-profit organization Beyond Nuclear filed suit in federal court today to prevent the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) from licensing a massive “consolidated interim storage facility” (CISF) for highly radioactive waste in Andrews County, west Texas. In its Petition for Review filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals […]

The Montgomery County Power Station, a two-unit 993-MW natural gas-fired combined cycle plant, achieved commercial operation on Jan. 1, Entergy Texas Inc. and McDermott International Ltd. reported on Jan. 13. The plant—located at Entergy’s existing Lewis Creek site near Willis, Texas, about 50 miles north of Houston—was reportedly brought online “well ahead of schedule,” according […]

HOUSTON, Jan. 13, 2021 — McDermott International, Ltd today announced the beginning of commercial operation of the Montgomery County Power Station, a combined-cycle gas power station in Willis, Texas, owned by Entergy Texas, Inc. “Congratulations to Project Director Drew German and the entire team on the Montgomery County Power Station project for bringing it in […]

FORT WORTH, Texas (Jan. 4, 2021) — Takkion Holdings LLC (“Takkion” or the “Company”), a portfolio company of funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE: APO) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “Apollo”) and premier multimodal logistics and transportation provider for energy transition infrastructure, today announced that Takkion has acquired Sioux Falls, SD-based […]

Burleson, TX, December 9, 2020 – United Cooperative Services (United), Navisun, and TurningPoint Energy (TPE) announced today the commencement of construction of the Erath Solar project in Erath, County, TX. The 10 megawatt AC community solar plant is scheduled for completion in early February of next year. This is the second community solar project partnership […]

A handful of well-known companies, along with three cities in Texas, have contracted to receive electricity from what would be the largest solar farm built to date in the U.S. Invenergy, a Chicago, Illinois-based energy company, said the Samson Solar Energy Center is scheduled to come online in 2023. The facility is under construction in […]

HOUSTON (Sept. 15, 2020) – Broad Reach Power (“Broad Reach”), an independent power producer (IPP) based in Houston with more than five gigawatts of standalone storage projects in its pipeline, announced today announced that it has begun construction on two 100 megawatt (MW) greenfield battery storage projects. The new assets further expand the company’s rapidly […]

A California energy company is collaborating with its parent and the University of Texas on a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) project to show that renewable hydrogen can be a cost-effective fuel with several applications, including for both the transportation and power generation sectors. Frontier Energy, headquartered in San Ramon, California, and a subsidiary of […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 1, 2020) – Nationwide and Sol Systems today announced their joint venture, Helios Infrastructure (Helios), completed the purchase of four operating Texas solar projects totaling 47 megawatts (MW) from Cypress Creek Renewables. A few weeks ago, Nationwide, Sol Systems and Cypress Creek announced the final portfolio sale in a 148 MW master […]

Several companies have announced new energy projects in Texas, including three utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS), and a solar farm that will benefit customers in the western part of the state. The projects were announced August 19. In addition, officials in Houston on Wednesday said they have awarded a contract for a microgrid that […]

A global environmental group that works to protect land, water, and wildlife said states in what it considers the U.S. “wind belt” can develop wind power generation to meet renewable energy goals without presenting a significant risk to surrounding areas. An analysis from The Nature Conservancy, focused on the central U.S. where there is vast […]

GUELPH, Ontario (July 21, 2020) – Canadian Solar Inc. (“Canadian Solar”) (NASDAQ: CSIQ) today announced its wholly-owned subsidiary, Recurrent Energy, LLC (“Recurrent Energy”) closed $282 million of debt financing to construct its Maplewood and Maplewood 2 solar projects, located in Pecos County in the Permian Basin of West Texas. The financing was provided by a […]

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (July 7, 2020) — 8minute Solar Energy (8minute) and Duke Energy Renewables announced that the 280-megawatt (280 MWdc / 200 MWac) Holstein solar project in Nolan County, Texas has begun commercial operation. Holstein is 8minute’s first solar project to come online in Texas, marking a significant milestone as the company expands its operational footprint outside […]

Another legal challenge has been filed against the ongoing effort to build a storage site for U.S. nuclear waste in the New Mexico desert. Beyond Nuclear, among the environmental and other groups opposed to the project that would be built by Holtec International, on June 4 filed a petition for review in the U.S. Court […]