Austin Energy’s Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan

[Ryan Alter]

Colleagues,
The generation plan is a decision point with potentially the greatest impact on climate change of any policy we will consider as a Council. The goals and guidance set forth in this document will directly impact the quality of life for Austin residents today, tomorrow, and for generations to come. We want to first and foremost recognize the work done by our staff at Austin Energy assembling this plan, which balances a wide range of utility considerations. We also want to acknowledge CM Alison Alter who kicked off this process to update and improve our existing generation plan. After reviewing the current draft plan, we believe there are a few areas where our community goals need further safeguards. To that end, please see our proposed amendment, below.

http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 101746.pdf

This amendment builds upon the existing draft by:

1. Maintaining our carbon-free goals of 93% by 2030 and 100% by 2035.
2. Shifting to innovative emissions-based goals, instead of just those that are measured in energy outputs.
3. Recognizing the need for additional generation and advancing our local solar, battery and storage efforts, while allowing for AE to perform a feasibility analysis of alternative generation options, but requiring a thorough review and approval before proceeding further.
4. Preserving the Council’s ability to make real choices when making important decisions by requiring any carbon-emitting proposals to be accompanied by carbon-free ones. That way, the Council can make an informed decision based on the tradeoffs involved between the various options.
5. Calling for overdue investments in communities that have been the most impacted by these decisions.
6. Establishing regular and clear reporting guidelines to the Council.
7. Advancing our community’s commitment to our workers by prioritizing fair labor practices and union labor.

It is our hope that these are ideas we can all support. We welcome any feedback/suggestions to this draft and look forward to discussing it at tomorrow’s work session.

Sincerely,
CM Ryan Alter
CM Alison Alter
CM Vela
CM Fuentes