Texas’s Plan to Avoid Deadly Blackouts Could Cost $18 Billion
- A previous estimate had pegged costs at nearly $11 billion
- Study provided by Texas agency LCRA estimates cost of plan
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A fleet of new natural gas-fired power plants in Texas may cost $18 billion, much more than an earlier estimate, as lawmakers attempt to improve the state’s electric grid after its deadly failure in 2021.
If implemented, the new plants — which would only be used in emergency situations — would be built in two phases over a decade given permitting and supply chain constraints, according to slides of a new study shared by the Lower Colorado River Authority. The potential cost risks derailing Republicans’ plans to overhaul a grid increasingly reliant on renewable energy with fossil fuel plants.