Today, Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, questioned witnesses during the Energy Subcommittee Hearing titled, "'Keeping The Lights On' Examining The State Of Regional Grid Reliability."

The witnesses included:

·     Pablo Vegas, President & Chief Executive Officer, Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc., (ERCOT)

·     Gordon van Welie, President & Chief Executive Officer, ISO New England (ISO-NE)

·     Richard J. Dewey, President & Chief Executive Officer, New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) 

·     Manu Asthana, President & Chief Executive Officer, PJM Interconnection, LLC

·     Jennifer Curran, Senior Vice President for Planning and Operations, Midcontinent ISO (MISO)

·     Lanny Nickell, Chief Operating Officer, Southwest Power Pool

·     Elliot Mainzer, President & Chief Executive Officer, California Independent System Operator (CAISO)

Watch the hearing in its entirety HERE.

During the hearing, ERCOT's President and CEO, Mr. Vegas, confirmed to Rep. Pfluger that there is a pressing need to invest in long-duration, dispatchable resources to support the Texas grid reliably.

Watch Rep. Pfluger's full line of questioning HERE, or read the highlights below.

Rep. Pfluger: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to state that I believe in the best of the above, not all of the above, and I think that differs from state to state. In West Texas, we have no access to hydropower, unfortunately, as they do in the Pacific Northwest, but if you have access to affordable, reliable sources, then we should use those. Mr. Vegas, I think we need to do a math problem here. So, sorry for math in public. But let's talk about what the current demand is in Texas for what ERCOT is serving. What are we seeing annually? 

Mr. Vegas: The current demand peak in the summer is around 80,000 - 85,000 and in the winter, about 80,000. 

Rep. Pfluger: Okay, and in the next three or four years, with added industrialization, added population data centers, what do we think that is going to grow to in Texas?

Mr. Vegas: We're now forecasting that by 2030 we expect around 150,000 megawatts. So that's an additional 65,000 megawatts over where we are today.

Rep. Pfluger: Almost double?

Mr. Vegas: Almost double.

Rep. Pfluger: In three to four years? This is incredible. So what I want to get to is, when you look at the balance, you're balancing price, you're balancing reliability, you're balancing all these different things. What are the best sources that you are looking for today at 85,000 and in three years, at 150,000 plus?

Mr. Vegas: We're getting to a point on the Texas grid where you can start to see that the peak demand is exceeding the dispatchable generation that we have available on the grid. So it's important, as we look forward, to meet the demands of this growth, to grow the supply in a balanced way. The balanced resource mix brings, I think, the best portfolio for consumers. It brings cost combinations that vary and give the optimal price, and it also brings characteristics around reliability and resilience that are important. So as we look forward, we need to make sure we keep up with firm dispatchable generation, in addition to the strong growth that we continue to see on renewables.

Rep. Pfluger: Firm dispatchable generation. So I just looked it up on your website, ercot.com, and right now in my hometown, it's 78 degrees, and we've got a little bit of wind, which is serving 18% of the grid, 45% solar. But talk to us about when it's hot or when it's cold, and how reliable on those days where you have 100 degrees plus, which we have about 90 plus days in the summer in Texas of 100 degrees or more, or when it's cold, how reliable are those sources?

Mr. Vegas: Yeah, as I said earlier, over the course of a year, the actual delivered energy on the Texas grid, 65% of it comes from our thermal fleet, which is our coal, our natural gas, and our nuclear. They are the backbone of reliability. They complement what we're getting from the renewable mix as well. And right now we need all of the supply that's there. It's clear that we need it all. We're seeing 63% right now coming from renewables, but when the wind isn't blowing, and when it's nighttime, and in the summer when it's hot, you still need a lot of energy to support that air conditioning load and that requires long duration, dispatchable resources to do that. 

Rep. Pfluger: When government dictates policy that doesn't allow you to have the right capacity, the right mixture - what does that do to affordability, reliability, and at the end, what does it do to our national security?

Mr. Vegas: It is absolutely detrimental to affordability and to reliability, and it risks our energy security.