Wake Up All
*
Last week, the major renewable energy groups that have brought Texas to be the leading renewable energy state in the country (yes I said Texas...RED Texas) had a luncheon in the Special Events Room at the Austin Public Library.
The relatively new Library just off Cesar Chavez is worth a visit and the events room can hold several hundred folks handily. The occasion was the 40th anniversary and formal recognition of the merger of the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association and Clean Texas. Given that it actually happened during the first days of Covid in the spring of 2020, there was not much fanfare for the merger.
Since the mid 80s, TREIA had been the leading proponent of Renewable Energy Policy in the State. Back then, Texas was just turning red, but not the kind of angry RED we have today. Consequently, with an original push given by Governor Richards, we found open doors for making Texas an Energy state that included all forms of energy. Those doors remained open even as we transitioned into the administrations of Governor Bush and Governor Perry.
Consequently, the Renewable Energy Industry was able to make the argument that wind and solar fields from far west Texas should be connected to the Urban Centers in the center of the state, just like we built Farm to Market roads to bring farm products to market almost 100 years ago. These electric transmission lines were called CREZ lines and their creation and funding was a critical element of the Texas plan. And that Texas plan came out of a series of reports that were created by the Sustainable Energy Development Council. These reports dealt with energy in all the demand sectors and it estimated the amount of efficiency that could be mined as a result of smart energy management.
Now, Texas has over 50 GWs of Wind, 30 something GWs of Utility Solar, and almost 15 GWs of stationary storage. This on a 90 GW peak load grid called ERCOT. Among the greatest achievements TREIA helped craft was an energy only-market and postage stamp wheeling rates. That was what our producers needed to become highly competitive in the newly deregulated market and in the Nodal Market that would emerge.
Having been appointed to several state wide positions by Governors Richards and Bush, I was in the thick of all this. Plus, I was also President or on the Executive Committee of TREIA for many of those critical years. And I was a Co-Founder with Russel Smith.
So the planners of the event honored me with a Visionary Founder Award. And here are my short acceptance remarks:
40th Anniversary Award Remarks, September 23rd, 2025
Thank you…thank you. Thank you Raina, Lenae, Melissa, Hala,
And all of you.
Awards like this are truly special and they are so appreciated. But in many ways, they are also misleading and even a little bit hard on some. The good work we did 40 years ago was accomplished by more than just a handful of dedicated people.
Even though Margaret Meade said:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
It was almost 200 people who met at the Crest Inn in 1985 to start TREIA. It was exciting and there was so much future in front of us.
Surely some are here in this room today. (around 30 folks arise and are recognized)
But even though we are gathered to honor the past, We need to use this time to contemplate the future. For the future of our Industry faces uncertainty today,
Just like it did 40 years ago.
And some of the predictions are pretty dire.
But some of them are not.
Here’s what the Sept 25 EIA ( Energy Information Administration) Report predicts:
We expect that total U.S. generation by the electric power sector will grow by 2.3% in 2025 and a further 3.0% next year.
These growth rates are higher than expected at the beginning of the year when we forecast U.S. electricity generation would grow by an average of 1.5% each year. The higher growth in generation reflects colder-than-expected weather earlier in 2025 along with the incorporation of load growth assessments by grid operators in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and PJM systems.
Increasing electricity demand is being met by higher generation from most energy sources in 2025. We expect that utility-scale solar will grow the most, generating 33%, or 72 billion kilowatthours more electricity this year compared with 2024.
New solar projects account for more than half of the new generating capacity expected to come online this year.
We expect wind will generate 4% more electricity in 2025 than it did in 2024, while we expect hydropower generation will grow by 2%.
We forecast that natural gas-fired power plants will generate 3% (61 BkWh) less electricity in 2025 than last year. In some regions, such as Texas and the Midwest, increasing generation from solar is also displacing some natural gas-fired generation.
Between now and 2026, the Short Term Outlook predicts that Gas will drop from 42 to 40 % of total generation, Renewables will grow from 25% to 26%, nuclear remains flat at 18%, and coal still dropping falls to 16%.
We expect that total U.S. generation by the electric power sector will grow by 2.3% in 2025 and a further 3.0% next year. We expect that solar power will supply the largest share of the increase in both years.
They see GDP going up over 2% and WTI going down into the 50’s.
In closing I want to point out that some of us old die-hards have created the Historical Foundation for Texas Renewable Energy, also known as the Renewable Foundation, and we are archiving the 40 Years of work that got us where we are today. Go to the website and go back to the Newsletters in 92 when we got our first PUC Commissioner appointed, when the Utilities joined our ranks, and how we used the Governors STEPP project to create the policy that brought us an energy only market and the CREZ.
We’ve come a long way here in Texas. We’ve got 40 GWs of Wind and 32 GWSs of Solar, and 14 GWs of Storage on a 100 GW system.
If we work together we can stand tomorrow’s bad weather, because we know the climate is in our favor.
But I think we need to tell our story better. Most do not recognize the sizable contribution of clean energy to their lives. We need to fix that through organizations like this and other communication strategies.
People need to know.
Thank you once again for this honor.
And now, allow me to do the honors and introduce Russel Smith, the Executive Director of TREIA for 3 decades."
Yes, the Rs at the Texas State Capitol, and Drumph in DC are doing their best to slow this train down. But the tracks are laid and the rest of the World knows that our current leadership is an embarrassment in this critical time of Climate Stabilization.
His speech at the UN on Tuesday, the same day that I received my award will go down in History as colossal quackery
But Hitler was an embarrassment until he proved that he was actually a menace.
And this Tuesday's likely government shutdown may prove to be more memorable than others.
But as Yogi Berra said:
It's hard to Predict,
Especially if your talking about the Future.
For we are in the hands of a foolish and cruel regime.
I hope we Wake Up soon.
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