Uncover the strategic investments Entergy Texas is making to enhance reliability and resilience
When Energy, Oil & Gas last spoke with Eliecer Viamontes, President and CEO of Entergy Texas, the company was providing resilience in the face of adversity following the state’s extreme weather events. Sitting down with Eliecer just over one year later, we find ourselves in the immediate aftermath of Category 1 Hurricane Beryl, which knocked out power to approximately 252,460 Entergy Texas customers on July 8. The storm brought heavy rain, max winds of up to 97 miles per hour (mph), and a tornado to the Entergy Texas service area. A workforce of more than 2500 went to work in the field and behind the scenes to make repairs and turn the lights back on for communities hit hardest by the storm.
“Our customers and communities have been patient with us, and we thank them for their immense support as we worked around the clock to restore their power,” Eliecer begins.
Entergy Texas also supported these communities by donating $125,000 to the American Red Cross for Beryl relief. Red Cross volunteers have been working very closely with the entire response community – government agencies, other non-profit groups, faith-based organizations, area businesses and others – to coordinate emergency relief efforts and get help to people as quickly as possible.
Just eight days after the devastation wrought by Beryl (damage to 806 poles, 400 transformers, 979 crossarms, and approximately 150 miles of downed wire) Entergy Texas had restored power to nearly all impacted customers who could safely take power.
“Texans are tough, and we will continue to make the necessary investments to ensure our grid is as strong as the people in our communities,” adds Eliecer.
The Beryl response from Entergy Texas goes a long way to illustrating the hard work, culture and dedication that extends throughout the business. Eliecer goes on to reveal more details about the latest developments, investments, and new power stations that are dominating operations.
For those not aware, Entergy Texas differs from the state’s typical electric utility operators. “Whereas around 90 percent of Texas sits in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Entergy Texas falls in the remaining ten percent of companies outside of the ERCOT,” Eliecer begins. “We’re a vertically integrated organization overseeing the generation, transmission, distribution, and service of power for more than 512,000 customers across Southeast Texas, which is different from most utility companies in the state.
“Since we own and operate generation facilities, we have invested significantly in generation across the region. We built the Montgomery County Power Station, a 993-megawatt power station, for instance, which began commercial operation in 2021. Although, of course, we didn’t have the foresight to predict winter Storm Uri, the power station began operating just one month before the storm hit. Through advanced planning and execution, we were able to get the plant online sooner than expected and we were proud to provide a much-needed material benefit, power, to our customers during the extreme event.
“We also have a second plant under construction, the Orange County Advanced Power Station,” he adds. “This is a combined Natural gas plant with around 1200 megawatts of power, located in one of the fastest growing areas in the county in terms of industrial projects like LNG, ammonia, and hydrogen projects. Construction is well underway, and we expect the plant to be commercially operational by mid-2026.”
However, with the population of Texas projected to reach 40 million by 2050, continued investment is crucial. The anticipated surge in energy consumption requires the Southeast Texas power grid to have an additional 1600 MW of generation capacity by 2028, which is approximately 40 percent of Entergy Texas’ current generation capacity. “There’s exponential growth happening across Texas with an estimated 1000 people moving to the state on a daily basis,” Eliecer elaborates. “Our investments over the last three years are still not enough to support the extraordinary growth we’re seeing in Southeast Texas. The demand for electricity is still surging, especially with economic growth and accelerated electrification.
Reliability and affordability
“Electric utilities need to stay one step ahead of this anticipated growth. That’s why we recently unveiled our six-step strategic plan, STEP Ahead, which stands for Southeast Texas Energy Plan. Firstly, we want to maintain affordable rates. Based on US Department of Energy EIA public data, our average residential rates are 18 percent below the national average and eight percent lower than average residential rates in Texas. With continuous investment, we hope to continue providing residential rates that are at or below the national average.
“Our second objective is to immediately build more power generation, which links to our third goal, to achieve 24/7, dispatchable generation. The fourth step is to adopt an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach, inclusive of renewables, to ensure a diverse portfolio of power generation resources. Our fifth goal is upgrading transmission infrastructure and installing additional lines where routing power is most needed. Lastly, as cases of extreme weather events continue to rise, we’re striving to strengthen the power grid and reduce the duration of weather-related outages and restoration costs with a resiliency plan that was filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUCT) in June.
“We have made several filings with the PUCT over the last few months,” Eliecer adds. “In line with our ambition for immediate additional power generation, we announced two new natural gas plants in Southeast Texas: the Legend Power Station and the Lone Star Power Station. Together, the plants will boast around 1200 megawatts of power and generate $2.8 billion in economic development.
“With this plan, we hope to retain the state’s position as an energy leader in the country and around the world, and we’ve spoken with Texas leadership to gain
support for these much-needed resources. We’re not the only company embarking on this journey and it’s not something we’re doing to benefit ourselves; instead, we must come together to secure our future power needs for the coming years.”
The company’s STEP Ahead plan outlines ambitious targets for the state that not only encompass energy generation, but also reliability and affordability. However, these aspects are not the only things Entergy Texas considers when planning an investment. “When it comes to our investments, we’re passionate about local and diverse spending to ensure that each has a meaningful long-term impact,” Eliecer says. “It’s not only important for us to provide power for industrial projects, which create jobs and fuel economic growth, but we can also provide direct employment at our plants, as well as indirect employment during construction.
“We’ve also emphasized sustainability during the design and planning stages of the plants. Greater Houston and Southeast Texas are one of few high velocity hubs designated by the federal government and with existing infrastructure pipelines and projects looking to increase hydrogen production, we are planning to install a turbine at the Lone Star Power Station that will be enabled for hydrogen coal firing. This is a strategic, long-term investment in technology that will allow us to make the transition from natural gas to hydrogen as the hydrogen market continues to grow.
“The Legend Power Station, on the other hand, is a combined cycle plant that will be enabled for both hydrogen coal firing and carbon capture capabilities,” he continues. “From a technical standpoint, we have geological advantages in this region in terms of being able to sequester carbon. To be clear, we’re pursuing carbon capture technologies to ensure reliability for our customers and as a complement to renewable investments. We maintain a diverse portfolio that includes natural gas to address our customers’ concerns over intermittency and reliability.”
Resiliency investments
The latest investments from Entergy Texas, along with its STEP Ahead plan, are addressing all elements of the energy trilemma. “Reliable routing transmission is another problem; we can build several plants, but we must have a robust network to distribute and deliver power,” Eliecer states. “Over the last decade, we’ve built around six major transmission lines, and we plan to file for a further five or six lines over the next 12 months to interconnect the generation resources across our territory.
“As a coastal electric utility, we are prone to tropical storms and hurricanes, and we’re experiencing such events much more frequently. We’re striving to strengthen the grid against extreme weather, and the recent Texas Resiliency Act signed by Governor Abbott recognizes the powerful role utilities companies have in making the necessary investments to reduce the impact of these events.
“We continuously work to mitigate the associated risks for both our customers and the entire company, and we’re working on a long-term plan to modernize and stabilize the grid, starting with the most prone circuits in our territory,” he explains. “Modernizing the grid is not something that happens overnight; it needs a multi-year approach with steady investment. Our accelerated Resiliency Plan reflects that we’ve been making resiliency investments for some time, but the pace at which we need to work must increase again to reflect the realities of today’s frequency and severity levels.”
With an ambitious plan in place, Entergy Texas will continue to meet the growing energy needs of expanding communities with a particular focus on affordability, reliability and resiliency. “The people of Entergy Texas are about to embark on one of the most challenging periods in our careers,” Eliecer concludes. “We’re on a fulfilling journey in a position that is critical to society, and with our hardworking team and expert vendors, we’re implementing effective strategies that deliver results for our customers.”