Texas Generators to Pay $109,000 Under Settlement With PUCT Staff

Several affiliates of Invenergy LLC would in aggregate pay $109,000 under a settlement with Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas to resolve alleged violations of ERCOT Protocols §§ 3.9.1(2), related to current operating plan criteria (COP) and 2.6.2(1), related to generators.

Settling parties include Scurry County Wind LP, Scurry County Wind II LLC, McAdoo Wind Energy LLC, Stanton Wind Energy LLC, and Turkey Track Wind Energy LLC. The companies are affiliated with Invenergy LLC and Invenergy Services LLC.

According the to the settlement, there were nine instances where the companies failed to update a COP as required.

Commission Staff also reviewed the requirements of ERCOT Operating Guide § 2.6.2(1) which state that any under-frequency relays must be set to trip only if the generation resource is run at a particular frequency for a particular length of time. Under-frequency relays should not trip in less than nine minutes above 58.4 Hz up to and including 59.4 Hz.

According to the settlement, at the time of a TRE audit, the companies' relays on each of the five resources were set to trip whenever frequency dropped below 59 Hz for a half a second.

Docket 44385