After an unpopular first draft, Austin Energy is taking a new approach to update its Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan. Staff says the approach, led by a newly hired mediation specialist, will employ strategies that bring new voices to the table for more collaborative conversations ahead of the utility’s second shot at a policy […]
Resource Generation and Climate Protection Plan
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy pauses to analyze path forward for climate plan
Austin Energy General Manager Bob Kahn has informed the mayor and City Council that the utility is pausing the current process of amending its resource, generation and climate protection plan. The utility had been working to provide proposed changes to that plan this month. In 2022, Council directed Austin Energy to work with the Electric […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin will keep running Fayette coal power plant, missing key climate goal
Austin Energy will not retire its stake in the Fayette coal power plant next year, the publicly owned electric utility announced Monday. Shutting down its portion of the plant by 2022 had been a key part of the city’s climate goals. Austin Energy said it was unable to reach an agreement on the closure with […]
Posted inEnergy
Council approves update to Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan
In spite of a slew of public speakers requesting that City Council postpone a vote on the Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection plan due to a lack of public engagement, Council voted to approve the update to the plan for 2030. The Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan is a 10-year road map […]
Posted inEnergy
Environmentalists swarm City Hall in push for carbon-free electricity
In what was clearly the largest turnout for a City Council meeting yet this year, hundreds of activists showed up at City Hall Thursday night to speak out on Austin Energy’s proposed update to its resource plan. Following a rally in front of the building, green-clad environmental activists streamed into Council chambers until the room […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin residents push for more aggressive energy goal
A number of concerned citizens gathered to speak at the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee meeting Monday morning to express their frustration with Austin Energy’s updated Resource, Generation, and Climate Protection Plan. While the updated plan, which was written by a 16-member working group organized by the Electric Utility Commission, suggests a goal for renewables […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy rebate to help renters
The Electric Utility Commission approved a rebate for the Lodge at Stone Oak Ranch apartment complex on April 17. The rebate, requested by Austin Energy, is meant to help fund energy-efficiency improvements at the complex. The proposed rebate is one element of Austin Energy’s Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan, parts of which focus on […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy makes good on energy efficiency goals
Austin Energy officials say the city-owned utility is making good on a lot of the ambitious energy efficiency goals set out for it in the Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan approved by City Council in December 2014. Thirty-one percent of the energy Austinites consume now comes from renewable sources, up from 25 percent when […]
Posted inEnergy
Oversight committee discusses making city carbon-free by 2030
“Can Austin be a carbon-free energy city by 2030?” was one of the more prominent questions up for debate Wednesday as the City Council’s Energy Utility Oversight Committee got its first update on the 10-year road map for Austin Energy’s resource needs and climate protection objectives. The discussion came during a presentation from Khalil Shalabi, […]
Posted inEnergy
Consultant endorses gas plant after study
Navigant Consulting, which the city hired to review the 500 megawatt natural gas plant proposed in the Austin Energy generation plan, has recommended the project. Dan Bradley and Matt Tanner, two of the report’s authors, presented the results at an Electric Utility Commission meeting on Monday evening, a few hours after Austin Energy released the […]
Posted inResources
Monitor Radio, show 17: Michael Osborne and Tom “Smitty” Smith
Michael Osborne and Tom “Smitty” Smith of the recent Austin Energy generation task force join Monitor publisher Mike Kanin to talk solar power and the future of AE generation. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/169249173″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Posted inResources
Austin Monitor Radio, Show 14: Austin Energy
Mike Kanin talks with Austin Energy COO Cheryl Mele about utility operations, rates, just-passed new emissions standards and more. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/166097858″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]