{"id":16444,"date":"2012-08-13T11:57:41","date_gmt":"2012-08-13T16:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=16444"},"modified":"2012-08-13T11:57:44","modified_gmt":"2012-08-13T16:57:44","slug":"heres-one-solution-to-texas-power-woes-and-it-could-cost-you-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/08\/13\/heres-one-solution-to-texas-power-woes-and-it-could-cost-you-nothing\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s One Solution to Texas’ Power Woes, And it Could Cost You Nothing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/p>

One way Texas could "build" more power is by using less of it.<\/p><\/div>\n

As we’ve been chronicling over the past few months, Texas is in a bit of a bind<\/a> when it comes to power. There are more and more people, and fewer and fewer power plants. While natural gas prices stay low, that means power companies in Texas have to charge less (here’s a good explainer<\/a> on how that all works), so there’s little incentive to build new plants.<\/p>\n

One motivation has been to raise the prices generators can charge<\/a> when the grid nears capacity, or peak demand, like it does on some of these hot August days. That’s when power companies make most of their profits.<\/p>\n

But there’s another solution. And according to some observers, it has an attractive price tag: free.<\/p>\n

It’s called demand response<\/a>. A new analysis today from the Environmental Defense Fund<\/a> suggests it could provide an innovative way out of Texas’ looming power crisis.<\/p>\n

First let’s look at how bad things could<\/em> get in the coming years. Texas has a goal of having 13.75 percent more power available than consumers need. That’s called a reserve margin<\/a>. And setting that target means low chances of a strained grid leading to blackouts<\/a>. By 2014, Texas’ reserve margin\u00a0could be below ten percent, and a year after that under seven percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Texas has the lowest reserve margin in the country<\/a>, as you can see in this map from the Energy\u00a0Information\u00a0Administration (EIA):<\/p>\n

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Map by Energy Information Administration<\/p>

Texas has the lowest reserve margin in the country, and is the only place not meeting its target.<\/p><\/div>\n

Moreover, it’s the only state that isn’t meeting reserve margin goals<\/a>. Other grids in surrounding states have reserve margins six to sixteen percent higher than\u00a0 targets.<\/p>\n

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