Texas Power Grid Shivved By Louisiana Lawmakers – CleanTechnica

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Ratepayers in Texas have been reeling from one massive power outage to another, suffering loss of life on top of economic impacts. A key culprit is the state’s isolated power grid. Help is finally on the way in the form of a federally funded transmission project aimed at hooking Texas up with power resources in neighboring states. However, that is already heading to the dustbin of history, if the Louisiana state legislature gets its way.

The Texas Power Grid Needs Help

Before we get to Louisiana, let’s take a look at that power grid situation in Texas. Unlike the rest of the US, the Texas power grid is largely isolated from outside help. It is also almost entirely isolated from federal transmission regulations, the result of a decision made by state legislators back in the 20th century.

As a consequence of that decision, the state’s grid manager — the somewhat ironically named Electric Reliability Council of Texas — is largely on its own when an emergency strikes. Unlike grid operators in other states, ERCOT cannot call upon help from another power grid in a neighboring state.

On the plus side, the isolated nature of the Texas power grid has motivated ERCOT to optimize in-state sources of electricity, which explains why Texas has become a hotbed of renewable energy activity and innovative energy storage solutions (see more ERCOT renewable energy background here).

On the down side, when weather emergencies kneecap in-state generating resources, much of the Texas power grid is helpless. ERCOT cannot call upon out-of-state power generation resources, as is routine for grid operators in other states. Here’s the Texas Tribune summing up the lethal consequences of the blizzard of 2021, for example:

“As Texas faced record-low temperatures in February 2021 and snow and ice made roads impassable, the state’s electric grid operator lost control of the power supply, leaving millions without access to electricity. As the blackouts extended from hours to days, top state lawmakers called for investigations into the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, and Texans demanded accountability for the disaster.”

Ouch!

The Texas Power Grid Is Getting Help, Finally…

In another ironic twist, solar manufacturers in Texas are gearing up to ship new solar panels and other renewable energy hardware out to other states, helping to build more resiliency into power grids elsewhere around the nation. CleanTechnica took a look at some of the new activity in August, and if you scroll down past the news about all the new solar factories in Texas you’ll find this observation at the bottom of the article:

“Earlier this summer word dropped that the long distance transmission firm Pattern Energy is considering a new project to shunt wind energy from Texas to Mississippi and Louisiana.”

Sure enough, on October 4th, the US Department of Energy announced a $1.5 billion package of financial aid for four major interstate transmission projects, one of which will connect the Texas power grid to MISO, the Mid-Atlantic Operating System. The sprawling MISO territory covers all or part of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, the Canadian province of Manitoba, along with a finger-shaped sliver of counties that dips into the eastern part of Texas.

With an assist from the Energy Department, Pattern Energy’s, Southern Spirit branch will construct “a new 320-mile HVDC line connecting the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid for the first time with electric grids in the southeastern US power markets, including Midcontinent Independent System Operator South (MISO-S) and Southern Company (SOCO), which will enhance reliability and prevent outages during extreme weather events, like Winter Storm Uri that hit Texas in 2022,” explains the Energy Department all in one breath.

The meat of the proposal is 3,000 megawatts’ worth of bidirectional transmission. Once Southern Spirit is up and running, ratepayers in Louisiana and Mississippi can get their hands on clean, low-cost wind and solar energy from Texas, and communities in Texas will not be hung out to dry the next time their power grid need help.

…Oh Wait, Maybe Not

Of course, building new interstate transmission lines in the US is not as easy as it sounds. Property owners along the path can dig in their heels against giving up their rights, and state lawmakers can come to their aid with protective legislation.

Texas ratepayers may have to wait a while for that Southern Spirit power grid connection because Southern Spirit is already facing a brawl in Louisiana. Last April the Louisiana Illuminator took note of new protective legislation sponsored by State Senator Sen. Alan Seabaugh (R-Shreveport), described as “specifically tailored” to apply only to the Southern Spirit transmission line.

After Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed SB 108 into law, the Illuminator continued the thread in June. “Seabaugh crafted the legislation to target Pattern Energy’s Southern Spirit Transmission line,” emphasized Illuminator reporter Wesley Muller.

“The senator has acknowledged he sponsored the bill upon the request of at least one Louisiana landowner who is opposed to Pattern Energy,” Muller continued, adding this interesting detail:

“One of those landowners is Paul Dickson Sr., a principal owner and former board chairman of the Shreveport-based Morris & Dickson Co., one of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical distributors that federal authorities charged with mishandling thousands of large orders of prescription opioids during the height of the nation’s opioid crisis, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.”

Interesting! Muller also describes Dickson as a “a major GOP donor and Jeff Landry backer.”

“If Pattern Energy or some other party files a lawsuit over Seabaugh’s law, the state would be the defendant. Louisiana taxpayers could bear the cost of legal fees for what is essentially a private land dispute that the landowner would have otherwise paid for if lawmakers had not gotten involved,” Muller concluded, neatly summing up how the rich get rich and stay rich.

One Way Or Another, More Reliability & Resiliency For The Texas Power Grid

As of June 3, when Muller’s report was posted by local station KTBS, the Southern Spirit project appeared to be blocked by the new state law, or at least facing a long legal delay. However, as Muller notes, Southern Spirit is an interstate power grid project that will come under the jurisdiction of FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, potentially superseding interference from state lawmakers.

The Energy Department, for one, appears to consider the matter settled. The new financial assist for Southern Spirit will come from a new $1.5 billion revolving loan program called the Transmission Facilitation Program, funded through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

In a press release describing the new funding, the Energy Department described the Transmission Facilitation Program as “an innovative revolving fund program that helps overcome the financial hurdles facing transmission development.”

In addition to the Southern Spirit transmission line — if it ever happens — the Energy Department also announced funding for three other power grid projects, the Aroostook Renewable Project in Maine, the Cimarron Link in Oklahoma, and Phase 2 of the Southline project connecting New Mexico and Arizona.

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Image: The beleaguered Texas power grid could get some much-needed help from the proposed Southern Spirit transmission line, except for a monkey wrench thrown into the works by state legislators in Louisiana (courtesy of US DOE).