Policy Advisor, Infrastructure and Natural Resources
Alex Rose works on Texas 2036's policy area for infrastructure and natural resources, which includes water, energy, and infrastructure resilience. She is proud to contribute to data-driven policy work that improves lives and expands opportunities for all Texans.
On July 22, 2026, Texas set a new peak electricity demand record of 91,134 MW on the ERCOT grid, surpassing the previous record of 85,464 MW set in 2023. But Texas’ electricity demand didn’t just rise above the previous record once on one day; rather, Texas’ electricity load ran above the 2023 record in 187…
The General Appropriations Act is the most consequential bill the Legislature passes each session. The state budget funds the programs state agencies run and the resources they need to carry out laws passed in earlier sessions. Last month, Texas 2036 testified at the Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) hearings for five of Texas’ key infrastructure and…
Texas’ residential electricity prices have increased by more than 50% in the past 15 years, and voters have noticed. In Texas 2036’s 10th annual Texas Voter Poll, 82% said they’re more likely to back a candidate who prioritizes lowering their electricity bill. But when forced to name the most important electricity issue, voters didn’t choose…
No energy resource in Texas is growing faster than battery energy storage systems (BESS). VC-funded startups are surging here, there, and everywhere to build the industry. A search for “battery storage” returns thousands of recent headlines. But quantifying the actual utility-scale power available from batteries right now takes a bit more legwork. To quantify utility-scale…
Around the turn of this century, a small solar array sat to the side of the Decker Creek Power Plant in northeast Austin with the capacity to generate 0.3 megawatts (MW) of solar power. This capacity represented a fraction of the nearly two million megawatt-hours (MWh) generated annually with natural gas across the property. And…
Nuclear fission — the splitting of atoms to release heat and drive a chain reaction — is as fascinating as it is powerful. Today, nuclear power plants provide 20% of total U.S. electricity. Nuclear power continues to play a critical role in Texas’ “all of the above and below” energy portfolio, supplying nearly a tenth…