Texas would be 'crazy to penalize renewables,' CPS Energy CEO Rudy Garza says

Rudy Garza, CEO of CPS Energy, the nation's largest integrated municipal power and gas utility, doesn't mince words when it comes to the effort by some policymakers in Texas to punish renewables for the broad failures during Winter Storm Uri. Garza became CEO a little over a year ago but has deep experience in Texas energy. And as one of the largest generators and customers in ERCOT, CPS Energy has a unique position in the market. Garza, while recognizing the need for more dispatchable resources in the ERCOT market, opposes efforts to penalize renewables, a current legislative focus. "I think it’s crazy to penalize renewables. We need every megawatt on the system that we can get our hands on," Garza said on Episode 8 of the Texas Power Podcast.If you like the Texas Power Podcast, please leave a rating and review!The Texas Power Podcast is a production of Renewable Energy World and Clarion Energy. Check out our podcast for the solar industry, Factor This!You can connect with Texas Power Podcast host Doug Lewin on Twitter and LinkedIn.  TIMESTAMPS2:16 - About Rudy Garza4:29 - About CPS8:03 - Winter Storm Uri 11:12 - Rotating outages15:56 - Market redesign proposals in the legislature18:23 - Attempts to penalize renewables 20:35 - Closing coal units and diversification of energy sources at CPS23:56 - Battery storage25:23 - Deliverability issues with natural gas28:46 - Energy efficiency, virtual power plants, demand response35:20 - Impact of the Inflation Reduction Act, including direct pay for municipal utilities like CPS42:18 - Large scale storage, including CPS’ pumped hydro storage pilot44:58 - Distributed storage47:20 - How CPS empowers customer to reduce costs and increase efficiency51:45 - CPS’s future52:44 - EVs