MRT: Paxton, Prosecutors Near Plea Deal on Securities Fraud Charges; 2 Killed in Bastrop County Bus Rollover; ERCOT: SA Growth Could Lead Grid to ‘Cascading Outages’
Here's What You Need to Know in Texas Today.
MustReadTexas.com – @MustReadTexas
BY: @MattMackowiak
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MONDAY – 03/25/24
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TOP NEWS
“Hays school bus with 44 pre-K students, 11 adults rolls over in Bastrop County; two dead,” Austin American-Statesman's Skye Seipp, Tony Plohetski, Keri Heath and Claire Osborn -- “At least two people, including a child, died Friday afternoon after a Hays school district bus with 44 pre-K students and 11 adults rolled over in western Bastrop County off Texas 21.
The Tom Green Elementary School students were returning from a field trip to a Bastrop County zoo, according to a statement from the Hays Consolidated Independent School District.
The crash occurred at 2751 W. Texas 21 near the intersection at Caldwell Road, EMS said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The bus was headed west on Texas 21 when a concrete truck that was headed east veered into the lane and struck the bus around 2 p.m., said Sgt. Deon Cockrell of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Several children flew out of the bus, he said.
The bus had no seatbelts because it was a 2011 model, said Tim Savoy, a Hays school district spokesman. School buses made since 2017 do have seatbelts, he said.
Cockrell said it was unclear at this time what caused the driver of the truck to swerve into the opposite lane.
The child who died was a boy, said Kevin Parker, division chief of Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services. Officials did not give the boy's age.
Cockrell said a man in a Dodge Charger following the bus struck the bus and also was killed. It was not clear if that man was part of the group from the school.
Cockrell said the driver of the concrete truck was cooperating with authorities, noting that it's uncertain if the driver will be charged at this time pending the outcome of the DPS investigation.
EMS evaluated 53 people for injuries. Parker said four people were taken to a hospital via helicopter with critical injuries, although he did not state whether the injured were children or adults." AAS
“ERCOT admits Texas grid faces risk of 'cascading outages',” San Antonio Express-News' Sara DiNatale -- “The state grid operator is admitting it underestimated how quickly the San Antonio region would grow — a missed forecast that’s left it with transmission issues that “could lead to cascading outages” that put the statewide grid at risk.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas this week told regulators its analysis missed the need to boost transmission capacity between the southern and northern regions of the state. While CPS Energy has a new line in the works to solve the problem, it won’t be done for three more years.
“We should have been able to see this in 2018,” Chief Operating Officer Woody Rickerson told the Public Utility Commission on Thursday. “If we saw it in 2018, we’d have time for this line to have been built last year."
Now, ERCOT is preparing to cut off power to keep it from overcrowding lines when demand is high and power supply is uneven between the south and north ends of the existing lines. The action, which would curtail about 250 megawatts systemwide, aims to head off emergency conditions like those reached Sept. 6, when the state grid came closer to blackouts than it’s been since the February 2021 winter storm that left millions of people in the dark for days and more than 200 dead.
Commissioners weren’t thrilled with the idea of keeping power off the market. Rickerson said he wasn’t, either, but that in certain situations, it’s the best option to stave off a more dire scenario.
When there are outages or lower supply from renewables on one end of the line — typically the end opposite San Antonio toward Waco and Dallas — the path to move the extra supply to where it’s needed can become like a crowded highway of speeding cars. The more cars, the more potential for crashes.
Northern deficit
“I know y’all are trying to do what’s right for reliability across the system,” Commissioner Jimmy Glotfelty said. “The way that I think about this from a generator perspective … that when you put the limit on this line, you’re effectively limiting generation in the south’s ability to get to the market in the north.”
Rickerson said the issue comes from the fact there is not enough generation north of the pain point. Meanwhile, there’s sometimes a surplus of power at the opposite end — from CPS Energy or wind farms in Corpus Christi.
He said load growth — the actual amount of power needed — was much “more rapid and concentrated” in San Antonio, the whole of Central Texas, and Dallas than ERCOT anticipated.
“That made the situation worse,” Rickerson said.
Rapid increases in demand for power are being driven by the state’s population boom, hotter temperatures and business growth — including power-hungry data centers and crypto mines.
Another factor in ERCOT’s missed forecast: After 2018, some 6,400 megawatts of generation capacity in northern parts of the state was closed and retired — more than it had expected. In the same period, the southern part of the state rapidly added upward of 4,000 megawatts of wind and solar generation.
Solar, wind and battery storage systems can be constructed more quickly and at less expense than traditional gas-fired power plants. While the time it takes to get new power online has decreased, beefing up transmission lines to handle that power still takes between three and five years.
Reducing demand
In its memo to regulators, ERCOT outlined mitigation tactics such as demand-response programs that move demand off the system. Commissioners also encouraged research into how battery systems can be installed and their power strategically deployed to keep the existing lines’ balance in check.
ERCOT says it’s already creating tools to better predict the load growth and transmission needs so it doesn’t find itself in the same situation again.
“I think load is just continuing to grow and grow in South Texas and it won’t stop at the CPS Energy project,” said Commissioner Lori Cobos. “We must remain vigilant and diligent in identifying future transmission projects down there.”
Cobos said she also wanted to look more into the role crypto mining could be playing in the fast growth of loads and at measures the PUC can take to force them off the grid during critical periods. She pointed to 7,000 megawatts of demand from crypto mining in the Permian Basin alone as an example of its outsized impact.
And new incentives, such as the Texas Energy Fund’s new loan program that’s aiming to make it worthwhile for companies to build new gas-fired plants, should create more power generation in northern parts of the state, Cobos said.
ERCOT said it expects to have to actively limit the amount of power zipping across the current lines until the summer of 2027, when CPS’ improved $329 million transmission system is up and running. ERCOT and the PUC approved the project last year. CPS first proposed it in December 2022.
The project, spearheaded by San Antonio’s city-owned utility, is called the CPS Energy-San Antonio South Reliability Regional Planning Group Project. Its goal is to increase the amount of power that can be moved from South Texas, where CPS and other generators are regularly making excess power to sell onto the grid." SAEN
TX TRIB: “Associated Press, Texas Tribune to share select news content in new collaboration” Texas Tribune
AAS: “Texas AG Ken Paxton could see criminal charges dropped in deal with prosecutors” AAS
AAS: “Austin's light-rail planners reveal updated cost estimate, completion time” AAS
DMN: “Dallas' $1.25 billion bond program: City releases wish list of projects” DMN
THE HILL: “Texas Democrats see political opportunity in hardline immigration ban” The Hill
EXTRA POINTS
This weekend's Texas sports scores:
Fri
> NBA: Grizzlies 99, Spurs 97
> NCAAM: #1 Houston 86, #16 Longwood 46
> NCAAM: #3 Baylor 92, #14 Colgate 67
> NCAAM: #9 Texas A&M 98, #8 Nebraska 83 Bryan Eagle
> NCAAM: #8 Utah St. 88, #9 TCU 72 KSL
> NCAAW: #1 Texas 82, #16 Drexel 42 AAS
> NCAAW: #3 LSU 70, #14 Rice 60
> NCAAW: #5 Baylor 80, #12 Vanderbilt 63 DMN
> NCAAW: #6 Nebraska 61, #11 Texas A&M 59
> NHL: Stars 4, Penguins 2
Sat
> NBA: Rockets 147, Jazz 119 Hou Chron
> NBA: Suns 131, Spurs 106 SAEN
> NCAAM: #2 Tennessee 62, #7 Texas 58 AAS
> NCAAM: NIT: Seton Hall 72, North Texas 58
> NCAAW: #1 USC 87, #16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 55
> MLS: Houston 1, Colorado 0
> MLS: Orlando 2, Austin 0
Sun
> NCAAM: #1 Houston 100, #9 Texas A&M 95 (OT) AP
> NCAAM: #6 Clemson 72, #3 Baylor 64 Hou Chron
> NCAAW: #1 Texas 65, #8 Alabama 54 AAS
> NCAAW: NIT: Wyoming 80, UTSA 64 SAEN
> NCAAW: Mississippi St. 68, TCU 61
> NHL: Stars 4, Coyotes 2 Reuters
Tonight's Texas sports schedule:
> 6pm: NCAAM: CBI: Tarleton St. vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
> 7pm: NBA: Suns at Spurs
> 8pm: NBA: Mavericks at Jazz
DALLAS COWBOYS: “Dallas Cowboys' Jerry Jones 'firm' on Dak Prescott winning a Super Bowl" DMN
HOUSTON ROCKETS: “Houston Rockets: 8-game win streak a reminder to stay focused" Houston Chronicle