The Texas Reliability Entity highlighted its involvement in a joint NERC–FERC inquiry into the February winter storm that nearly collapsed the ERCOT grid but warned its Board of Directors that next year could be more challenging.
“Still, there’s so much to do to ensure such an event never happens again,” Board Chair Milton Lee said. “We must hold ourselves accountable to develop future strategies, implement them, and ensure we monitor and update them for future improvements.”
NERC and FERC released their joint report in November, highlighting the failure of electric and gas utilities to adequately prepare for Winter Storm Uri’s frigid temperatures. The event caused more than 23 GW of manual firm load shed as generators and their supply lines froze. (See FERC, NERC Release Final Texas Storm Report.)
Texas RE staff were among the nearly 50 subject matter experts who helped prepare the report. Their final report included 28 recommendations that covered both industries and went beyond NERC reliability standards revisions to address cold weather, which were approved in August 2021.
“This report recognizes that folks at the RTO and ISO level coordinated very well and made the best of the situation by bringing in [power] supplies from their neighbors,” said Mark Henry, Texas RE’s director of reliability services and registration.
Henry said the RE staff’s next task is a deeper dive into the unavailability of ERCOT’s black start units during Winter Storm Uri.
The board approved the Nominating Committee’s recommendation that Lee again serve as its chair in 2022 and that Crystal Ashby serve as vice-chair.
The directors also approved Joseph Younger’s selection as Texas RE’s COO.
The Member Representatives Committee met before the board meeting and approved a work plan for NERC Project SAR-012: Revisions to the Standards Development Process. The work plan lays out the steps for revising a Regional Standard in accordance with Texas RE’s standards development process document.
Annual Membership Meeting
Texas RE CEO Jim Albright said staff is “leaning in” to a NERC audit next year, the result of a FERC order that applies to all six regional entities.
“We’re ready to show our work and be involved,” he said during the organization’s short annual membership meeting.
Albright said staff’s full return to the workplace is still “in flux,” given the coronavirus’ stubborn presence and the mutating variants. A target date has been set for Jan. 10, but staff will be limited to two days a week.
“We’ll be very cautious about bringing employees back to the office,” he said.
Resuming onsite stakeholder engagement will be a “challenge,” Albright said. He said the organization will focus on “comprehensively engaging” with stakeholders on all extreme events, not just those related to the winter.
Staff said Texas RE’s membership re-elected Lee to serve another three-year term as independent director. Lee’s term will expire Dec. 31, 2024.
The membership also elected three new MRC members: Acciona Energy USA Global’s George Brown and Vistra’s Kristopher Butler as the generation sector’s representatives, and Denton Municipal Electric’s Cameron Molsbee as the municipal alternate.
Lee honored Oncor Electric’s Liz Jones for her service as the MRC’s vice chair. Jones remains on the committee, which will elect its 2022 chair and vice-chair in January.
Texas RE added six new members in 2021, pushing its membership roll to 116. Five of those new members were in the generation sector, thanks to the continued growth of the state’s renewable energy.
