Texas regulators agreed to let state lawmakers help them determine who will own energy storage devices in the ERCOT market.

The mothballing of a coal-fired plant has reduced ERCOT’s reserve margin of 8.1% to 7.4%, prodding the Texas PUC into ordering market changes.

The PUCT is asking legislators to help provide clarity on whether transmission and distribution utilities can own and operate energy storage devices.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) approved a certificate of convenience and necessity for CenterPoint’s proposed 345-kV project near Houston.

Texas PUC Chair DeAnn Walker urged ERCOT to gain a “better sense” of the distributed resources and self-generation that could be affecting its system.

Public Utility Commission of Texas Chair DeAnn Walker said she asked ERCOT, SPP and MISO to collaborate on their reliability coordination agreements.

Shelly Botkin, the Public Utility Commission of Texas' newest member, has hardly followed a conventional path to becoming a utility regulator.

ERCOT told the Public Utility Commission of Texas that it will produce “higher quality estimates” for CenterPoint Energy's proposed transmission project.

ERCOT market participants shared their thoughts with the PUCT on how to address the market’s lack of scarcity pricing and slim reserve margins.

The current ERCOT market design “will support more than sufficient reserve margins,” according to a draft report the grid operator filed with the Texas PUC.