TEXAS CONSIDERS SPREADING GRID COSTS

Generators push to get Texas regulators away from wind-cost investigation

Christine Cordner, Sept. 16, 2014 (SNL)

“Hoping to keep market improvements within the realm of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc., fossil fuel and renewable energy developers have joined together to ask the Public Utility Commission of Texas not to go down the road of assigning transmission-related costs to owners of wind and solar projects…[The PUCT] started showing interest in the topic on the back of the completion of the Competitive Renewable Energy Zone transmission build-out earlier this year and continued massive growth in wind projects in the state…[Many called on the PUCT and ERCOT to not make changes but some] recommended that the PUCT direct ERCOT, when calculating production cost savings for a transmission project, to include increased costs related to the additional ancillary services needed as more wind is installed and large direct-current interties are built. These costs, however, should not be directly allocated to wind developers but rather consumers as the beneficiaries of a more stable grid…[and cautioned] about the legality of…[r]equiring certain generators to pay directly for the construction or enlargement of transmission…[Others] urged the PUCT to allow ERCOT to work on the issue, finding solutions such as possibly providing a new ancillary [ramping] service...[Wind and advocates] said wind power has considerably less negative effect on grid frequency than conventional generators and helps support frequency control…” click here for more

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