Two years ago, after Austin’s lush urban tree canopy froze and downed power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands without power, the city resolved to look into a simple solution: burying the power lines. Now, a new city-commissioned study shows that would be damn near impossible. The draft study from consulting firm 1898 & Co. found […]
Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee
The Austin City Council committee on Austin Energy was created in May 2013 to provide oversight of the city’s electric utility. It’s creation was marked by political maneuvering that ultimately resulted in a committee comprised of every member of the Austin City Council.
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy proposes gas peaker units, not larger combined cycle plant
Austin Energy has been working for more than a year – collaborating with stakeholders and looking at a variety of technologies, “including energy efficiency, demand response, batteries, rooftop solar expansion and natural gas peaker units or combined-cycle generation and more” – in order to deliver the Austin Energy 2035 plan, according to Austin Energy Chief […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy hopes new solar standard offer can scale up sorely needed local generation
Update 10:35 p.m. Oct. 2: On Monday, the Electric Utility Commission (EUC) approved an update to the city’s solar program after a quick discussion. As Austin Energy grapples with an electric future and unprecedented demands on the grid, the utility is making moves to secure a place for locally generated renewables with a new approach […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy still pondering new generation plan
As part of Austin Energy’s effort to arrive at a new generation plan, the utility has spent this year talking to the public about what is most important to them when they think about electric service. According to Austin Energy’s chief operating officer, Lisa Martin, what the public wants most is reliability in their electric […]
Posted inEnergy
Facing increased need for power generation, Austin Energy continues to work on climate plan
Austin Energy is working with a variety of community representatives to inform new power generation goals targeting 2035. The city adopted its 2030 plan about five years ago but a number of factors have changed, including increases in peak demand. The utility is still committed to being carbon-free by 2035 and will leverage the work […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy, advisory group move toward presenting plans to Council
Austin Energy has seemed to be at odds with environmentalists over its updated power generation plan. And it is likely that the working group tasked with helping the utility come up with a new plan for fueling Austin’s electricity needs will be skeptical about the utility’s plan for reaching carbon neutrality by 2035. City Council, […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy fine-tuning plans for reliable, carbon-free power by 2035
Austin Energy leaders have prioritized reliability of the utility’s power generation at all times as one of the most important components of its next resource generation plan, which is expected to come before City Council for approval in March. During the December meeting of Council’s AE Utility Oversight Committee, members heard details of the many […]
Posted inEnergy
Summer heat surge caused $115M overspend at Austin Energy
High energy usage brought on by months of severe summer heat caused Austin Energy to spend far more than the utility forecast through the end of the last fiscal year, with a forthcoming rate increase likely to help restore its cash reserves. At Tuesday’s meeting of City Council’s Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee, AE representatives […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy weighs climate goals, transmission constraints ahead of resource management plan update
After navigating the summer’s record temperatures, Austin Energy is shifting gears, preparing an update to its Resource Generation Plan for the first time since committing to total carbon neutrality by 2035. The 2030 Plan, which launched in 2020 as Covid-19 shook the globe, charts a course for the utility as it aims to transition entirely […]
Posted inEnergy
As wait times for transformers climb to 70 weeks, housing developments are struggling to turn the lights on
As American manufacturers struggle to keep pace with demand, wait times for power transformers have put housing and infrastructure projects across the country on hold. Austin Energy executives joined City Council’s Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee last week to discuss the nationwide shortage, reporting that new units are now taking nearly 70 weeks to arrive. […]
Posted inCity Council
How realistic is the idea to bury Austin’s power lines? Council wants to know.
At its regular meeting Thursday, City Council approved a pair of items aimed at exploring the possibilities for burying existing utility power lines as well as ones to be constructed in new capital projects such as Project Connect. The idea surfaced after the devastating February winter ice storm that left thousands of Austinites without power […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy shares recovery, emergency preparation plans
Leaders of Austin Energy have started to move forward in the aftermath of the winter storm earlier this month that left hundreds of thousands of Austinites in the dark for days at a time. The next steps outlined include streamlining communications, better assessing the extent of power outages, and determining the cost and timelines for […]