Here’s What Happened with the Austin Energy Resource Plan
By Kaiba White
On Dec. 12, the Austin City Council approved an updated Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan. While it isn’t what we hoped for, the pressure on the city council resulted in several significant amendments. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this effort.
But there’s a very big catch.
The disappointment is that the door opened to the possibility of Austin Energy building new fossil fuel power plants in Austin. The previous Resource Plan prohibited adding facilities that emit carbon dioxide, including those that burn fossil fuels. The newly adopted plan says Austin Energy will consider building so-called “peaker” methane gas-burning power plants.
The good news is that building those power plants would require another city council vote. The Austin City Council now has three new members, so we must ensure they hear your concerns about air pollution and the climate crisis.
Here are a few ways the updated plan was amended that will help us fight Austin Energy’s efforts to build new fossil fuel plants:
- Council Member Jose Velasquez sponsored a requirement that Austin Energy must request proposals for clean energy solutions as an alternative to peaker power plants.
- Another amendment added by Council Member Ryan Alter requires Austin Energy to return to Council for more direction after completing a feasibility analysis for new peakers and their possible location. Additionally, it requires Austin Energy to explain why a carbon-free alternative wasn’t available and how new peaker power plants would impact the utility’s ability to meet the commitment to carbon-free operations by 2035.
- Council Member Alison Alter sponsored an amendment to clarify that the 2035 goal still must be met. Her amendment also directs Austin Energy to factor in air quality and the risk of the Austin region not meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for ground-level ozone pollution.
Some amendments favor clean energy solutions:
- An amendment by Council Member Zo Qadri established local solar and local utility scale battery goals for 2027.
- Another Ryan Alter amendment tells Austin Energy to move as quickly to install 100-150 megawatts of local batteries and to provide a progress update in February.
A primary objective in asking for this update was to address Austin Energy’s broken promise to end its use of the coal-burning Fayette power plant by the end of 2022. The updated plan says Austin Energy must weigh the value of avoided carbon emissions against the cost of amending the contract with the Lower Colorado River Authority to allow for the closure of Austin Energy’s portion of Fayette.
Bottom line: We have work to do in 2025, but we can win the healthy and sustainable future we want if we keep showing up together. There will be several ways to help, and Public Citizen will alert you on ways to get involved.
Kaiba White is an energy policy and outreach specialist with the Texas office of Public Citizen