Thread by @douglewinenergy

Two important meetings w/ implications for #txenergy this morning:

@FERC will be discussing its Winter Energy Market and Reliability Assessment at its meeting today.
#txlege #energytwitter 1/

ferc.gov/news-events/ne…

On the @PUCTX mtg agenda for 9:30 are distributed energy resources, transmission, market design, restoration of service after an outage, & the calendar for rulemakings for the remainder of the year.
Agenda & livestream below.
#txenergy 2/
adminmonitor.com/tx/puct/open_m…

Cmsr McAdams outlined some of the issues the Distributed Energy Resources task force is dealing with following the posting of a @PUCTX staff memo and an ERCOT memo in Docket 51603 here:
#txenergy #DERs
interchange.puc.texas.gov/search/filings…

A few clarifications suggested in the ERCOT memo:
(1) A DER participating in an ancillary service (A/S) does not have to build a dedicated feeder (current rules say they do) and (2) DERs can participate in A/S on curtailable circuits so long as they're in Non-spin or Reg Down

Cmsr McAdams explained that this is bc non-spin is deployed before outages & reg down is reducing output, thus if a DER is curtailed, it's ok. DERs can currently participate in responsive reserve or reg up (needed during outages) only if they're on a noncurtailable circuit.

Some technical but very important details here outlined in the ERCOT memo. Important to anyone looking to deploy aggregated distributed energy resources (ADER) in ERCOT.
interchange.puc.texas.gov/Documents/5160…

Cmsr Glotfelty points out that there only 100s of MW of distributed batteries now but there will be 1000s soon. We'll need to change the way we operate the distribution system, roll outages, segment circuits, etc. Cmsr Cobos agrees with that...

There's a discussion about how you define "distributed" and how granular ERCOT can get, especially with little visibility for ERCOT (or the PUCT) into distribution grids. Eventually, probably soon, we're going to need that visibility... #txlege #txenergy

They now turn to the staff memo which is below. More technical issues which are extremely important to implementation
interchange.puc.texas.gov/Documents/5160…

There will be questions filed in the Aggregated DER docket (51603 or 53911 or both) on Monday for "information gathering purposes." All those who work on #DERs should be looking for those. #energytwitter #txenergy

There will be a new #DER docket apparently. I'll post it once it's established. #energytwitter

Toggling back and forth to @FERC winter readiness assessment. Stark to see the rise in natgas prices. #energytwitter

Speaking of winter readiness, @RichGlickFERC says the Uri issues in Texas which caused 100s of deaths was not they didn't have enough generation capacity, they didn't have sufficient fuel & operational capacity.🎯
Feel like lots of people in Texas stil don't get that. #txlege

@RichGlickFERC also points out how much consumer pain there will be from high #natgas prices, whether from direct use of gas in homes and buildings or from reliance on gas in the power system. He asks staff if they expect US LNG capacity to grow.

Staff answers: The Plaquemines, Golden Pass, and Corpus Christi projects should increase exports by 5.8bcfd (~40% more than today).

Note LNG exports are up significantly in recent years.

Staff also notes that #natgas storage is down and will likely stay low as LNG exports increase. This increases risk of outages in the summer.

Staff says LNG exports are likely contributing to high prices.