as a suite of fossil fuel-centric bills that take aim at Texas’ booming renewable energy sector under promises of greater grid stability. The bill from Georgetown Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner could use taxpayer money to finance the construction of 10,000 megawatts of natural-gas-fueled power plants — enough energy capacity to fuel an estimated 7.5 million homes.
“It strikes me that we built this whole state’s power system mostly based on competition and this destroys that competition forever,” said Alison Silverstein, an energy consultant who formerly worked with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Public Utility Commission., which represents power production companies such as Irving-based Vistra Corp.
Taken together, some industry insiders say they believe the bills could unravel billions of proposed investment in wind, solar and battery storage in Texas as well as fundamentally restructure Texas’ competitive retail market by imposing caps on market share. In a recent interview, Schwertner said power plants built through SB 6 can work alongside Texas’ laissez-faire energy market. He has dubbed the program the Texas Energy Insurance Program.
to build a backstop of power plants that an energy subsidiary would pay to build with a guaranteed rate of return on investment similar to how companies build transmission lines. “We probably have the budgetary capacity to self fund directly out of existing money if we wanted to,” Schwertner said.