Texas Staff Outlines Approach to Research Reliability Standard

Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas filed a memo outlining their proposal to examine issues related to the reliability standard in the ERCOT region.

In their memorandum, Staff presented, "a scope of work on this matter, including a research plan and project schedule for investigation of relevant aspects of ERCOT's reliability standard. Staff plans to research reliability standards in other jurisdictions, collect updated ERCOT calculations, gather stakeholder input, and ultimately present findings and potential ranges of options for moving forward."

"Staff will be coordinating its research efforts with data from ERCOT. Historically, ERCOT has targeted a reliability standard of one Loss of Load Event (LOLE) every ten years, without regard to the duration or magnitude of each event. Supplementing Staff's research will be analyses conducted by ERCOT calculating reserve margin outcomes assuming alternative reliability metrics, including those based on duration-specific LOLEs. Staff plans to review the comparative utility of these standards relative to the current approach," Staff said.

Public comment will be sought, and Staff will prepare a report to the Commission.

See Staff's full memo (Project 42302)