Life:Powered, a campaign by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, has released new research indicating that implementing reliability standards for wind and solar energy could save Texas electricity customers billions of dollars annually. The research highlights that current hidden costs due to the volatility of wind and solar generation in the ERCOT market amount to at least $2 billion per year.

The follow-up paper, titled "Reliability Standards to Reduce the Cost of Wind and Solar Volatility in Texas," suggests that requiring variable resources to reduce their volatility can lead to significant savings for ratepayers and enhance grid reliability. Brent Bennett, Ph.D., Policy Director for Life:Powered and co-author of the study, said, "Over $130 billion in private capital and nearly $30 billion in state and federal subsidies have poured into wind, solar, and energy storage infrastructure in Texas, yet Texans are only seeing higher costs and lower reliability."

House Bill 1500 from the 88th Texas Legislature directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) to establish a reliability standard for generators starting operations in 2027 or later. However, Life:Powered's analysis calls for more comprehensive changes:

1. Apply a Reliability Standard to all generators starting in 2027.

2. Base the Reliability Standard on thermal fleet performance.

3. Implement meaningful financial penalties for underperforming generators.

Carson Clayton, Campaign Director for Life:Powered, commented on these recommendations saying, "Following Winter Storm Uri, multiple reforms were implemented to improve grid reliability, but we’ve failed to address the fundamental market distortion that allows intermittent generators to receive the same price as reliable ones."

Life:Powered urges legislative action through Senate Bill 715 and House Bill 3356 to direct PUC towards creating a universal reliability standard by 2027. The full research paper is available online.

Information from this article can be found here.