Texas is tackling an energy market redesign not seen in decades. The freeze and subsequent outages from Winter Storm Uri in 2021 left hundreds dead and millions without power. The storm’s aftermath also sparked a debate over how to make the ERCOT grid more resilient in the face of extreme weather events and a changing energy mix.
On Episode 1 of the Texas Power Podcast, host Doug Lewin is joined by Pat Wood, former chairman of both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Public Utility Commission of Texas. He helped deliver former Texas Gov. George W. Bush’s deregulation agenda in the 1990s.
Lewin’s conversation with Pat Wood covered the state’s market redesign efforts, the enabling technologies that can support grid resilience, and the moment when then-governor Bush was first drawn to renewables.
Lewin and Wood discussed, first and foremost, how Texas is dealing with the fallout from Uri and working to ensure it never happens again. They also explored issues and controversies surrounding the ERCOT market, deregulation (aka restructuring), renewables, storage, energy efficiency, transmission, nuclear power, demand flexibility, electric vehicles, and more.