Texas voters approved a state constitutional amendment on Nov. 7 that will create a special $10 billion fund for financing the “construction, maintenance, and modernization of its electric generating facilities.”
Proposition 7 passed 65 percent to 35 percent with 2.5 million votes cast, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s office.
In Texas, a dispatchable power source, which can be turned off with a switch, essentially means natural gas. The program also excludes battery storage facilities, which means solar, wind, and other alternative sources of energy.
The fund would be administered and used only by the Public Utility Commission of Texas to provide loans and grants to maintain and upgrade electric generating facilities. The biggest chunk of the fund, $7.2 billion, would go into loans and incentives to build new power-generating facilities in the ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) region.
The proposal is one of several efforts by lawmakers and regulators in Texas to avoid another energy crisis like the one caused by a deadly storm in February 2021.
Winter Storm Uri left millions without power, water, and heat for days as ERCOT struggled to prevent a grid collapse after the shutdown of an unusually large amount of generation.
“Glad to see the voters supported Proposition 7 to ensure Texans have the electric generation they need to keep their lights on during extreme weather conditions,” the lawmaker said in a statement.
Environmentalists Opposed
Environmentalist groups were against the proposal. Luke Metzger, the director of the group Environment Texas, said he was disappointed with the ballot measure passing.“The ballot language doesn’t say that it funds methane gas power plants,” Mr. Metzger said, reported the Dallas Morning News. “People are still jittery about the power grid.”
Responding to the proposition, the Sierra Club has said that Texas’ “grid challenges ... are not the fault of solar and wind,” adding that the new fund will fuel ”climate change“ and ”make this problem worse.
Meanwhile, oil and gas companies, which backed the proposal, hailed its passage.
Todd Stables, the head of the Texas Oil & Gas Association, said the organization is pleased to see “infrastructure propositions to expand water, electricity and broadband pass with overwhelming support from voters.
“By voting to approve these propositions, Texans are ensuring that the Lone Star State continues to be the best place to live, work, play, and raise a family.”
However, whether the plan will actually work won’t be answered until at least several years from now, said Ed Hirs, an energy economist and lecturer at the University of Houston.
He added: “It’s two to four years away before it can really bring any relief to the Texas consumers” in terms of grid reliability.
