Austin City Council has approved guidelines for how a new natural gas “peaker plant” will be built and operated. Council members say the rules will help reduce emissions and harmful local impacts from the facility, the future location and cost of which remains unknown. Gas peakers are natural gas power generators that can start up […]
Austin Energy
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Government
Austin City Council’s private vote on peaker units draws transparency backlash
When the Austin City Council approved Austin Energy’s plan to buy new natural gas “peaker” units last week, council members voted behind closed doors, an unusual move that sparked backlash from environmental advocates and government watchdogs who accused city leaders of shielding a controversial public decision from scrutiny. Because the city operates Austin Energy, state […]
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Growth & Development
Austin eyes crackdown on large data centers as water, power fears grow
As water and power hungry data centers swarm to Central Texas, Austin City Council members ask whether data centers should be allowed in Austin and, if so, under what circumstances.
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Government
Austin weighs controversial $1 billion natural gas-powered peaker proposal amid climate backlash
Austin leaders are set to vote on a controversial $1 billion natural gas peaker plan Austin Energy says is needed to prevent outages and price spikes.
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Government
Austin Energy quadruples shutoffs for nonpayment as the city gets hotter
As Austin keeps getting hotter, Austin Energy shutoffs for nonpayment have increased by more than four-fold over the last four years. Data from the publicly owned utility shows shutoffs skyrocketed from 7,777 in 2022 to more than 35,000 last year. But the increase in shutoffs comes as the utility has made big strides helping struggling […]
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Growth & Development
Austin weighs AI growth against power grid limits as data center demand surges
The water and energy demands of data centers are forcing a reckoning in Central Texas