Texas Grid Prepared for Winter’s First Frigid Blast
ERCOT on Friday issued an operating condition notice to the system’s generators in advance of a polar blast that will drop temperatures below freezing next weekend.
The procedural notice alerts the grid operator’s market participants that temperatures will be 25 degrees Fahrenheit or lower in the Dallas and San Antonio metro areas from this Thursday through Dec. 26. It is the lowest of ERCOT’s four emergency-level communications.
ERCOT on Saturday projected demand to peak at 69.7 GW at 10 a.m. on Dec. 23, more than 2 GW more than its forecasted winter peak of 67.4 GW in its seasonal assessment released in November. (See ERCOT Says ‘Sufficient’ Capacity to Meet Winter Demand.)
“As we monitor weather conditions, we want to assure Texans that the grid is resilient and reliable,” ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas said in a press release. “We will keep the public informed as weather conditions change throughout the coming week.”
Meteorologists have said the cold weather could threaten regional records that date back to 1983 but won’t be as bad as the deadly 2021 winter storm that almost brought down the ERCOT grid.
“The duration of this cold, the lack of snow and ice, and the intensity of the cold statewide will still lag February 2021, so at this point, we’ll take ERCOT at their word that grid conditions should be manageable,” Space City Weather meteorologist Matt Lanza said.
The Texas grid operator said it has sufficient generation to meet the forecasted demand and will continue to provide updates. The primary concern remains natural gas production, where wellheads can freeze and pipelines lose pressure. It was the lack of supplies from the gas fields that led to much of the generation problems during the 2021 storm.
ERCOT has increased weatherization requirements and improved coordination with the gas industry since the storm.
Fuel Mix Dashboard Added to Website
The grid operator has unveiled a new fuel mix dashboard on its website that provides a real-time view of energy generation by resource type.
ERCOT has added a real-time fuel mix dashboard to its website. | ERCOT
The dashboard offers several views of energy generation. The real-time view shows the current percentages of energy generated by resource type, with current and previous day options that can be displayed in a stack view or a line chart.
The fuel mix includes “power storage” as the output from energy storage resources when they are discharging power. Under current market rules, power consumed by storage resources when they charge is included in system load.
Dan Woodfin, vice president of system operations, said the dashboard is the “latest in a series of improvements to increase public visibility” into ERCOT.
The dashboard is accessible from the Grid and Market Conditions page on ERCOT’s website.
Brazos Repays Market $1.15B
ERCOT will begin distributing holiday gifts to market participants this Tuesday after an initial payment of $1.15 billion from Brazos Electric Power Cooperative last week. The cooperative declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy following 2021’s disastrous winter storm and only recently had a reorganization plan approved by a federal bankruptcy plan. (See Bankruptcy Judge Approves ERCOT-Brazos Settlement.)
Under the terms of a settlement agreement between ERCOT and Brazos, the cooperative will eventually pay the grid operator $1.4 billion to resolve its short pay to the market. The $1.15 billion Brazos sent to ERCOT on Thursday will be followed by 12 annual payments of $13.8 million.
In a market notice, staff told market participants the first payment will fully replenish $599.7 million for congestion revenue rights funds that they used to reduce the market shortfall, attributable to Brazos’ short-pay, immediately following the winter storm. The funds will also be used to pay eligible market participants for their allocable portion of the Brazos short-pay claim.
The timing and amount of payments to eligible market participants will be determined by the payment option they elected or were assigned.
