A Texas Power Promise with Senator Nathan Johnson Energy Capital Podcast

Before you listen: I will be hosting a mailbag episode in the next couple of weeks and am asking listeners to submit questions. Please send an email to douglewin@substack.com or leave your questions in the comments for this episode. 
Following Winter Storm Uri, the Texas legislature worked to identify proposals that can increase the reliability of the ERCOT grid. In this week’s episode, State Senator Nathan Johnson, representing Senate District 16 in Dallas and a member of the Business and Commerce Committee overseeing ERCOT and the PUC, shares insights into the proposals that are reshaping Texas energy policy.
Central to Senator Johnson's efforts is the establishment of a fund aimed at creating microgrids at crucial facilities such as hospitals and police stations. This initiative, now part of the Texas Energy Fund via Senate Bill 2627, secured nearly $2 billion to bolster microgrid infrastructure after receiving approval from Texas voters in a constitutional amendment. Moreover, Senate Bill 1699, spearheaded by Senator Johnson, formalizes the collaboration between the Public Utility Commission and various stakeholders to implement virtual power plants and aggregated distributed energy resources programs, while also mandating the commission to enact measures for reducing residential energy consumption.
Beyond legislative achievements, the conversation delves into pressing topics such as transmission policy, the evolving dynamics between fossil fuels and renewables, the imperative for innovative regulatory frameworks and incentives for utilities, and the pivotal role of energy efficiency in shaping Texas' energy landscape.
I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. If you like the episode, please don’t forget to recommend, like, and share on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts; don’t hesitate to share them with me and fellow listeners in the comments. Thank you for listening and for being a subscriber! Transcript, show notes, and timestamps are below.
Timestamps
03:33 - Short and medium term predictions for the TX grid
7:45 - Texas Power Promise, microgrids, and load management to avoid prolonged outages
10:29 - Circuit segmentation
15:36 - Distributed Energy Resources, Senate Bill 1699, Virtual Power Plant pilot
18:20 - Conservation
29:07 - Texas’s explosive load growth and importance of load management
32:26 - Emerging technologies
34:04 - Relationship between oil and gas and renewables
36:53 - Transmission
44:33 - Interconnecting ERCOT  and FERC jurisdiction in Texas
48:31 - Geothermal
50:17 - Incentivizing TDU’s to spend on energy efficiency, not just steel in the ground
59:39 - Markets
1:05:15 - Scapegoating renewables
1:08:47 - Texas Energy Fund and natural gas investment
Show Notes
"The Name of the Game is Flexibility," a Conversation with ERCOT's Pablo Vegas
Text establishing the Texas Energy Fund - SJR93 / Proposition 7
Text of SB 1699 - “An Act relating to the Participation of Aggregated Distributed Energy Resources in the ERCOT Market” 
Text of HB 1500 - includes language for the Circuit Segmentation Study
Text of SB 415 - “An Act relating to use of electric energy storage facilities in the ERCOT power region”
Transcript
Doug Lewin 
Senator Nathan Johnson, thanks so much for being with us on the Energy Capital Podcast.
Nathan Johnson
Thank you for having me on. I'm excited to have this conversation.
Doug Lewin
All right, well, I wanna start from a high level. I did this with ERCOT CEO, Pablo Vegas, and I kinda like the way it kinda sets the tone for the conversation. I'm gonna ask you the same question. Where do you think the grid is gonna be? Can you kinda describe your vision for what the electric grid in Texas, specifically the ERCOT grid, will look like in a five to 10 year timeframe? And I'm not, we're not talking 20 years where it's super futuristic and sci-fi and not you know, next legislative session.
Nathan Joh