25 Sep Three Yards And A Cloud of Dust: Austin Energy Brings Out Their Ground Game At Council Hearing

Coach Lombardi had it right in one regard:  Run 3 yards on every play, you never have to turn over the ball.

At the August 14 Austin City Council meeting on Austin Energy, the utility ran out the clock with some helpful parliamentary maneuvering and prevented the Austin Generation Resource Planning Task Force from being heard. The Task Force had been hand selected by Council members to review Austin's electric energy needs to report back by late summer. Absent the opportunity to hear from the Task Force directly – their report had been published in late July – City Council Members took the bull by the horns and sponsored powerful and forward moving resolutions setting new renewable energy goals and energy efficiency goals.

At a Council meeting on August 28th, two key resolutions passed 5-0, expressing the strong will of Austin City Council in setting Austin's energy goals:

Resolution 157, sponsored by Council Member Chris Riley and co-sponsored by both Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole and Council Member Mike Martinez, called on the utility to become carbon free by 2030 as part of an overall city goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The reasoning is that the utility controls large point sources of carbon emissions that are much easier to replace with renewable energy sources than many of the other segments of the city including transportation and manufacturing. In addition the resolution called on Austin Energy to close down the aging Decker gas plant and replace it with 600 MW of West Texas utility grade solar as recommended by the Task Force. Resolution 157 also called for Austin Energy to meet 50% of their power load with renewables by 2020 and 65% by 2025 in line with their projected achievement of 35% renewables by 2016 – 4 years earlier than the 2020 timeframe set in 2010.

Resolution 158, sponsored by Council Member Kathie Tovo and co-sponsored by Council Member Morrison and Mayor Pro Tem Cole sets up a Low Income Consumer Advisory Task Force to make recommendations on implementing energy efficiency and renewable energy programs to meet the needs of low and moderate income Austinites as part of an overall Council goal of keeping energy affordable in Austin.

That set the stage for yesterday's September 24 meeting of the City Council Committee on Austin Energy which includes all members of council.

Click here for Austin Beyond Coal's opening song:  People Gonna Rise Like The Water.

The meeting was scheduled for two hours and Austin Energy did their best to run out the clock, controlling the ground game for an hour and forty minutes. They primarily pushed back against Council Member Riley's resolution 157, comparing it to their preferred solution of a big new natural gas plant (500MW) to be built at Decker.

Council Members Tovo, Martinez and Riley question Khalil Shaliabi, Austin Energy's point man on his presentation concerning the details of his assertion that gas would be more cost effective than renewables over the 20 year time frame of the plan.

Council Member Martinez particularly challenged the idea of building a new large gas plant in an area of Austin that had been targeted for family neighborhood development with expanded infrastructure and park networks. Councilors also expressed concern for water use and possible better use of the Decker Lake as water resource for Austin.

Council Members Morrison and Spelman challenged the delays in getting Austin Energy's planning recommendations and Spelman asked for a full presentation of Austin Energy's full recommendations – with advance copies distributed to council  – as soon as possible. These presentations should include specific recommendations for retirements of Decker and Fayette as well as a comprehensive plan for Council to review by the end of October.

Michael Osborne then presented a condensed "4-minute" version of the Task Force findings and recommendations, though little time was left for discussion. He pointed out that wind and solar alone can meet demand handily in Texas.

Follow-up citizen coommunication concluded the meeting with comments by Tom 'Smitty' Smith of Public Citizen, who served on the Task Force, challenging Austin Energy's numbers and assumptions on solar and gas pricing.

Mark Kapner, is a  former Austin Energy project manager responsible for cold water/air-conditioning storage systems in central Austin. He pointed out that storage is more affordable than Austin Energy seemed to suggest.

Joep Meijer, is an energy consultant and founder of Austin based Climate Buddies, whose goal is to help identify and implement carbon saving solutions. He pointed out that a new gas plant will exceed the 2030 climate goals of the city. He also pointed out that one thing missing from the discussion was the need for a new business model – one of the Task Force recommendations. They called for at least a hybrid model where the utility owns generation, but also one that can conduct the power orchestra of local solar, demand response, thermal storage and vehicle to grid technologies.

Cyrus Reed is Conservation Director of Lone Star Sierra Club and a member of the Council's Task Force. He spoke for the need for the Task Force to stay actively involved in the Generation Plan process and to obtain expert outside advice on the cost projections.

Ben Kessler is a founder of Austin Climate Action Network (A-CAN) and spoke about the need for the Council to be representative of the needs of the people of Austin not beholden to the utility interests.

With all of the Power Point charts thrown around, it will take some time to dig in and understand the underlaying assumptions put forth by Austin Energy and to see where there may be flaws in assumptions. What are the realistic increases in gas over 20 years as the industry gears up to export to world markets? What are realistic assumptions for carbon pricing going forward? Are realistic solar prices figured in or are they using legacy values from our pioneering effort at Webberville? What will storage really cost? How much demand reduction can come from Resolution 158? Thursday's meeting was one scenario – and one that was far from optimized. There is much work ahead.

One thing is clear. We need to stay committed to these goals:

1. Austin Energy must take the lead to a Zero-Carbon future by getting there in 2030 to allow time for the more difficult transitions in the transportation and manufacturing sectors as called for in Resolution 157.

2. Work to retire Austin's portion of the Fayette Coal Plant by or before 2020. It is the 6th largest CO2 emitter in Texas.

3. No new frack gas! Power Austin with a smart mix of broadly disbursed renewables, storage, demand response and energy efficiency – as called for in Resolutions 157 and 158.

4. An immediate RFP for 600 MW utility grade West Texas Solar to replace Decker's aging and inefficient gas plant.

5. Serious study of energy storage options – both small scale local (2 MW size) and utility scale.

6. Work with the Water Utility and seriously consider minimum water use in power generation and the ability to repurpose water and water reservoirs to meet the public's water needs in this drought.

7. Involve the Task Force and bring a well thought out Generation Plan to Council for review by the end of October – with advance copies to Council Members to be able to analyze ahead of time.

Stay tuned with City Council. They want to make a big difference for the future of clean energy in Austin. Work with and support their efforts.

Sure, Austin Energy got the big scary "Billion $" headline in the paper today. They're good a that, but the numbers aren't all in and the opportunities for solar, storage and demand response aren't all in either. Let's see what that solar RFP does to lower cost. And  storage to eliminate the need for building a new, expensive gas plant. And the impact of future carbon costs. That's the next step in the Generation Planning process.

October is a key month! Be informed, be vocal, be on the field!

It's second down!

Our ball!

Let's run with it

Stand firm with Austin City Council on Resolutions 157 and 158 for a sustainable energy future.