CPS Energy’s President and CEO Rudy Garza called it a historic moment for the utility and noted that the timeframe could change, depending on ERCOT.
CPS Energy's Calaveras Power Station. The utility has approved a new mix of generation that would rely heavily on natural gas for the near future.CPS Energy’s board of trustees voted 4-1 Monday to approve a new energy mix, which will see the municipally owned utility phase out its use of coal by 2028.
Under the approved plan, CPS Energy will shut down Spruce 1 by 2028 and convert Spruce 2 to a natural gas plant by 2027, which will run indefinitely. CPS Energy President and CEO Rudy Garza called the vote a historic moment for the utility. He also noted that the timeframe could change, depending on ERCOT, the operator of the state’s electrical grid. “To clarify, we submit to ERCOT that our plan is to close these units down by this date,” Garza said. “They can flex the actual closure date based on what their [reliability] models tell them.” Trustee John Steen was the sole vote against the mix, saying it would not be affordable enough for ratepayers, given that the utility is likely facing two rate increases in the next four years and that it is still paying for costs incurred during Winter Storm Uri, when CPS Energyfor additional gas and power. Customers are paying those costs in the form of a roughly $1.26 fee on monthly bills for the next 25 years. Environmentalists, on the other hand, objected that the new mix will rely too heavily on natural gas over the next decade; they want to see the utility phase out fossil fuels entirely. “I’m happy we’re closing a coal plant, but we still need a carbon-free future,” said DeeDee Belmares, a climate justice organizer with Public Citizen’s Texas office and CPS Energy rate advisory committee member who recentlyBelmares was one of 27 public speakers to address the board prior to its vote Monday, including one woman who was forcibly escorted out for disrupting the proceedings. The majority voiced opposition to the new mix and urged the utility to quit fossil fuels. A handful spoke in favor. A fragment of coal at CPS Energy’s Deely plant, which was decommissioned in 2018. Under the new plan approved Monday, CPS Energy will shutter one of its remaining two coal units and convert the other to run on natural gas before the end of this decade.Sign up for The Daily Reach.Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again. Others, such as Reed Williams, a former energy executive and currently the chairman of the rate advisory committee, say relying more completely on renewables right now isn’t affordable or reliable enough yet, but could be in a few years’ time. The advisory committeeWilliams reiterated his point Monday, as he did before City Council last week. The rate committee has agreed, he said, that the utility’s generation portfolio must, especially given the unreliability of the Texas grid. The new mix aims to minimize CPS Energy’s reliance on the grid and to ensure that it has plenty of dispatchable energy — meaning it can be turned on or off when needed. Known as Portfolio #2, the selected mix will expand the utility’s use of renewables and to add new technologies, but natural gas and diesel could still make up as much as 44% of the utility’s generation over the next two decades. However, CPS Energy officials continued to emphasize that the utility will revisit its portfolio every two to three years, and Portfolio #2 offers enough flexibility that as cleaner technologies come online, they can be added to reduce CPS Energy’s reliance on natural gas. The plan will add roughly 4,928 megawatts of generation capacity to the utility’s portfolio over the next seven years, including 1,380 megawatts from combined cycle natural gas and about 800 from reciprocating internal combustion engines that run on natural gas or diesel. Another 500 megawatts will come from wind, 1,180 from solar and 1,060 from lithium battery storage. The plan does not include geothermal, hydrogen or nuclear; those sources may become more available and affordable in the near future, Benny Ethridge, the utility’s executive vice president of energy supply,
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