Austin Energy

Austin Energy is a publicly owned utility providing electrical power to the city of Austin, Texas and surrounding areas. Established in 1895, the utility is a department of the City of Austin and returns its profits to the city's general fund to finance other city services. Austin Energy is the United States' 7th largest public utility, serving more than 500,000 customers and more than one million residents (as of 2019) within a service area of approximately 437 square miles (1,130 km2), including Austin, Travis County and a small portion of Williamson County.[1]

Austin Energy
TypePublic utility
IndustryElectric power
Founded1895 (1895)
HeadquartersAustin, Texas
Area served
Travis & Williamson counties, Texas
OwnerCity of Austin
Websiteaustinenergy.com

Energy generation

Austin Energy’s total generation capacity is more than 3,000 megawatts (MW), provided by a mixture of wind power, solar power, biomass, natural gas, nuclear power, and coal.[2] All of Austin Energy's generation is sold into the ERCOT wholesale market; all of the retail load is served by purchasing power from ERCOT.[3]

Generation assets

Austin Energy owns and operates two natural gas-fired power plants in the Austin area: the Decker Creek Power Station and the Sand Hill Energy Center. The utility also owns 50% of units 1 and 2 at the coal-fired Fayette Power Project in La Grange and 16% of the South Texas Nuclear Project in Bay City (near Houston).[2] The STNP was the subject of a binding citizen referendum (November 3, 1981) to sell Austin's part in the project. STNP went online in 1986. No council has sold Austin's STNP, telling citizens that "no one wanted our 16 percent".

Austin Energy's 2030 generation resource plan called for the retirement of its share in the coal-fired Fayette Power Project by the end of 2022, but multi-year negotiations with co-owner LCRA stalled in late 2021.[4]

Unit[2]FuelCapacity (MW)Construction Year
Decker Creek Power Station (Austin)Gas2001967–1978
Fayette Power Project (La Grange, 50% Share)Coal6001979–1980
Robert Mueller Energy Center (Austin)Gas4.62006
Sand Hill Energy Center (Del Valle)Gas5952001–2010
South Texas Project (Bay City, 16% Share)Nuclear4301988–1989

Renewable energy

As of July 2014, renewable energy represented roughly 23% of Austin Energy's generation portfolio, which included wind, solar, landfill methane and biomass projects.[5] The utility's 2014 generation plan indicated that it aimed to produce 50% of power from renewable sources and 75% from carbon-free sources by 2025.[6] Since that time, new green energy generation assets have rapidly been brought online. As of August 2019, green energy had jumped to 43% of Austin Energy's generation mix, and by February 2020 included 1,425.6 MW of wind turbines and 644.6 MW of solar panels.[7]

Renewable Resources[5]Fuel TypeInstalled Capacity (MW)First Operation YearContract Expiration Date
Sunset FarmsLandfill Methane419962021
Tessman Road LandfillLandfill Methane7.820032017
Nacogdoches PowerBiomass1052012
Webberville Solar ProjectSolar3020112036
Roserock SolarSolar157.520162036
East Pecos (Bootleg)Solar118.520172031
Upton County (SPTX12B1)Solar157.520172042
La Loma Community SolarSolar2.620182043
WaymarkSolar178.520182043
Whirlwind Energy CenterWind59.820072027
Hackberry Wind ProjectWind165.620082023
Los Vientos IIWind201.620132037
WhitetailWind92.320132037
Los Vientos IIIWind20020152040
Jumbo RoadWind299.720152033
Los Vientos IVWind20020162041
Midway Solar[8]Solar23620182038
KarankawaWind206.6420192034
Gulf Wind[9] Wind 271.4 2009 2040

On April 23, 2019, Austin Energy reached an agreement to purchase the Nacogdoches biomass facility for $460 million. Since Austin Energy entered into the 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with the biomass facility the price of natural gas has come down significantly. The purchase – one of Austin's single largest purchases ever[10] – is anticipated to allow the city to avoid $275 million in additional costs.[11]

Energy conservation

Austin Energy operates an energy efficiency program for customers, including a free energy audit that helps to identify ways users can reduce power consumption. The utility offers various subsidies and rebates for efficiency improvements, including HVAC, insulation, efficient lighting, and photovoltaic panels.[12]

In 1992, Austin Energy developed the nation's first local Green Building program.[13] It shares the distinction of being the largest and best established green building program in the country along with Built Green Colorado in Denver.[14]

[15]

Electric vehicle program

Austin Energy’s Plug-In EVerywhere network, powered by 100% renewable energy, expanded to 186 public charging stations to help drive a two-year, 300% Austin EV growth rate. Austin Energy led a 10-county, regional effort to develop a community plan that supports the adoption of EVs and successfully deployed the first-of-its-kind EV home charging Demand Response program.

Criticism

Austin energy has been criticized for increasing energy prices to fund renewable energy projects and for the 2011 rolling blackouts.[16] It has also been criticized for its handling of the Texas freeze in early 2021.[17] Critics have called Austin Energy a "monopoly", since Austin didn't follow suit in the deregulation that approximately 1/3rd of Texas cities have been part of.

Austin Energy received significant criticism, including calls for its executive team to resign, during an ice storm that occurred on February 1, 2023 for failing to prepare for adverse weather, poorly communicating with customers, and not being able to restore power to customers within a reasonable time frame.[18]

References
  1. "At-A-Glance". Austin Energy. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  2. "Power Plants". Austin Energy. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  3. "May 31, 2016 Hearing in Austin Energy's Update of the 2009 Cost of Service Study and Proposal to Change Base Electric Rates". AustinTexas.gov. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  4. "Austin Energy announces update to generation portfolio". Austin Energy. 1 November 2021.
  5. "Renewable Power Generation - Austin Energy 2014". Austin Energy. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  6. "2014 Generation Resource Planning". Austin Energy. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  7. "Renewable Power Generation". Austin Energy. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  8. https://sanangelolive.com/news/texas/2018-01-29/midway-solar-project-will-be-largest-solar-farm-texas
  9. Snieckus, Darius (January 6, 2020). "Pattern starts repowering plan at Hurricane Harvey survivor Gulf Wind". Recharge.
  10. Jankowski, Philip (April 18, 2019). "Austin buys troubled power plant". Austin American-Statesman.
  11. "Austin Energy to acquire Nacogdoches Biomass Facility". Archived from the original on 2019-05-31.
  12. "Austin Energy". Energy Star. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  13. "Green Building: Basic Information". Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  14. "Summary of Green Building Programs" (PDF). National Renewable Energy Laboratory. August 2002. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  15. Alipour, Panteha; Mukherjee, Sayanti; Nateghi, Roshanak (August 2020). "Assessing climate sensitivity of peak electricity load for resilient power systems planning and operation: A study applied to the Texas region". NSF. 185: 1143–1153. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2019.07.074. S2CID 199086614. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  16. "All About Austin Energy". National Public Radio. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  17. "Here's How Austinites Think The City Failed During The Texas Freeze". National Public Radio. 25 August 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  18. "99.9% of Austin Energy customers have power; nearly 300 continue to deal with outages".
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