Austin Energy has new 10-year climate plan

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin Energy has a new 10-year plan for climate protection. 

Earlier this month, City Council approved the "Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan to 2035." 

As Austin continues to grow, so does its demand for energy. The 10-year plan addresses how to meet that demand while being environmentally conscious and keeping prices down. 

"Those energy demands are only going to increase as we continue to see new industries come online with AI and data mining and those kinds of things," Matt Mitchell with Austin Energy said. "It's really important that we have all the tools in the tool kit to adjust to whatever those changing conditions are."

The plan recommits to the city's goal of being 100 percent carbon-free by 2035. Right now, it's about 70 percent. 

The city also plans to move away from coal power generation at the Fayette Power Project. 

In 2025, Austin Energy will launch new programs incentivizing residents and businesses to use solar energy. Plus, the utility is looking at industrial-scale battery storage. 

"That's the first goal is to roll out those programs so that we're generating more local energy here in our service territory and also doing it as cleanly as possible," Mitchell said. 

The plan was unanimously approved by the Council after several amendments. 

"How can we meet the carbon-free goals when building more new gas peaker plants?" one public commenter said. 

City Council will have to approve new natural gas units, which only run when absolutely needed. 

"As we strive for reliability, affordability, sustainability, and equity, the tradeoffs are real. We confront complicated interdependencies and implementation difficulties with every decision," Alison Alter, district 10 council member, said.

"We have to make sure that we're generating power in our load zone, whether by solar or batteries or natural gas peaker units, whatever it may be, to make sure that we're doing everything we can to keep our local grid reliable," Mitchell said. 

With colder months right around the corner, Austin Energy says they prepare for extreme weather year-round. A big part is weatherizing power plants. 

"Every time we have an inclement weather event, we learn from that," Mitchell said.