Texas Electric News Clips

Texas Electric News Clips

Any opinions voiced in the articles linked below are those of the article authors only, and not necessarily endorsed by Competitive Assets.

For the Week of  8/14/15 — 8/21/15

Updated 8/19/15

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Today’s News Flashes by Texas Electric News
Copyright 2015 by Competitive Assets, LLC.  All rights reserved

U.S.-Mexico Energy Partnership Could Expand into Renewables
On 8/18/15, Oil Price.com explored the idea that California, which gets most of its renewable power from outside the state, could start getting it from Mexico instead. That is because the Clean Power Plan could lead neighbouring states to hold onto their renewable capacity. But in Mexico, the new energy reforms are bringing private investment into its power market ……………………..Click here for more

Initial Decision Finds that BP Manipulated 2008 Natural Gas Market in Texas
On 8/19/15, Breaking Energy reported that an 8/13/15 decision by a FERC Administrative Law Judge found BP to have “manipulated the natural gas market in Texas for over two and a half months in 2008.” Judge C.A. Cintron “concluded that BP intentionally sold large volumes of next-day, fixed-price physical gas to suppress the physical gas index to benefit BP’s corresponding short financial positions.”……………………..Click here for more

Could Road Innovation Pave Way for EV Revolution?
On 8/19/15, Oil Price.com reported about a new idea for ‘smart highways’ designed to charge electric vehicles (EVs) while the cars are moving, thus eliminating the need for charging stations or expensive long-range batteries. This $800 million effort is being developed in Britain, using new technology called ‘inductive charging.’ The basic concept has been proven……………Click here for more

Report: ERCOT’s Commercial Operations Subcommittee (COPS) Meeting 8/12/15
At its August meeting, the Commercial Operations Subcommittee considered several revision requests, discussed data from the Settlement Stability and Unregistered DG reports, and heard an update on ERCOT’s plans for market training.   For more about the meeting, Please click here.  

TEPN: PUCT Open Meeting, 8/14/15
At the 8/14/15 open meeting, the PUCT heard oral arguments in an SPS transmission case and provided guidance to staff for a DG rulemaking. Also, one Commissioner made a statement regarding the possible EFH bankruptcy case. To read more, please subscribe to Texas Electric Policy News. If you are interested in purchasing this TEPN issue, please click here. If you are interested in subscribing the Texas Electric Policy News, please click here or call Competitive Assets at 512-581-0151.

Report: ERCOT’s Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting 8/11/15
At its August meeting, the ERCOT Board considered a number of NPRRs, received certain recommendations from the IMM David Patton, and heard updates from staff on the recent period of high temperatures and demand. Also, it confirmed new titles for several members of the management team.   For more about the meeting, Please click here. 

News Flash Archive

Texas Headlines

Generation Adequacy

Aug 17, 2015: Texas electric grid serves record-high power demand

Aug 18, 2015: Dog days of summer no match for power of CPS Energy

Aug 18, 2015: Texas Sets Record for Gas Power Burn, Still Barely Enough

Aug 18, 2015: Panda Power Funds plans to expand Sherman 758-megawatt gas-power plant by 50 percent

Aug 18, 2015: New power plant in the Valley to increase energy reliability

Aug 18, 2015: Capacity Factor At Six-Year High In June

Aug 14, 2015: New 225MW gas-fired power plant for STEC under construction in North Edinburg

Aug 15, 2015: New Valley power plant brings jobs

Aug 17, 2015: The Grid that thinks for itself

Aug 17, 2015: U.S. Nuclear Plants Show Best Performance Yet

Aug 17, 2015: New Approach Could Reduce Human Health Impacts of Electric Power Generation

Aug 14, 2015: Texas Power Market Hasn’t Been This Hot Since It Was Cold

Aug 17, 2015: Texas Commissioner Anderson: 300 MW Of Price Responsive Load “Vaporizes” As ERCOT Prices Increase

Aug 15, 2015: Summer’s annual test of the Texas electric grid

Aug 11, 2015: Heck of a Class Project: An ‘Affordable, Robust, Compact’ Fusion Reactor Design, Buildable in a Decade

Aug 14, 2015; Nuclear Power Industry Still Has an Unclear Future

Aug 14, 2015: Most powerful nuclear power plants in North America

Headlines

Aug 19, 2015: Justice Department moves to block Energy Future bankruptcy over environmental liabilities

Aug 20, 2015; Feds ask court to block EFH bankruptcy over environmental issues

Aug 19, 2015: Study: Customer Service Is Key in Courting Retail Energy Prospects

Aug 19, 2015: From Steep to Cheap: Deregulated Power Prices in Texas

Aug 18, 2015: Deregulated TX: Lost savings in the multi-billions

Aug 17, 2015: El Paso Solar customers worry about rate case

Aug 19, 2015: All taxing entities would fund Luminant suit

Aug 17, 2015: Solar energy financing event to be in Austin next week

Aug 17, 2015: How Texas wind farms are putting intermittency concerns to rest

Aug 18, 2015: KKR Losses May Reach $5 Billion From Samson, Energy Future Busts

Aug 17, 2015: BBB warns of people posing as Oncor employees

Aug 14, 2015: New Texas Law Closes Loophole in Solar Panel-HOA Guidelines

Aug 17, 2015: Southwest Power Pool Appoints Mark Bowling Director of Compliance and Security

Aug 15, 2015: Beneby was ‘a change agent’ at CPS

Aug 16, 2015: We can only hope to scale back electric rate in El Paso

Aug 15, 2015: CPS Energy must stay focused on renewables

Aug 16, 2015: Suspicious phone scam circulates in the Permian Basin

Texas Retail Electric Providers

Aug 20, 2015: Texas Retail Provider Offering 10% Cash Back

Aug 20, 2015: Texas REP To Relinquish Certificate

Aug 19, 2015: New Texas REP Named Official Retail Electricity Sponsor of University of Texas Athletics

Aug 18, 2015: GDF SUEZ Energy Resources NA Offers VRewards to Help Commercial and Industrial Customers Save Energy and Money

Aug 17, 2015: Crius-Comcast Retail Brand Launches In New State; Texas California Launches On Tap

Power Grid Security

Aug 20, 2015: World’s nuclear facilities vulnerable to cyber-attacks

Aug 18, 2015: Mitigating cybersecurity risk with the cloud

Aug 18, 2015: Lockdown of SRS is lifted after possible security threat

Aug 18, 2015: No explosives found at nuclear facility at Savannah River Site after lockdown, officials say

Renewable Power

Aug 18, 2015: On The Rebound: Merchant Wind Projects Becoming Popular Alternative For U.S. Off-Take Agreements

Aug 19, 2015: Solar farm to be first in Texas

Aug 19, 2015: Renewable Energy Takes Second Place Spot Behind Coal

Aug 19, 2015: Wind Power Must Now Contend with Extreme Weather

Aug 19, 2015: Google’s Project Sunroof Makes Solar Power Easier

Aug 19, 2015: Why Renewable Energy in Latin America is a Winner

Aug 19, 2015: Audi, Mercedes ready challenges to Tesla luxury electric car dominance

Aug 19, 2015: New report makes recommendations to drive benefits of renewable energy

Aug 16, 2015: Going green: Alternatives to dwindling resources

Aug 19, 2015: Power companies may have found a new way to crack into the solar business

Aug 18, 2015: Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Hydropower

Aug 18, 2015: Hydropower Market Expected to Grow into 2019

Aug 17, 2015: Natural Gas is Helping Build the U.S. Renewable Energy Portfolio

Aug 17, 2015: Google’s New ‘Project Sunroof’ Will Tell You How Much Solar Power You Could Be Generating

Aug 17, 2015: USDA shells $63m into biofuels and renewable energy

Aug 18, 2015: College student lives in 96-square-foot solar-powered house

Aug 15, 2015: The Lowly Lightbulb Outshines Solar and Wind on U.S. Power Grids

Aug 14, 2015: Investors have been dumping solar shares based on a misconception about energy

Aug 14, 2015: The financial problems with wind turbines and solar power

Aug 14, 2015: One of the newest, most viable forms of clean energy could beat all other existing options

Outside Texas

Aug 13, 2015: Summer Full of Historic Anniversaries for Electric Industry; NERC Board Approves Resolutions on ES-ISAC Strategic Review

Aug 14, 2015: NRC finds ‘small’ environmental impacts from proposed Yucca Mountain waste site

Other News

Aug 19, 2015: Tesla Stock Sale Raises $738 Million as Banks Buy Option Shares

Aug 17, 2015: Better hedged, mid-cap gas producers seen driving production growth in 2016

Aug 17, 2015: Obama Proposal Targets Methane Emissions

Aug 17, 2015: Castleton Commodities International LLC Acquires Certain East Texas Assets from EDF Trading Resources, LLC

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