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Senate expands draft reliability rules to cover existing ERCOT generators, adds phase-in protections
Summary
The Senate advanced a committee substitute to Senate Bill 715 to apply firming and reliability requirements to existing electric generators in ERCOT, with an amendment exempting generators under existing power-purchase agreements until those contracts expire and giving the PUC flexibility on ramping hours and phased implementation.
Senate Bill 715 moved forward on the Senate floor on May 8 with a committee substitute that would expand reliability obligations — sometimes called "firming" — beyond future generation to include existing power plants in ERCOT.
Sponsor Senator Sparks said the change answers a shortfall of dispatchable, firm power. "Currently, intermittent power accounts for 35 to 40% of available capacity," he told colleagues, adding that the committee substitute "automatically exempts any generator from…
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