Anette On Education

Energy Grids and Texas--David Hudson, CEO Xcel Energy NM/TX

Episode Summary

Anette visits with her friend, David Hudson, President of Xcel Energy – New Mexico and Texas, about the Texas energy grid, how the Texas Panhandle is different from most of the rest of Texas, and what happens during severe weather events. Much of the discussion talks about the interconnectedness of natural gas supplies and electrical output, as well as how ERCOT, or the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, operates differently than our grid up in the Panhandle. During the severe February freeze of 2021, the top of Texas avoided many of the outages faced by many of Anette's friends across the state. David also served at president of Panhandle Twenty/20. David Hudson became president of Xcel Energy’s New Mexico and Texas Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS) operations Jan. 1, 2014.  SPS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xcel Energy Inc. and a member of the Southwest Power Pool, a regional transmission organization. SPS supplies retail electric utility services to 400,000 customers in eastern New Mexico and West Texas, in addition to wholesale power and interstate transmission services. The company owns and maintains over 7,700 miles of transmission and more than 16,000 miles of distribution lines in the region spanning southwestern Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle, the Texas Panhandle and South Plains, and east and southeast New Mexico. It owns and maintains 500 substations and eight power generating plants, totaling just over 4,900 megawatts of generation capacity.  SPS recently placed into service two large wind projects including the 478 MW Hale Wind Project south of Plainview, TX, and the 522 MW Sagamore Wind Project south of Portales, NM. Hudson is on the board of and previously served as president of the United Way of Amarillo & Canyon. Hudson also serves on the board of directors for the Boy Scouts of America’s Golden Spread Council and the board of directors for the West Texas A&M University Foundation. Hudson earned a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from Texas Tech University, and a Master of Business Administration from West Texas A&M University.  He is a licensed professional engineer by the state of Texas. He is also a registered Texas high school football official.

Episode Notes

Anette visits with her friend, David Hudson, President of Xcel Energy – New Mexico and Texas, about the Texas energy grid, how the Texas Panhandle is different from most of the rest of Texas, and what happens during severe weather events. Much of the discussion talks about the interconnectedness of natural gas supplies and electrical output, as well as how ERCOT, or the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, operates differently than our grid up in the Panhandle. During the severe February freeze of 2021, the top of Texas avoided many of the outages faced by many of Anette's friends across the state. David also served at president of Panhandle Twenty/20.

David Hudson became president of Xcel Energy’s New Mexico and Texas Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS) operations Jan. 1, 2014.  SPS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xcel Energy Inc. and a member of the Southwest Power Pool, a regional transmission organization. SPS supplies retail electric utility services to 400,000 customers in eastern New Mexico and West Texas, in addition to wholesale power and interstate transmission services. 

The company owns and maintains over 7,700 miles of transmission and more than 16,000 miles of distribution lines in the region spanning southwestern Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle, the Texas Panhandle and South Plains, and east and southeast New Mexico. It owns and maintains 500 substations and eight power generating plants, totaling just over 4,900 megawatts of generation capacity.  SPS recently placed into service two large wind projects including the 478 MW Hale Wind Project south of Plainview, TX, and the 522 MW Sagamore Wind Project south of Portales, NM.

Hudson is on the board of and previously served as president of the United Way of Amarillo & Canyon. Hudson also serves on the board of directors for the Boy Scouts of America’s Golden Spread Council and the board of directors for the West Texas A&M University Foundation.

Hudson earned a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from Texas Tech University, and a Master of Business Administration from West Texas A&M University.  He is a licensed professional engineer by the state of Texas. He is also a registered Texas high school football official.