Original Research

Clean Energy Research

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2016

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Exploring Natural Gas and Renewables in ERCOT, Part IV: The Future of Clean Energy in ERCOT

By Drs. Ira Shavel and Yingxia Yang, et al., The Brattle Group (May 2016). Prepared for the Texas Clean Energy Coalition.

Thanks to past actions by state leaders, Texas is expanding its historic energy leadership into the 21st century. The deregulation of the Texas electric market and other initiatives, such as adopting one of the first Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and investing in the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) for new transmission lines to bring renewable power to Texas cities, have laid the foundation for the ongoing transition to clean energy.

TCEC’s May 2016 study, Part Four in the series conducted by researchers at The Brattle Group, looks at how market forces can create a cleaner ERCOT grid that relies on Texas-produced natural gas, wind and solar power without raising electric prices for customers.

An Executive Summary of the report is available, or you can download the full slide deck summarizing the study results.

Read TCEC's press release here.

Please see our Original Research 2013 and Original Research 2014 for previous studies in this series.

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New Texas Poll Shows Strong Republican Support for Clean Energy Policies, Statewide Plan

The survey of 801 registered voters was conducted in mid-April 2016 by Michael Baselice, president of Austin-based Baselice & Associates in collaboration with Kristen Soltis Anderson, co-founder of Echelon Insights of Alexandria, Va. The poll was conducted for the Texas Clean Energy Coalition.

Key findings include:

  • Widespread support for increasing clean energy power in Texas.
  • Natural gas seen as a part of clean energy mix.
  • Cleaner air, economic growth, and reduced dependence on foreign sources and oil prices viewed as most convincing reasons to increase clean energy in Texas.
  • Voters, including Republicans, express strong majority support for 9 of 10 potential Texas clean energy policies,and proposals that provide consumers more freedom and level the playing field received the highest marks.

Baselice & Associates/Echelon Insights Texas Power Survey Topline Results

Texas Power Survey Summary Graphics

Read TCEC's press release here.

2015

CNA Analysis & Solutions: The Impacts of EPA's Clean Power Plan on Electricity Generation and Water Use in Texas; Additional Analysis

By Paul Faeth, CNA (March 2015).

TCEC helped bring attention to a new report prepared by a team at CNA Analysis & Solutions examining the potential for water savings in Texas under various scenarios of carbon emission reductions.

Putting the potential water savings in perspective, under some carbon reduction scenarios the water that Texas might save could fill the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium 62 times. Moreover, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions – a principal cause of poor air quality in Texas – could drop significantly, by 34%, along with carbon reductions.

2014

Exploring Natural Gas and Renewables in ERCOT, Part III: The Role of Demand Response, Energy Efficiency, and Combined Heat & Power

By Drs. Ira Shavel, Peter Fox-Penner and Jurgen Weiss, et al., The Brattle Group (June 3, 2014). Prepared for the Texas Clean Energy Coalition.

The third report in the series of ERCOT studies from The Brattle Group finds that natural gas and renewable energy will continue to dominate additional supply in the Texas electric grid over the next 20 years, and adoption of expanded energy efficiency and demand response programs could cut projected peak demand growth in half over the same time frame.

Please see our Original Research 2013 for previous studies in this series.

Read TCEC's press release on the report here.

2013

  • Exploring Natural Gas and Renewables in ERCOT, Part II: Future Generation Scenarios for Texas

    By Drs. Ira Shavel, Jurgen Weiss and Peter Fox-Penner, et al., The Brattle Group (December 10, 2013). Prepared for the Texas Clean Energy Coalition; sponsored by The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation.

    The second report in the ERCOT series from The Brattle Group finds that the future of the Texas electric market will very likely include substantial amounts of renewable energy and gas-fired power. The report, a 20-year outlook for natural gas and renewable power in Texas, is the first examination of its kind to be conducted and shared publicly in Texas.

    Read TCEC's press release on the report here.

Downloads

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Partnering Natural Gas and Renewables in ERCOT

By Dr. Jurgen Weiss, Heidi Bishop, Dr. Peter Fox-Penner and Dr. Ira Shavel, The Brattle Group (June 11, 2013). Prepared for the Texas Clean Energy Coalition; sponsored by The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation.

This new report explores the interplay between natural gas and renewable energy resources in the Texas electric power market.

“Low-priced natural gas and clean renewable resources are complementary, not competing, resources to displace other fuels over the long term. Coordinated development of both will lead to a win-win for Texas and the environment,” said TCEC Chairman and former state Sen. Kip Averitt.

The first of a two-part study, “Partnering Natural Gas and Renewables in ERCOT” explains how gas and renewables can complement each other, and how factors such as the long-run trajectory of gas prices, renewable technology costs, electricity market rules and public policy affect the picture.

The second half of this two-part study, to be finalized later this year, will utilize Brattle’s integrated modeling system to examine the impacts of renewable policies under a variety of future scenarios.

Read TCEC's press release on the report here.

Downloads

2012

  • UT Texas Water Study: Can switching fuels save water? A life cycle quantification of freshwater consumption for Texas coal- and natural gas-fired electricity.

    By Emily A. Grubert, Fred C. Beach and Michael E. Webber, The University of Texas at Austin (October 8, 2012). Funded by the George and Cynthia Mitchell Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. National Science Foundation.

    A new report prepared by a team of University of Texas at Austin researchers shows that the Lone Star State could save as much as 60 percent of the fresh water it consumes for coal-fired power generation if electric utility operators were to switch from pulverized coal to natural gas combined-cycle systems.

    In 2007, these savings would have totaled 53 billion gallons – about 10 percent of the state’s 2011 water deficit or enough to provide water to 1 million citizens for a year.

    Video Abstract

Read media coverage of the study

Downloads

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UT National Water Study: Evaluating the energy consumed for water use in the United States

By Kelly T. Sanders and Michael E. Webber, The University of Texas at Austin (September 20, 2012). Funded by the Energy Foundation and the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation.

A new report by a team of University of Texas at Austin researchers shows that the energy needed to capture, move, treat and prepare water in 2010 required 12.6 percent of nation’s total annual energy consumption, which is equivalent to the annual energy consumption of roughly 40 million Americans.

Downloads

2011

  • Energy Efficiency: Energy Efficiency Investments as an Economic Productivity Strategy for Texas.
  • By John A. “Skip” Laitner, American Council for an Energy-Efficiency Economy (March 22, 2011). Funded by the Texas Clean Energy Coalition and the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation.

A new report, commissioned by the Texas Clean Energy Coalition and prepared by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), shows that adoption of common-sense energy efficiency programs would create 47,000 new jobs annually in Texas and save businesses and households $14 billion by 2030.

  • Downloads

2010

Texas’ Clean Energy Economy: Where We Are. Where We’re Going. What We Need to Succeed.

By Billy Hamilton, Billy Hamilton Consulting (2010). Funded by the Texas Clean Energy Coalition.

Billy Hamilton’s economic impact study on "Texas' Clean Energy Economy" for the Texas Clean Energy Coalition is the first rigorous study to estimate the impact of clean energy on Texas' economy. Other studies on the subject have used generous sets of assumptions about clean energy, and may have overstated the already-strong case for the technology.

This new work uses realistic assumptions about growth, delivering the objective and unbiased analysis that has been Hamilton’s hallmark since his days in state government. The study finds that increased clean energy investment will have significant benefits for Texas, even under very conservative assumptions about the future.

Read media coverage of the study

  • Downloads