Sun. Wind. Water. : Historical lessons from Texas’s independent electricity grid

Dr. Sarah Stanford-McIntyre, Assistant Professor, Herbst Program for Engineering, Ethics & Society, University of Colorado Boulder, Director, Certificate in Engineering, Ethics & Society 

Ekeley W230 (ESOC Reading Room), Ekeley Science, University Ave, Boulder, Colorado, 80302

This talk provides a bird’s-eye-view survey of Texas energy history, focusing on electrification and the state’s famously disconnected electricity grid, ERCOT. Drawing from this long history, I argue that key developments in Texas energy history – the development of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the state’s centrality to the rise of utility-scale renewable electricity -- will prove to overshadow the oil industry in importance and impact. In fact, as of 2023 oil-rich Texas leads the nation in both wind and solar instillation and energy generation. This said, it is undoubtedly impossible to understand Texas energy regulatory or transmission systems without accounting for the state’s geology, ecology, and resulting fossil wealth. Attention to this complex history allows us to better understand the contemporary pitfalls and issues facing energy producers and consumers as we embark upon our latest “energy transition.”

C-SEF's Here and Now seminars focus on questions pertaining to how we can move forward in addressing environmental problems immediately, such as adaptation, environmental policy, links between public and private sectors, resource management, and resilience, among others.