Party at the Moon Tower

Iconic Austin moon tower returns to Zilker Park after restoration

The crowning jewel of Zilker Park has returned. Contractors with Austin Energy restored the park's moonlight tower to its full glory on August 31, following a months-long update.

After taking it down in April, Enertech Resources, LLC deep-cleaned each of the tower's individual parts and repaired anything that was amiss. The restoration includes new LED light bulbs that are brighter and more energy efficient, "saving approximately 131,400 kilowatt-hours annually, which is the equivalent of powering 11 average-sized homes year-round," Austin Energy said in a statement.

This isn't the only moonlight tower in Austin getting a makeover. In 2014, the city council approved the $2 million needed to restore each of the 17 towers peppered throughout town.

Originally purchased from the City of Detroit in the 1890s, these 165-foot-tall towers were installed to help keep Austin streets illuminated and keep residents safe. Austin is the only city in the country that still operates moonlight towers (or moon towers, as they're better known here).

Though the towers are no longer needed to help keep us safe, their silhouettes have been a constant presence on the city's landscape for more than a century. In 1970, they were proclaimed Texas State Landmarks and were recognized in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places six years later.

The Zilker moonlight tower will celebrate its 50th anniversary as the centerpiece of the massive Christmas tree at Trail of Lights.

The tower being installed on August 31.

Zilker Park moonlight tower moontower installation August 2016

Austin Energy/Facebook

The tower being installed on August 31.

parks

Who Has the Energy?

Austin City Council approves energy plan to go coal-free by 2035

Photo by Jeremy Doddridge on Unsplash

Austin Energy drafted a plan that the Austin City Council accepted unanimously.

Many are uncertain about the world's collective energy strategy, but the City of Austin has a game plan for the next 10 years. The City Council has unanimously adopted Austin Energy’s Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan to 2035.

According to a release from the city, this plan offers "a flexible path to a clean energy future that incorporates the community’s core values of reliability, affordability, environmental sustainability and energy equity."

Members of the public can review extensive documentation, including the 72-page report, at publicinput.com.

The plan authored by Austin Energy includes a number of strategies carried over from 2020. It includes a goal of going completely carbon-free by 2035 in favor of renewable sources like wind and solar; prioritizing solutions that directly impact the customer like better demand response, efficiency programs, solar options, and customer-installed battery storage; and reaching further into exploring more advanced systems like nuclear and geothermal tech or virtual power plants.

It also addresses the need for more responsive solutions during "extreme weather events," both in the heat and cold, which it proposes implementing locally. The lead meteorologist for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has predicted an overall warmer winter for 2025, but with greater chances of experiencing extreme cold — so this may be an increasingly pressing topic on Austinites' minds.

Despite a sweeping desire to enable more renewable resources, one of the local solutions would be allowing Austin Energy to add more, higher-efficiency natural gas peakers, which would have an emissions cap and only run as an emergency measure. A graph in the report shows that 50 percent of Austin Energy's 2023 generation was renewable, compared to 41 percent of ERCOT's.

"As renewable resources continue to increase in the ERCOT system, we’re seeing new operational challenges," the report explains. "One example is curtailment for these resources when too much power is produced and the system can’t handle it. This makes that resource less valuable to our customers. Local renewable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency and demand response investments avoid these challenges and will be especially important going forward."

“A big part of this plan is readying ourselves to get out of Fayette Power Project,” said Mayor Kirk Watson in the city release. “There must be replacement power to protect customers from energy shortfalls and additional energy market risks. For those who share the goal of getting out of coal, this plan is a step forward.”

Austin Energy created the plan with input from 7,512 customers, including 6,355 residential consumers. Their greatest concern was reliability, ranked as a No. 1 value by 38 percent of participants. There were also stakeholder workshops involving groups like the University of Texas at Austin, Austin ISD, H-E-B, Sierra Club, and Habitat for Humanity.

“We are extremely grateful to Austin City Council and our many community partners and industry experts who played a vital role in shaping Austin Energy’s future,” said Austin Energy general manager Bob Kahn. “We are confident that this plan provides the flexibility Austin Energy needs to meet the challenges ahead while reflecting the priorities of our community.”

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