Texas QSE To Pay $50,000 Under Settlement With PUCT Staff

The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) would pay $50,000 under a settlement with Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas to resolve Staff's investigation of LCRA for alleged violations of Electric Reliability Council of Texas Nodal Protocols § 6.5.7.5, relating to ancillary services capacity monitor.

The settlement agreement states, "During the two-hour period between 15:00 and 16:59 on August 3, 2016, LCRA conducted a required test of its emissions monitoring system on its generation resources GIDEON_G1 and GIDEON_G2. The emissions test required each resource to maintain a steady output near its High Sustained Limit (HSL). To maintain steady output near HSL, LCRA raised the Low Sustained Limit of each resource to a level near its HSL and reduced the ramp rate of each resource to 0.25 megawatts per minute. These parameters kept output within an acceptable testing range by limiting the ability of ERCOT's Security Constrained Economic Dispatch to ramp the resources to different output levels."

The settlement agreement states, "LCRA allocated obligations to GIDEON_G1 and GIDEON_G2 to reserve Responsive Reserve Service (RRS) capacity and provide RRS, if deployed, on August 3, 2016 for two operating hours between 15:00 and 16:59. LCRA allocated 20.2 megawatts of RSS [sic] obligations to GIDEON_G1 for the operating hour ending at 15:59 and 15 megawatts of RSS [sic] obligations to GIDEON_G1 for the operating hour ending at 16:59. LCRA allocated 24.6 megawatts of RSS [sic] obligations to GIDEON_G2 for both operating hours."

The settlement agreement states, "Commission Staff asserts that GIDEON_G1 and GIDEON_G2 did not have sufficient capacity reserved to meet their RRS obligations, because each resource was operating near its HSL during the time periods of the obligations and the operational parameters of each resource during the emissions test did not allow it to ramp down to create the required generation capacity."

The settlement agreement states, "Commission Staff asserts that LCRA failed to reserve and maintain sufficient frequency responsive capacity to meet all of its RRS obligations on GIDEON_G1 during two operating hours."

The settlement agreement states, "Commission Staff also asserts LCRA failed to reserve and maintain sufficient frequency responsive capacity to meet all of its RRS obligations on GIDEON_G2 during two operating hours."

The settlement agreement states, "LCRA neither admits nor denies that a violation occurred."

Docket 49466