Todd Kimbrough Shares Insights with Law360 on Potential Impact of Texas Heat Waves on Electric Grid

Todd Kimbrough, partner in the firm’s Austin office and member of the Energy Practice, was recently quoted in a Law360 article, published on July 14, 2022 regarding the impact electricity conservation will have on the grid amid record-breaking heat waves in Texas.

"A bad market design can be catastrophic," Todd said. "To the extent we're talking about the construction of new power plants and new transmission lines, those are long lead time projects. Whether you take an extra two or three months in the design of the market, it is not the biggest driver of what you're going to see in terms of infrastructure deployment and long-term build-out."

Todd noted that given the stakes, it's more important for regulators to get any overhaul of the state's power market right, even if they can't do it as fast as some might hope. 

Todd focuses his energy practice on regulatory and utility issues for participants in electricity and natural gas markets throughout the U.S. and internationally. He has been involved in the approval or development of more than $25 billion in electricity infrastructure improvements. Todd is well-versed in drafting and negotiating complex agreements for the construction and operation of power plants as well as purchased power agreements and other related transactions.

In addition to providing transactional and regulatory counsel, Todd actively participates in Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) stakeholder processes at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP). He has twice been elected to the Wholesale Market Subcommittee of ERCOT. He also has been elected to ERCOT's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and its Protocol Revisions Subcommittee (PRS).