Energy Capital Podcast
The Texas power grid is being rebuilt in real time. Energy Capital covers the policy fights, market mechanics, and technical decisions shaping what comes next. Hosted by Josh Rhodes (UT Austin) and Matt Boms (TAEBA), with the policymakers, regulators, and researchers at the center of it. Produced by ClarityForge Studios. Topics include ERCOT market operations, grid reliability, renewable integration, distributed energy resources, interconnection and transmission planning, regulatory economics, energy storage, demand response, and the Texas electricity market.
Episodes
The case for lower utility profits
On this week’s Energy Capital Podcast, Joshua Rhodes talks with Ellis, now research director at MarketClear Utility Policy Research and an expert witness for consumer groups in rate cases. They discuss why the gap persists and how an auction could close it.Chapters00:00 – Introducing Mark Ellis00:57 – How utilities make money07:08 – From Sempra insider to utility critic12:53 – What makes a return
How far can batteries stretch Texas transmission?
In ERCOT’s new interconnection process for large loads, a data center can connect sooner as a provisional controllable load resource. That is, ERCOT can curtail power above an agreed firm level. A study from Base Power and Piq Energy shows batteries near the transmission lines to a data center could stand in for most of that curtailment.In the study, 80 megawatts of batteries would clear every tra
Everything moving on the Texas grid
The PUCT approved the southernmost of three 765 kV paths into the Permian on September 13. It has not approved the center path: administrative law judges recommended denying it in August, and chairman Thomas Gleeson sent it back asking what the lines are needed for and what they would save customers.Michael Webber’s answer is that Texas has run this experiment. CREZ, the Competitive Renewable Ener
The Texas Energy Fund's first co-op loan
Rayburn Electric Cooperative broke ground in June on a 570 MW gas plant in Sherman, backed by a $411 million Texas Energy Fund loan at 3 percent, the fund’s seventh generation loan and first to a cooperative.Rayburn is also putting batteries in members’ houses. Both run on the same logic: Rayburn generates the power and owns the transmission, so it earns on both. An independent power producer earn
What the Sierra Club wants from the Texas grid
Last month the Public Utility Commission of Texas held public hearings on plans to build giant 765 kilovolt transmission lines. The controversial plan drew complaints from influential voices, including Senate Business and Commerce Chairman Charles Schwertner, who asked commissioners to deny the pending applications for the lines in a letter. Cyrus Reed sat through the roughly 15 hours of testimony
How linear generators can fit into the Texas grid
Wind, solar, and storage are the only new categories of generation to reach the US power system at scale in fifty years. Craig Gordon thinks his company is adding one. Mainspring Energy’s linear generator drives magnets through copper coils rather than burning fuel in a flame, switches between natural gas, biogas, propane, and hydrogen under load, and ramps from minimum to full output in 25 second
Ten gigawatts are parked in American driveways
About 6 million electric vehicles are on American roads, and roughly 1 million of them can already export power back to the grid. A typical one sits parked about 95 percent of the day, plugged in for 12 to 14 hours while needing 2 to 3 hours of charge. Texas still meets most of that capacity as load.That works out to roughly 10 gigawatts of export capacity. In ERCOT the value of tapping it splits
Wind is keeping West Texas ranches solvent
Cattle prices swing, goat prices swing, and the drought comes whether or not the ranch can afford it. For a fifth-generation West Texas operation, the search for income that holds steady through all of it comes from an unexpected source: the wind.A wind lease pays the same in a dry year as a wet one, creating a floor under an operation otherwise exposed to weather and commodity prices. When neighb
Why some large loads insist on paying their way
Some of the largest electricity buyers in the world have a message for Texas: charge us. The Texas Energy Buyers Alliance was the first organization to propose that large loads pay transmission charges tied to their approved capacity. The idea is to protect other customers as the grid builds out.The scale explains why. ERCOT estimates up to 110 gigawatts of new large loads could seek to connect ov
Texas competes on everything except transmission
Texas built a competitive retail electricity market: consumers choose among roughly a hundred providers, and generators build power plants at their own risk with no guaranteed return. Transmission, the high-voltage lines that move power from where it is made to where it is used, runs on a different model. One utility builds each line and recovers every cost from ratepayers, plus a return, on time
What batch zero settles and what it leaves open
Batch zero stops being theoretical on July 11. That is the day ERCOT’s rule for connecting large new customers takes effect. The new policy replaces a process that involved studying each giant load independently, then ordering restudies when new giant loads joined the queue, leaving projects stuck in a serial loop. Two prior episodes of this show traced how the new rule was designed. This one asks
Why PJM is looking at the Texas grid
ERCOT made a choice years ago that most of the country is now reconsidering. Texas runs an energy-only market with no capacity payments, connects generation through connect-and-manage, sorts out delivery in dispatch, and pushes interconnection risk onto developers. That design is a big part of why Texas has added generation faster than any other U.S. grid.PJM, the operator for much of the eastern
Inside the PUC's Cost-Allocation Overhaul with PUC Chairman Gleeson
Texas spent five years rebuilding its electrical grid based on the lessons of Winter Storm Uri. Now regulators face a harder question: who pays for the surge of large new customers trying to connect?The projections for electricity demand run far above what will actually get built, and hyperscalers want to power their data centers within 18 months, a pace much faster than the three-to-five years la
How will data centers pay for power?
Right now, connecting a data center to the grid works like Texas hog season: no defined season, no bag limits, first-come-first-served, file as many interconnection requests as you want. Travis Kavulla’s recent essay in American Affairs argues the power industry needs something closer to deer season, with defined rounds, allocation rules, and prices that reflect what grid access actually costs.The
How Texas decides which data centers to connect
ERCOT now has roughly 445 gigawatts of large loads asking to connect to the Texas grid, a figure so large that Joshua Rhodes says it might as well be infinite, because the system cannot physically build for all of it.To sort real projects from speculative ones, ERCOT is launching a new screening process called batch zero, and stakeholders voted to advance it at last week’s Technical Advisory Commi
How Texas plans to serve ‘infinite demand’
Texas has spent decades building transmission to serve load growth. The pattern worked when growth rose steadily with new homes, oil and gas operations, and the gradual expansion of the state’s industrial base. It is being tested by a different kind of customer: data centers requesting interconnection at a scale that exceeds what the grid can physically deliver.Eric Goff, founder of Goff Policy an
Austin Energy Enters the Next Phase of Decarbonization
Austin Energy’s power generation hit the 65 percent carbon-free level in 2024, and the municipal utility is targeting 100 percent carbon-free load by 2035, one of the most aggressive clean energy targets of any utility in Texas.Austin Energy is one of the largest municipally owned utilities in the country and one of the few vertically integrated utilities operating inside ERCOT’s deregulated marke
Process is Killing Texas Data Center Projects
As the data center buildout in Texas accelerates, the public conversation has fixated on generation, interconnection queues, and gigawatts. But the firms actually structuring these deals see a different problem entirely: process.In this episode, Joshua Rhodes speaks with Maura Yates, chief executive of Mothership Energy. Mothership is one of the most active retail electricity providers in ERCOT’s
Texas Bets on Speed, with Gin Kinney
Texas generators and grid operators used to spend a decade or two planning for new power plants.But as Gin Kinney, chief administrative officer at NRG Energy, told Energy Capital Podcast hosts Matt Boms and Josh Rhodes at CERAweek in Houston this year, the company’s planning horizon has collapsed to 12-18 months.The company’s activity reflects the dynamic growth of the ERCOT grid. Kinney said NRG
Transmission Takes a Decade, Load Doesn't — with Raina Hornaday
ERCOT’s all-time demand record is 85.5 gigawatts. Yet by the end of last year, the grid manager’s interconnection queue included 432 gigawatts of generation requests. ERCOT also received 225 gigawatts-worth of new large load requests last year.The critical factor connecting the two: transmission lines. But the transmission improvements that would accommodate such dramatic grid growth aren’t growin
What a Wind Lease Is Worth Now with Rod Wetsel
In 1999, a rancher walked into a Sweetwater, Texas law office with a 50-page wind lease from landmen in South Dakota. The lawyer, an oil and gas attorney named Rod Wetsel, told him to throw it in the trash. The rancher insisted he take another look.That lease became the first of an estimated 10,000 that Wetsel and his firm would negotiate across Texas. At one point, the line of landowners waiting
Who Pays for the New Grid with Pablo Vegas
ERCOT’s current rulemaking process will shape the Texas grid for decades, driving infrastructure investments that last 30 to 50 years and cost billions of dollars.During this year’s SXSW Texas Future’s Summit in Austin, ERCOT Chief Executive Pablo Vegas sat down with Energy Capital Podcast hosts Josh Rhodes and Matt Boms to explain the grid operator’s approach.ERCOT has added more than 60 gigawatt
Texas Growth Is Running Into Power Grid Limits with Katie Coleman
Texas built its electricity market to react quickly to changes in demand, attract private capital, and protect ratepayers from private-sector investment risk.A wave of large load interconnection requests is testing that model.In this conversation, Katie Coleman, a leading Texas energy lawyer and partner at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, describes the pressure points facing the ERCOT grid. Officials are s
SPECIAL REPORT: Texas Feels the Iran Oil Shock with Michael Webber
For a century, the Strait of Hormuz has been one of the world’s key energy choke points. But during the past couple of decades, the U.S. relationship to the shipping lane has changed.In this special episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, Josh Rhodes talks with Michael Webber about what the Iran conflict means now, especially for Texas. The U.S. is not as vulnerable to oil shortage as it once was,
Build Fast or Fall Behind with Michael Webber
For a long time, the basic story in U.S. energy was stability. Demand growth had flattened, efficiency was doing more work than most people realized, and expansion was steady.Not anymore.In this week’s conversation, Josh Rhodes talks with Michael Webber about what may be the most important shift now underway in energy: the dramatic growth in electricity demand, in Texas and beyond. Data centers ar
The Data Behind Texas Reliability with Max Kanter
Behind the scenes, every few minutes, the ERCOT system generates tens of thousands of price signals, outage updates, and operational reports that demonstrate and drive the cost and availability of electricity.Most of that data is public. But how can Texans access it?This week, Joshua Rhodes talks with Max Kanter, chief executive officer of GridStatus, about the gap between public data and practica
Who Pays for Texas Grid Growth? - Roundtable Discussion
Texas’s new era of electricity demand is forcing policymakers to walk an unprecedented tightrope.The state has to keep the lights on – and it has to make sure that Texans can afford to do so..Massive load growth from data centers, population, and electrification is teeing up existential questions for the ERCOT grid. How do we build what we need without overbuilding? And how do we avoid burdening h
The New Rules Behind ERCOT Prices with Andrew Reimers
Texas keeps adding load, adding generation, and adding complexity. But attracting the next wave of investment often comes down to a crucial question:How does ERCOT use market forces – especially signals that determine where energy prices are set – to boost reliability on the grid?In this episode, Josh Rhodes sits down with Andrew Reimers to pull back the curtain on the machinery most people never
Stop Heating Texas Like It’s 1985 (with Kurt Heim)
Every time a winter storm hits, Texans run through a mental checklist: gather more blankets, drip the pipes, and hope the grid holds up. Kurt Heim, Vice President of Environmental Advancement at Daikin Comfort Technologies North America Inc., understands why that anxiety stuck after 2021’s devastating Winter Storm Uri.But this reliability and affordability problem has a surprisingly accessible sol
Texas Got Tested, Grid Stayed Upright
Texas just got another winter gut-check—not on the level of the deadly 2021 freeze, but still with enough ice, outages, and anxious headlines to remind everyone how fast confidence can evaporate.In this episode, Matt Boms and Josh Rhodes unpack what they saw in real time. The biggest takeaways are simple: a lot has improved, and some of the hardest problems are still sitting right in the open.“The
Is Texas Ready for Winter Now? (with Will McAdams)
In two weeks, Texas will observe the five-year anniversary of Winter Storm Uri — the devastating 2021 freeze that drove electricity demand to unprecedented heights, froze gas lines and plants, and triggered a blackout that darkened nearly half of the state.The anniversary will come just days after the latest arctic blast hits Texas; this coming weekend, people across the state will likely see lows
More Power that's Faster and Fairer — Roundtable Discussion
Texas is not short on energy.Texas is short on time.New load is arriving faster than the grid can plan, permit, and build, raising a question that will shape our state’s future: can Texas grow without sacrificing reliability or pushing costs onto the wrong people?That was the backdrop for our first Energy Capital roundtable with Matt Boms, Joshua Rhodes, and Micalah Spenrath.The Defining Story of
Flexibility Driving Reliability and Affordability with Matt Boms
This episode is a little different. As I wrote on Friday: this is both a transition and an expansion. Several folks will be stepping up to use this platform and I couldn’t be more excited to hear what comes next.A platform, now with more places to standArchimedes said: “Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth.” This podcast will become a platform for more people to stand.The podcast is
How Much Are Texans' Power Bills Going Up? with TEPRI's Margo Weisz
Everyone’s talking about the cost of power lately. But the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute has been studying, talking, writing, and working to do something about it, for over a decade. In recent research, TEPRI found that 65 percent of low and moderate income Texans are cutting back on essential energy use, often turning off AC in extreme heat. But their demand reductions aren’t necessaril
Replay: Using Wasted Energy to Power AI with Crusoe's Cully Cavness
Thanksgiving Week RepostThis episode originally aired in June 2024. We’re resurfacing it because the core idea discussed here were timely then and even more timely now.We’ve also refreshed the audio, with improved mixing and mastering for a clearer, smoother listen.Crusoe has scaled dramatically since this conversation, including major new funding and new projects in Texas. With so much energy new
How AI Data Centers Can Go From Villain to Hero with Varun Sivaram
“Everyone hates data centers.”That was the subject line on the email newsletter from Heatmap Daily the day before I sat down with Dr. Varun Sivaram, co-founder and CEO of Emerald AI. Communities see huge new loads coming onto the grid, hear about billions in new infrastructure, and worry that their bills will go up.It doesn’t have to work that way.Varun argues there are two paths. On the villain p
It's Going to Happen First in Texas with Nat Bullard (Part 2)
This is part 2 of my conversation with Nat Bullard. Check out Part 1 here:We talk a lot about the grid of the future. The truth is, that future is already showing up in Texas.Batteries are being built at record pace, data centers are chasing cheap and reliable power, and Texans are adding gigawatts worth of backup systems in homes, schools, and factories.I sat down with energy analyst Nat Bullard
Information Is Infrastructure with Nat Bullard (Part 1)
This is Part 1 of my conversation with Nat. Part 2 will be out next Wednesday. The Video is Live on YouTubeTexas has plenty of energy stories. The harder part is finding the signal through the noise of endless filings. That is why Nat Bullard’s new venture, Halcyon, matters. It turns piles of ERCOT and PUC dockets into something manageable. It’s AI that makes dense regulatory filings sortable and
Building a Solar Supply Chain in Texas with T1's CEO Daniel Barcelo
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.comMost solar panels are imported from China which now has the ability to manufacture over a terawatt (1,000 gigawatts) of solar modules every year — roughly equal to the entire installed base of generation in the US inclusive from every energy source.America makes less than 1/20 of that amount and even less when
Innovation and Investment in ERCOT: Recorded Live from GCPA
The full video is on YoutubeTexas isn’t just projecting future load growth; it’s happening now. Maura Yates of Mothership Innovations set the stage for our discussion at GCPA’s Fall conference earlier this month in Austin. “We are looking at meters that are 800 megawatts on a single meter… that’s crazy. We used to think 10 megawatts was a big deal…” She also cut through the headline noise: “The
How Data Centers Can Strengthen the Texas Grid with Camus Energy CEO Astrid Atkinson
Watch the Conversation on YouTubeHeadlines warn that data centers are straining the Texas grid. The reality is more interesting: data centers — through their own flexibility and by supporting distributed flexibility markets — can strengthen the grid.I explored that topic and a lot more with Astrid Atkinson, CEO and co-founder of Camus Energy and former senior reliability engineer at Google. At Goo
Beyond the Tax Credit Cliff with Freedom Solar CEO Bret Biggart
The federal 30% solar tax credit has driven demand for solar but it’s about to expire. And when it does, some worry the bottom will fall out of the market. But what’s actually emerging looks less like a collapse and more like a shift which could lead to bigger growth down the road.In this episode, Bret Biggart, CEO of Freedom Solar, offers a grounded look at how a major Texas-based installer is ad
NRG's Gigawatt VPP in Texas with Travis Kavulla
Texas load is rising fast, supply chains are tight, and the cheapest near-term resource is demand we shape intentionally. But are the right economic signals there to bring this resource to scale?Texas has a highly competitive power supply market, but the demand side is severely underdeveloped. In my conversation with Travis Kavulla, former Montana PSC Chairman and current leader in retail innovati
AI, Outage Risks, and Market Opportunities with Lynne Kiesling (Part 2)
In Part 1 of my conversation with economist Lynne Kiesling, we traced how monopoly utilities and central planning helped electrify the country. That model worked. Economies of scale and guaranteed returns brought capital into the system, and within a few decades, nearly every home had electricity.But the world has changed. Technologies are smaller, decentralized, and more flexible. Risks are more
Why the Old Utility Business Model Doesn’t Fit Anymore with Lynne Kiesling (Part 1)
Over a hundred years ago, the monopoly business utility model emerged as the one that could attract sufficient capital to electrify everything.The monopoly utility business was championed by Thomas Edison’s protégé and early leader of ComEd in Chicago, Sam Insull.It worked. By mid-century, most Americans had power.But today, competition for generation and retail have shown that monopolies are not
Why Are Energy Bills Rising So Fast? A Conversation with Charles Hua
Watch the Full Conversation with Graphs on YouTube (Updated)Utility bills are rising faster than ever. In the first half of 2025 alone, utilities requested $29 billion in rate increases, already a record for any full year, with months still to go. That’s more than double the pace of 2024.If you’re wondering why, you’re not alone. I hear this question constantly: “If renewables lower costs, why is
WATCH: Texas Power Rush
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.comThis is my recent presentation on the latest trends in Texas energy and power for subscribers called the “Texas Power Rush,” followed by a Q&A.
"One of the Hottest Data Center Markets in the Country" with CPS Energy's CEO Rudy Garza
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.comSan Antonio is one of the fastest growing cities in the country and have requests to interconnect AI infrastructure and data centers that would triple their size. With that growth comes a simple but daunting challenge: how do you keep the air conditioning on while growing the economy and keeping bills affordab
Here Comes the Sun: Bill McKibben on Solar’s Breakout Moment
Sometimes I get to bring you a conversation that really feels like a turning point.This week, I sat down with Bill McKibben, one of the most respected voices in climate and energy. His new book, Here Comes the Sun (out today! order it here), is different from his earlier work. Bill has long been known for sounding the alarm. But this time, he’s bringing something else: optimism.Why? Because solar
Flexibility as a Service with Octopus Energy US CEO Nick Chaset
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.com🎧 Listen to the first 15+ minutes for free, and if you’re a paid subscriber and want to listen in Apple Podcasts or Spotify, just connect your private Substack feed. Here is the a link with step-by-step instructions. You can also hear the full episode in Substack; just make sure you’re logged in with the email
Shortcast: None of the Above
In this week’s Energy Capital Podcast, I revisit my recent article, None of the Above, with added commentary. Please give it a listen and let me know what you think in the comments.All of the Above vs. None of the AboveFor years, U.S. energy policy has been framed as “all of the above.” No red or blue electrons, just building what works.The new budget bill flips that script and is leaving closer t
Texas Businesses To Pay 54% More for Power
This podcast is on YouTube with Graphs Congress’ new budget bill is an energy earthquake. It could wipe out tens of gigawatts of energy production, just as we’re experiencing load growth unlike anything since the 1960’s. It will drive power bills higher for families and factories, and give China the upper hand in the race for 21st century economic supremacy.To understand in more detail the impacts
21st Century Fire: What Recent Wildfires Tell Us About Our Future
In May 2016, a wildfire ripped through Fort McMurray, the heart of Canada’s tar sands and bitumen mining region, with a speed and intensity unlike anything firefighters had seen before. It created its own weather. And it triggered the largest evacuation in Canadian history, which had to happen within mere hours.But this fire wasn’t just a freak event. It was a warning of more to come. Since then,
Energy Scarcity
Either the Texas grid is highly reliable, or the sky is falling.Spoiler alert: bet against the latter.A June report from the Texas Reliability Entity (which has federal statutory responsibility to report on Texas’ grid risks) shows that the ERCOT grid is increasingly reliable. That’s mostly because of solar and battery storage additions to the state’s energy portfolio.It also directly contradicts
Nuclear Goes Modular to Meet AI Demand with Aalo's Matt Loszak
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.comIn this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, I sat down with Matt Loszak, co-founder and CEO of Aalo Atomics, a startup based in Austin, Texas, that’s reimagining how we build nuclear energy. 🎧 Listen to the first 15+ minutes for free, and if you’re a paid subscriber and want to listen in Apple Podcasts or S
Shape Load Perfectly, Inject Energy Optimally with Sonnen's Blake Richetta
We’re on the verge of one of the biggest energy shifts in decades: the increasing use of demand side resources.They’re often referred to as Virtual Power Plants, or VPPs. Add together thousands of rooftop solar installations and home batteries and you reach levels of power equal to medium sized power plants. They add power capacity, can provide key grid support in ancillary services, and give cons
Shortcast: Solar Jobs Are Not "Fentanyl Jobs"
Anti-energy crusaders have a lot of facts wrong. I’ll break that down in this video. They’re also personally insulting the hard-working men and women in the renewable energy industry, calling solar jobs “fentanyl jobs.” They should apologize to the hard-working Americans helping to make our grid stronger every day.The ERCOT CEO told the Board earlier this week that solar and storage has strengthen
Shortcast: "Energy Inflation"
This is the read-aloud version of my June 26 article, now on YouTube & the Energy Capital PodcastI don’t usually record readings of my articles, but I made an exception for this one.If Congress passes the budget bill as is, it would spike energy costs for families and businesses and cause serious economic harm.So I sat down and read the piece aloud with a few added thoughts and commentary as I wen
The End of Solar & Battery Manufacturing in America?
The U.S. was finally catching up.After decades of watching solar manufacturing develop overseas, mostly in China, the Inflation Reduction Act gave domestic producers a fighting chance. Texas responded in a big way. New factories broke ground. OCI and its sister company, Mission Solar, prepared to launch a full supply chain operation in San Antonio, including the rare addition of cell manufacturing
Economic Eclipse: Congress Tries to Block the Sun with SEIA's Sean Gallagher & Daniel Giese
Texas is adding solar at a faster pace than any other state. Solar and storage are powering Texas’ manufacturing renaissance, creating jobs, and lowering customers’ bills; even the state’s oil and gas sector is an eager consumer of solar power.And renewables are also pumping tens of billions of dollars into local — mostly rural — economies in the form of landowner payments and tax payments. We’re
The Senate Should Not Surrender
On Wednesday, I published Energy Submission, a piece on how the U.S. is at risk of abandoning the battle for 21st economic supremacy as China accelerates its energy dominance. I recorded this podcast episode to go a little deeper into the consequences of the House-passed reconciliation bill and what we risk losing if we dismantle the tools driving the energy future. It’s available on YouTube with
"It's Easier to Build Here," Texas Energy After the 89th Legislature with Claire Hao
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.comThe Texas legislative session just wrapped. As always, energy was front and center. And once again, there were sweeping efforts to pass bills that would limit energy development in Texas.🎧 Listen to the first 25+ minutes for free, and if you’re a paid subscriber and want to listen in Apple Podcasts or Spotify,
Solutions Over Theatrics with Texas House Energy Resources Chairman Drew Darby
With just ten days left in the legislative session, a lot of attention is (rightfully) focused on bad bills. But some lawmakers are pushing forward thoughtful, future-focused energy policy and Chairman Drew Darby is at the forefront.For this episode, I sat down with Chairman Darby, a West Texas Republican and Chairman of the House Energy Resources Committee, to talk about what an energy-secure Tex
Powering the Next Texas Economic Miracle with Glenn Hamer
AI data centers. Semiconductor fabs. Oil and gas electrification. Desalination. Rising population. Texas is booming and it needs massive amounts of electricity to fuel that growth.We’re already using more power than ever. ERCOT projects demand will grow by 60,000 megawatts in just five years. That would be like adding the current peak demand of California on top of Texas. But instead of clearing t
The Impact of Limiting Renewables in Texas with Olivier Beaufils
Note: The Podcast Recording with Graphs is Here.What would happen if Texas started turning away new wind and solar projects or even retiring some of the capacity we already have?That’s not merely a hypothetical. It’s what several bills that have passed the Texas Senate aim to do. And according to new modeling from Aurora Energy Research, the consequences could be severe: higher prices, increased r
Texas' Renewable Energy Growth with Suncast's Nico Johnson
Texas has added more new power supply over the last four years than any other state and over 90% of it has been wind, solar, and storage. Today, renewable energy is no longer "alternative" in Texas. It is the backbone of our power grid.At this year’s Intersolar North America conference, I sat down with Nico Johnson, host of the excellent Suncast podcast, for a conversation about how the Texas ener
Texas' Load Growth Challenges – And Opportunities, with Arushi Sharma Frank
Large load growth is one of the most urgent challenges and opportunities for the grid.From data centers to factories to electrified oil and gas operations, demand on the ERCOT grid is expected to soar. If we don’t load forecasting and planning right, we risk higher costs, more outages, and a weaker grid. If we do it right, we can build a more resilient, affordable, and flexible system for decades
How Batteries Are Reshaping the Texas Grid with Suzanne Leta
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.comBattery technology continues to improve and costs continue to drop, opening up new opportunities and reshaping the grid. And at a time of rapid load growth and massive constraints on natural gas turbine availability, storage is surgingIn this episode, I talk with Suzanne Leta, VP of Policy at Fluence, one of t
Does the Texas Legislature Still Believe in Market Competition?
Last year, ERCOT stunned observers when it projected that electricity demand in Texas could double within five years. That announcement kicked off a wave of meetings, legislative hearings, and proposals. But now?ERCOT’s latest projections say we might need to triple our electric supply.The Texas Energy and Power Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work
How Load Flexibility Could Unlock Energy Abundance with Tyler Norris
Everyone’s talking about the rise in electricity demand, especially from data centers. However, far too few are talking about what to do about it. In this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, I sat down with Tyler Norris, a fellow at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute and co-author of a recent study Rethinking Load Growth.What Tyler and his team found is extraordinary: by curtailing just 0.25%
Rural Texans Speak Against Senate Bill 819
If it passed, Senate Bill 819 would be one of the most damaging energy bills we’ve seen in years. It would slow down Texas’ economy, hitting rural areas the hardest. It’s a direct attack on Texas energy producers and a threat to consumers, landowners, and communities across the state. But don’t take it from me, listen to the witnesses from Armstrong, Nacogdoches, Schleicher, and Tom Green Counties
Geothermal’s Moment with Jamie Beard
We recorded this episode in front of a packed room at Geothermal House during SXSW, and it couldn’t have been more timely. Energy demand is rising fast. Energy policy is fraught. And into this moment comes geothermal — a resource that’s clean, always-on, right beneath our feet, and dare I say, bipartisan.I sat down with Jamie Beard, the founder of Project InnerSpace, to talk about the opportunity
A Conservative Case for Clean Energy with John Szoka
For this episode, I talked with former North Carolina Representative and CEO of the Conservative Energy Network John Szoka. John’s a veteran, a conservative Republican, and businessman. He’s committed to clean energy not despite his conservative principles, but because of them.John is focused on helping policymakers and business leaders understand the economic and national security benefits of cle
New Nuclear in Texas, with Doug Robison and Dr. Rusty Towell
Texas has long been an energy powerhouse, but the grid is facing unprecedented challenges. Between surging demand from industrial electrification, hotter summers, and data centers and the retirement of aging power plants, we need more advanced firm power sources and we need them fast.In this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, I sat down with Doug Robison, the founder and president of Natura Re
Disconnected by Design with Mose Buchele
Every summer, we hear concerns about rolling blackouts. Every winter, we remember the failures of Winter Storm Uri. But how did we get here? What are the biggest risks, what has actually changed, and what still needs to happen?In this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, I sat down with Mose Buchele, longtime energy and environment reporter at KUT and the host of The Disconnect, a podcast that h
Using AI to Strengthen the Grid with Mary Cleary
What if utilities could see infrastructure failures before they happen? What if grid operators, regulators, and energy companies could harness the power of artificial intelligence to prevent outages?Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, and winter cold snaps are getting more extreme. But as their intensity ramps up, so does computing power, and particularly the capabilities of artificial in
The Energy System We Need with John Arnold
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.comNote: We had some minor audio issues in this episode—thanks for bearing with us. The conversation is still clear and well worth the listen. Appreciate your patience!John Arnold is one of the most successful energy traders of all time. He built his career by understanding how systems work, where inefficiencies
Know Before You Go Solar with Sara DiNatale
Solar energy has the potential to revolutionize Texas’ power grid, lower costs, and provide resilience in extreme weather. But what happens when some companies selling solar systems aren’t playing fair? In this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, I spoke with Sara DiNatale, an investigative reporter whose in-depth four-part series “In Broad Daylight” for the San Antonio Express-News uncovered d
A Time for Choosing
In his State of the State speech this week, Governor Abbott acknowledged the obvious: “Our rapidly growing state also needs an increasing supply of electric power.”The Governor didn’t specify what types of energy we need, though he did give an implicit nod to an all-of- the-above approach, including renewables and storage:“We now provide more power than ever before. In the last four years, we incr
Texas’ Energy Future: A Conversation with Jimmy Glotfelty
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.texasenergyandpower.comIn this episode of the Energy Capital Podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Jimmy Glotfelty, commissioner at the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) from the summer of 2021 through the end of 2024. With decades of experience across the private and public sectors, Jimmy is the rare person who brings
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