Having finally added real-time co-optimization to the market like every other U.S. grid operator with an effort that began in 2019, ERCOT can turn its attention to other pressing issues.

The defining story of the coming year will be the widening chasm between electricity supply and demand, a dynamic driven by a slow-moving supply side, coupled with the explosive growth of energy-hungry data centers, says columnist Peter Kelly-Detwiler.

ERCOT proposed revisions to its large load interconnection process just days after a new rule established more rigorous criteria for connecting data centers, bitcoin miners and other power-hungry facilities to the grid.

The Texas Public Utility Commission has put out a proposed rule for public comment that would establish the fourth and final program under the Texas Energy Fund, a $1.8 billion backup power program.

Texas regulators have approved two more applications under the Texas Energy Fund’s completion-bonus program, making the generation resources eligible for more than $100 million in grants.

ERCOT’s Board of Directors has approved staff’s proposed 765-kV Eastern Backbone project and its $9.4 billion capital cost price tag, making it the most expensive project in the grid operator’s history.

Under a federal antitrust settlement, Calpine Corp. will divest ownership in several generation assets on the PJM and ERCOT grids as a condition for its acquisition by Constellation Energy.

ERCOT says it has successfully deployed Real-time Co-optimization + Batteries into the market, a mechanism used in most other RTOs and ISOs that procures energy and ancillary services in real time.

The Texas Public Utility Commission signed a sixth loan agreement through the Texas Energy Fund’s in-ERCOT loan program, up to $370 million for a new 455-MW gas-fired plant in the Houston area.

ERCOT stakeholders endorsed a 1,109-mile, single-circuit 765-kV backbone project that is projected to cost nearly $9.4 billion in capital costs, making it the largest initiative in decades.