Sara DiNatale

1 week ago | expressnews.com | Sara DiNatale

CPS Energy is preparing for peak energy demand to grow by at least a third as it stares down a queue of 2 gigawatts of data-centers-in-waiting - and that's just the beginning. That figure, based on businesses that have entered agreements or purchased property, isn't counting the other 8.8 gigawatts of large loads in feasibility studies and another 9.5 gigawatts that's in the earliest stages of showing interest in the greater San Antonio area. Article continues below this adTexas Gov.

1 week ago | expressnews.com | Sara DiNatale

The answer to the data center question hanging over state lawmakers' heads came in the form of Senate Bill 6. Now on Gov. Greg Abbott's desk, the bill is the Legislature's solution to keeping Texas "open for business" to power-hungry data centers without stressing the grid or saddling regular ratepayers with an unfair share of infrastructure costs. The priority bill, authored by Republican Sen. Phil King from Weatherford, is wide-reaching and grid-focused.

2 weeks ago | expressnews.com | Sara DiNatale

CPS Energy CEO Rudy Garza says the contested federal spending bill that calls for the end to tax breaks for solar and batteries won't stop the city-owned utility from building them as it contends with skyrocketing demand. But it could make energy more expensive for ratepayers, he said. "When you decide to start arbitrarily taking resources off the table, it doesn't mean they're going to go away," Garza told reporters following a San Antonio energy panel this week.

2 weeks ago | expressnews.com | Sara DiNatale

The state grid operator says the likelihood it will have to resort to rolling outages during peak August heat is less than 1% this summer - a big drop from the 12% risk for brownouts the Electric Reliability Council of Texas calculated last August. Battery storage is mainly to thank, but the resource's successes are being overshadowed by the the industry's warnings its impressive growth - and reliability benefits - could stall out if the federal tax credits that aided its development dry up.

2 weeks ago | expressnews.com | Sara DiNatale

The anti-renewable energy bills that made the state grid operator wary and had experts warning of higher utility bills - and possible market collapse - died in the House when the legislative session ended. But they still left a mark. The measures panned by critics as dangerous to grid reliability were approved by the Senate and some even passed a House committee - further than similar bills made it in the previous session.