On Monday, ERCOT solicited proposals from power providers to add 3,000 megawatts to its operating reserves in case of winter demand increases.
Since a devastating storm in February 2021 left millions without power for days as ERCOT attempted to prevent a grid collapse after closing an unusually high amount of generation, the Texas grid has been anxious about extreme weather.
The Texas power grid operator said the request for proposals seeks dispatchable generation and demand response capacity for December 2023 through February 2024 due to peak load growth since last winter and dispatchable resource retirements.
“Dispatchable resources encompass nuclear, coal, gas, biomass and energy storage,” but not wind and solar, which cannot follow ERCOT directions, it stated via email.
According to ERCOT’s market notice, mothballed or decommissioned units could offer more than 10% “Incentive Factor that reflects the income the unit owner estimates would be necessary to bring the unit back to operation.” It found that a winter storm like December 2022’s Elliott would increase peak-demand hour energy emergency risk to approximately 20%, considerably above its 10% adequacy criterion.
Over 1.5 million homes and businesses lost electricity because to Elliott’s sub-freezing temperatures across two-thirds of the US.
President and CEO Pablo Vegas said, “ERCOT is not projecting energy emergency conditions this winter season, but we want to be prepared and ensure all relevant instruments are readily available if needed.”
During a terrible heat wave on Aug. 10, ERCOT, which serves over 26 million consumers, reached an all-time high peak demand of 85,435 MW.