Climate Changed
On the Brink of Blackouts, Texas Makes Case for New Plants
- Hot weather spikes signal state market to add new generation
- Power hit $9,000 ceiling on Tuesday, generators’ shares gained
Photographer: George Rose/Getty Images
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It may be time to start building power plants in Texas again.
The state’s generators made a killing this week as unrelenting heat sent electricity prices skyrocketing to unprecedented levels, briefly blowing past a $9,000 a megawatt-hour ceiling. That put producers more than three-quarters of the way toward profits that the state’s power market monitor says could touch off a power plant build-out. And the region’s only halfway into the cooling season.