Bill Text: TX HB2288 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the sale of electricity from certain non-dispatchable generation facilities in the ERCOT power region.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-09 - Referred to State Affairs [HB2288 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB2288-Introduced.html

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88R7733 JXC-D
By: Patterson H.B. No. 2288

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the sale of electricity from certain non-dispatchable
generation facilities in the ERCOT power region.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 36.053(d), Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) If the commission issues a certificate of convenience
and necessity or if the commission, acting under the authority
formerly provided by Section 39.203(e), ordered [orders] an
electric utility or a transmission and distribution utility to
construct or enlarge transmission or transmission-related
facilities to facilitate meeting the goal for generating capacity
from renewable energy technologies under Section 39.904(a), the
commission shall find that the facilities are used and useful to the
utility in providing service for purposes of this section and are
prudent and includable in the rate base, regardless of the extent of
the utility's actual use of the facilities.
SECTION 2. Section 39.159, Utilities Code, as added by
Chapter 426 (S.B. 3), Acts of the 87th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2021, is amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as
follows:
(d) Notwithstanding any other law, the commission shall
prohibit the sale of electric energy from a non-dispatchable
generation facility at wholesale in the ERCOT power region after
January 1, 2030. This subsection does not prohibit a sale of
electricity under Section 39.914 or 39.916 or another sale of
electricity from distributed renewable generation.
SECTION 3. Section 39.203(e), Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(e) The commission may require an electric utility or a
transmission and distribution utility to construct or enlarge
facilities to ensure safe and reliable service for the state's
electric markets and to reduce transmission constraints within
ERCOT in a cost-effective manner where the constraints are such
that they are not being resolved through Chapter 37 or the ERCOT
transmission planning process. [The commission shall require an
electric utility or a transmission and distribution utility to
construct or enlarge transmission or transmission-related
facilities for the purpose of meeting the goal for generating
capacity from renewable energy technologies under Section
39.904(a).] In any proceeding brought under Chapter 37, an
electric utility or transmission and distribution utility ordered
to construct or enlarge facilities under this subchapter need not
prove that the construction ordered is necessary for the service,
accommodation, convenience, or safety of the public and need not
address the factors listed in Sections 37.056(c)(1)-(3) and (4)(E).
Notwithstanding any other law, including Section 37.057, in any
proceeding brought under Chapter 37 by an electric utility or a
transmission and distribution utility related to an application for
a certificate of public convenience and necessity to construct or
enlarge transmission or transmission-related facilities under this
subsection, the commission shall issue a final order before the
181st day after the date the application is filed with the
commission. If the commission does not issue a final order before
that date, the application is approved.
SECTION 4. Sections 39.904(a), (j), (k), and (n), Utilities
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) It is the intent of the legislature that by January 1,
2015, an additional 5,000 megawatts of generating capacity from
renewable energy technologies will have been installed in this
state. The cumulative installed renewable capacity in this state
shall total 5,880 megawatts by January 1, 2015[, and the commission
shall establish a target of 10,000 megawatts of installed renewable
capacity by January 1, 2025]. The cumulative installed renewable
capacity in this state shall total 2,280 megawatts by January 1,
2007, 3,272 megawatts by January 1, 2009, 4,264 megawatts by
January 1, 2011, 5,256 megawatts by January 1, 2013, and 5,880
megawatts by January 1, 2015. Of the renewable energy technology
generating capacity installed to meet the goal of this subsection
after September 1, 2005, the commission shall establish a target of
having at least 500 megawatts of capacity from a renewable energy
technology other than a source using wind energy.
(j) The commission, after consultation with each
appropriate independent organization, electric reliability
council, or regional transmission organization, shall file a report
with the legislature not later than December 31, 2024 [of each
even-numbered year]. The report must include:
(1) an evaluation of the commission's implementation
of competitive renewable energy zones;
(2) the estimated cost of transmission service
improvements needed for each competitive renewable energy zone; and
(3) an evaluation of the effects that additional
renewable generation has on system reliability and on the cost of
alternatives to mitigate the effects.
(k) The commission and the independent organization
certified for ERCOT shall study the need for increased transmission
and generation capacity throughout this state and report to the
legislature the results of the study and any recommendations for
legislation. The report must be filed with the legislature [not
later than December 31 of each even-numbered year and may be filed]
as a part of the report required by Subsection (j).
(n) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, before
January 1, 2030, the commission shall:
(1) have the authority to cap the price of renewable
energy credits;
(2) [and may] suspend the goal [contained] in
Subsection (a) [if such suspension is necessary] to protect the
reliability and operation of the grid; and
(3) abolish all programs and terminate any payments or
credits required under this section.
SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a contract involving the sale of electric energy from a
non-dispatchable generation facility entered into on or after the
effective date of this Act. A contract involving the sale of
electric energy from a non-dispatchable generation facility
entered into before the effective date of this Act is governed by
the law in effect on the date the contract was entered into, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.