Texas Energy Crisis Deepens, Nuclear Projects Rise, & Gas Projects Collapse
1.) Facing declining reserve margins, Southwest Power Pool is looking to Demand Response to bail it out. SPP projects its reserve margin may fall to 5% by 2029, so it’s resorting to a “comprehensive” demand response policy.
2.) Dandelion – the country’s leader in geothermal heat pumps – is working with home builder Lennar to integrate ground-source heat pumps into 1,500 new Lennar homes in Colorado over the next two years.
3.) Dow and modular nuclear company X-Energy Reactor Company, LLC have submitted a construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for nuclear project in Seadrift, Texas. Approval of the construction permit could take up to 30 months.
4.) The $5 billion low-interest rate Texas Energy Fund, established in 2023 to entice dispatchable gas generation to Texas looks to be in trouble. Engie bailed on its 930-megawatt peaker plant in February, blaming “equipment procurement constraints.” Wattbridge then pulled four projects totaling1.62 GW in late March, citing “risk and costs.” Last week Constellation, canceled its 300 MW Wolf Hollow expansion plan.
5.) The site of Pennsylvania’s Homer City coal plant – 50 miles east of Pittsburg - is being redeveloped to serve a huge data center complex. The new $10 billion facility will employ 7 GE Vernova gas turbines to generate up to 4.5 GW of power – twice the output of the former coal plant shuttered in 2023- and start generating by 2027.