Council's big energy vote
How green can our utility go?
City Council has a big vote tomorrow that will shape the future of Austin Energy, the city-owned utility that powers every home and business in the city.
At issue is the Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan, which commits the utility to a variety of goals on everything from pricing to carbon reduction.
Council will almost certainly adopt a version of the plan. It's just a question of what's in it.
The utility says that it remains committed to being carbon-free by 2035 and to eventually shutter its existing coal and gas-burning plants. However, it insists that in the short-term it needs to add some more natural gas "peakers" –– small generators that will only be used when energy demands are very high, such as when temperatures are very high or very low.
Environmental advocates have denounced the addition of peakers as a betrayal of the city's climate goals and accuse the utility of not exploring green generation alternatives.
