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.

Rising electricity demand is adding to seasonal reliability risks this winter as supply has not kept pace with consumption in many regions, NERC reported in its Winter Reliability Assessment.

ERCOT staff told Texas regulators they plan to file two urgent protocol changes with the Board of Directors in their latest push to design a new ancillary service that further strengthens the grid’s resource adequacy.

Texas regulators approved ERCOT’s methodologies for determining minimum ancillary services for 2026 while hinting at the same time that they are considering discontinuing the use of conservative operations.

Reports of the energy storage industry’s demise are greatly exaggerated, experts said during the American Clean Power Association’s annual Energy Storage Summit.

ERCOT can ensure long-term reliability with its energy-only market, but it must operate its grid less conservatively for that to happen, said Potomac Economics President David Patton.

ERCOT has told the Texas Public Utility Commission it has prioritized a project in 2026 to gather information from the more than 200 GW of large loads in the interconnection queue.

ERCOT's Technical Advisory Committee discussed the grid operator's approach to large loads, as staff said they are tracking over 200 GW in large-load interconnection requests.