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.