ERCOT’s Technical Advisory Committee last week followed direction from the Board of Directors as it discussed proposed revisions to its membership qualifications and ways to accelerate the revision request process during its annual procedural and organizational review.

Acting at the behest of the board’s new Reliability and Markets (R&M) Committee, TAC’s members expanded a requirement that they have a combined five years of industry experience in regulatory, markets, operations and/or finance to include plant operations and energy procurement.

They agreed with a requirement that employers or sponsors certify that TAC members are authorized to make segmental decisions. A certification form has yet to be developed.

“The R&M wants people sitting on TAC to be qualified,” TAC Chair Clif Lange, with South Texas Electric Cooperative, said during the Sept. 12 virtual meeting.

Representatives from the Office of Public Utility Counsel and the residential consumer segment are exempt from the requirements.

Lange and Vice Chair Bob Helton, with ENGIE North America, also discussed a proposed “shot clock” for revision requests “languishing in the process” that would speed up their movement. The shot clock would be used for existing requests the Public Utility Commission has “explicitly stated” they would like moved forward. However, it can’t be used when an RR is first introduced at TAC’s Protocol Revision Subcommittee; urgent status is used in that instance.

The committee’s leadership is suggesting its procedures be amended so that a decisive vote must be taken at TAC or one of its subcommittees if requested by the RR’s sponsor or ERCOT. Failed votes would still be appealable through the normal appeals process.

Lange said the proposal was brought in August to the R&M, which approved of the direction.

“There are some details to work out,” he said. “This creates potentially a very clean way to move things forward without developing an alternative process.”

The Sierra Club’s Cyrus Reed, who does not sit on TAC, raised a concern over whether the revised process would violate administrative procedures rule. Staff pointed out that any proposals would have to go through the stakeholder approval process, allowing for further discussion then.

Lange and Helton told members that TAC will continue to report to the board its activities and decisions. The committee’s leadership will meet with the full R&M Committee to provide background on its decisions and counter positions. The board’s committees meet the day before full board meetings.

TAC’s membership will return with feedback on the proposals during its regular monthly meeting Sept. 28.

TAC Passes on Bylaw Changes

The committee also delayed discussion of proposed amendments to ERCOT’s bylaws until its Sept. 28 meeting.

The proposed changes, drafted at the board’s direction, would no longer require members’ approval of bylaw amendments. It would require that members be provided notice and the chance to comment on any proposed amendments or other “fundamental actions.”

Other changes would expand the directors’ ability to participate and vote by teleconference or similar means when an in-person quorum is achieved for their meetings.

Members have until Sept. 30 to comment on the revisions. The board plans to discuss the amendments when it next meets on Oct. 17-18.

The changes are a result of legislation passed last year after the February 2021 winter storm that shifted authority from market participants to the independent board.

ERCOT distributed a market notice with the proposed changes just before the close of business on Sept. 9, a Friday.