The ERCOT Technical Advisory Committee canceled its Oct. 24 meeting, citing a lack of items to be considered this month. It’s the fourth TAC meeting to be canceled this year, and the third in five months. The TAC is scheduled to meet next on Nov. 29. A TAC meeting goes...

AUSTIN, Texas — ERCOT stakeholders last week granted Southern Cross Transmission’s (SCT) request to create a new market participant category for DC tie operators after months of inaction. The Technical Advisory Committee on Sept. 26 unanimously endorsed a Nodal Protocol revision request (NPRR857) and an accompanying change to the Nodal...

ERCOT stakeholders and staff last week discussed several alternatives to market price investigation announcements, following a July 20 market notice that raised anxiety levels during the height of the recent Texas heatwave. The grid operator sent the market notice following discovery of inaccurate definitions of two double-circuit contingencies in its...

AUSTIN, Texas — ERCOT’s legal department again delayed votes endorsing final changes to the grid operator’s bylaws and articles of incorporation, saying it needed additional time to evaluate a last-minute comment from Luminant. Assistant General Counsel Vickie Leady told the Technical Advisory Committee last week that legal staff would delay...

AUSTIN, Texas — ERCOT’s Technical Advisory Committee last week approved staff’s recommendation to remove reliability unit commitment (RUC) capacity from the grid operator’s operating reserve demand curve (ORDC), passing a revision request with minimal discussion. Technical Advisory Committee gathers for March meeting. | © RTO Insider Staff’s other binding document...

AUSTIN, Texas — ERCOT’s Technical Advisory Committee last week failed to reach agreement on how to classify Southern Cross Transmission (SCT) after debating the company’s bid to become the ISO’s first merchant DC tie operator. TAC representatives and members will again take up the discussion during its March meeting, as...

AUSTIN, Texas — ERCOT’s Technical Advisory Committee last week asked its Wholesale Market Subcommittee (WMS) to determine what went wrong during two recent market events. On Jan. 22, ERCOT disabled the 69-kV contingencies being solved by the day-ahead market (DAM) software, with the exception of a contingency included in a...

ERCOT’s Technical Advisory Committee endorsed two previously tabled nodal protocol revision requests (NPRRs) following lengthy discussions last week. NPRR815 increases from 50% to 60% the limit on load resources providing responsive reserve service (RRS) and requires them to provide at least 1,150 MW of primary frequency response (PFR). Changing the...

By Tom Kleckner ERCOT stakeholders unanimously endorsed almost $250 million in transmission projects during last week’s Technical Advisory Committee meeting, sending the package to the Board of Directors for its Dec. 12 meeting. The two projects will address “significant” industrial growth in the Freeport area, a seaport south of Houston...

ERCOT last week approved the shutdown of two plants, including Luminant’s coal-fired Monticello facility in East Texas, that will take nearly 2 GW of antiquated generation out of service. Staff approved Monticello’s retirement, effective Jan. 4, saying the plant is not necessary for reliability operations. The plants’ three units, dating...