Dive Brief:
- An updated 10-year outlook shows Texas reserve margins will be above 15% through 2018, in part because the state revised how it accounts for wind capacity, the Houston Chronicle reports.
- The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) found a reserve margin of 15.7% in summer 2015, based on peak demand of 69,057 MW.
- Peak demand figures include 2,343 MW that participate in various demand response programs and more than 77,000 MW of anticipated generation capacity.
Dive Insight:
"Based on current information, ERCOT expects to have sufficient generation to keep up with demand and maintain the planning reserve margins needed to support reliable operations in the next several years," said Director of System Planning Warren Lasher.
Generation companies in the ERCOT region have added significant resources since the last report on the state's capacity, demand and reserves (CDR) was released in May. According to the grid operator, companies added more than 2,100 MW of new gas-fired generation, more than 700 MW of wind generation and a 38-MW commercial-scale solar generation facility.
Planned resources that were not included in the May report include more than 1,500 MW of natural gas-fired generation, 2,500 MW of wind resources and another 105 MW of solar.
The new CDR report is also the first since the ERCOT Board of Directors in October approved a new methodology to define the percentage of installed wind generation capacity ERCOT expects during peak demand periods. Under the revised methodology, for summer, ERCOT is counting on 12% of nameplate capacity from non-Coastal wind resources and 56% from Coastal facilities. In winter, those percentages change to 19% and 36%, respectively.
Commercial-scale solar is currently counted at nameplate capacity, but after ERCOT has 200 MW installed that value also will be adjusted based on historical performance during peak demand hours over a three-year period.
