Thread by @douglewinenergy

@PUCTX meeting starting now. Agenda and livestream at link below. As usual, I'll tweet some updates throughout the meeting, particularly on items related to winter storm and/or market redesign.
#txlege #txenergy #energytwitter
texasadmin.com/tx/puct/open_m…

First agenda item they take up is #46034, the Southern Cross project to connect 2GW of generation from Texas to the Eastern Interconnect (near MS/AL border). This project is a long time in the making.

Cmsr Glotfelty notes that in the past commissioners didn't choose to move forward. He says "we ought to move forward to this." He filed a memo linked below.
interchange.puc.texas.gov/Documents/4630…

Cmsr McAdams says he helped put Southern Cross in limbo. The reason "was a prevalent fear" about ceding jurisdiction to the federal government but, he says "DC ties with other ISOs are different" and he agrees with Cmsr Glotfelty and his memo.

this is a big deal
#energytwitter

He says Southern Cross has complied with everything and he hopes it will stand or fall on its own economic merit.

Appreciate McAdams being honest about past opposition.

Lots of background here
eenews.net/articles/what-…

Chair Lake says need to look at these on case by case basis and not end up under FERC jurisdiction.

Cmsr Cobos notes that this is merchant tranmission, not paid for by all ratepayers like other kinds of transmission.

Sounds like they're all in agreement.
#txenergy #txlege

They're now onto Project 52373, the market design docket. Commissioner Cobos and McAdams both filed memos dealing with a firm fuel requirement, both of which are here:
interchange.puc.texas.gov/Documents/5237…

Cmsr Cobos says she wants to have a firm fuel requirement in place by next winter. She said they'll need third party consultant to figure out how to price it (I woudl think they'd need help to figure out how much firm fuel they need).

(cont.) Cobos says they also need an NPRR (basically a rule change) as to how firm fuel will settle. She says quartelry payments. Wants NPRR in place at ERCOT by March, to have a procurement by August.

Chair Lake calls up Kenan Ogelman from ERCOT.

Ogelman says they think daily payments to generators will work better than quarterly and will shoot for August RFP.

He says they have questions about quantity, and wants to know parameters for cost controls on the RFP.

In sum: how much do you want and what will you pay?

There's an RFI of some kind out on firm fuel now. Answers come in by Feb 4. Cmsr Cobos says there's likely ~5GW of storage tanks out there.

Aside for folks following and might know: are we talking about firm gas or fuel oil? Both? Something else?

If it's fuel oil is Kenan just mentioned, are there air quality implications? What's the permitting if they're going to run more often?

Cmsr Cobos wants to know how ISO-NE, MISO, PJM handles firm fuel requirements.
#energytwitter

Cmsr McAdams wonders if some of those storage tanks are not maintained.

Cmsr Glotfelty asks about coal. Is that allowed?

Cmsr Cobos says she wants to focus on gas storage, says that is the "bulls-eye" for this product, given our experiences in Uri.

Cmsr McAdams says fuel oil should be part of the mix, though phase 1 for this winter should be gas only.

Cmsr Cobos wants to start with dual fuel, but now I'm confused bc dual fuel implies gas plus something else but she said gas was the bulls-eye.

Chair Lake wants to continue to consider coal. Says he's not sure that's the right thing but wants to keep it on the table. Wonders if they would keep more coal on site if paid to do so.

Sounds like not for this winter but potentially for the future.

Chairman stresses importance of understanding how other markets/ISOs deal with these fuel firming issues.

Sounds like that's the next step.
#energytwitter

Cmsr McAdams now wants to discuss forecasting reports. Says they are "woefully inadequate" in face of dramatically changing resource mix and rising demand

He doesn't mention changing climate but that needs to be accounted for, too. But his point is correct.
#txlege

The reports are Capacity Demand & Reserves (CDR) and Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy (SARA). Says each of the commissioners wants more detailed analysis as to whether reserve margins are real. It's a great question.

(reserve margin before last Feb was 40%)
#txenergy

Notes it's hard to keep up with demand projections (he cites #bitcoin but worth noting forecasting of heating needs in winter is horrible right now).

Cmsr McAdams wants a new project to gather feedback from stakeholders before a "more substantitve rulemaking later this year"

McAdams notes that procurements of ancillary services and reports to #txlege and all manner of things come from CDR and SARA. Needs to be improved.

I concur. I also think they should be released with media availability and not on Fridays at 4pm.

https://twitter.com/douglewinenergy/status/1462181620371316736?s=20

Cmsr Glotfelty says we also will have loads that will soon be generators.

Sometimes its hard for new entrants to get involved in our processes. We need to improve this.

Says he's always been frustrated by these reports in all places bc they always say we'll be fine, unless...

They will open a project on this. Will put the control number out there for #energytwitter folks once it's opened and they start asking for input. This is crucially important and it's a good thing the @PUCTX will dig into forecasting issues.

They are now talking about @SPPorg issues. I won't tweet about everything talked about in the open meeting but you can on AdminMonitor.com click on any agenda item and go right to that discussion.
#txlege #txenergy #txclimate

They will now discuss changes to the Reliability Unit Commitment (RUC) floor prices.

Texans are spending $100s of millions on RUCs. This is an important reliability and consumer issue.

Carrie Bivens, the Independent Market Monitor, now speaking about it.

They filed a Nodal Protocol Revision Request (NPRR) to lower the offer floor to $75 from $1500 (!) which would match non-spin levels. Bivens says PUC is using RUCs as if they are non-spin so it's appropriate to lower the floor in this way.
#txenergy

These payments for RUCs are what is meant by Chair Lake and others when they say they're operating the grid "conservatively." Somewhat ironically, PUC/ERCOT are spending a lot more money. $40-$50m according to ERCOT. This would, I think, lower that amount
#txlege

Chair Lake followed a memo on this issue here: interchange.puc.texas.gov/Documents/5293…