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The
Texas grid has been concerned about extreme weather since a
deadly storm in February 2021 left millions without power for
days as ERCOT struggled to prevent a grid collapse after the
closure of an unusually large amount of generation.
The request for proposals seeks capacity from both dispatchable
generation and demand response solutions to cover the period of
December 2023 through February 2024, the Texas power grid
operator said, citing the significant peak load growth since
last winter and retirements of dispatchable resources.
"Dispatchable resources comprise nuclear, coal, gas, biomass and
energy storage," but not wind and solar, which cannot control
output based on ERCOT instructions, it said in an emailed
statement.
ERCOT's market notice said offers from mothballed or
decommissioned units could include a more than 10% "Incentive
Factor that reflects the revenues the unit owner determines
would be necessary to bring the unit back to operation."
It determined that a winter storm comparable to December 2022's
Elliott would raise the risk of an energy emergency during the
peak-demand hour to almost 20%, well above its 10% adequacy
standard.
Elliott brought sub-freezing temperatures to about two-thirds of
the United States knocking out power for more than 1.5 million
homes and businesses.
"ERCOT is not projecting energy emergency conditions this winter
season, but we want to be prepared and ensure all available
tools are readily available if needed," ERCOT President and CEO
Pablo Vegas said.
ERCOT, which operates the grid for more than 26 million
customers, hit an all-time high peak demand of 85,435 MW on Aug.
10 amid a brutal heat wave.
(Reporting by Rahul Paswan and Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing
by Stephen Coates & Simon Cameron-Moore)
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