News
LCG, September 30, 2025--Vistra Corp. announced yesterday that it will proceed with the next phase of its capital plan to support grid reliability in Texas. In 2024, Vistra identified over $1 billion worth of potential capital additions in generation capacity within the Texas ERCOT market by 2028 if market conditions were supportive. Now, with West Texas' growing power requirements, particularly the state's expanding oil and natural gas industries, Vistra reached a final investment decision and confirms it will build two new advanced natural gas-fired power units on-site at its Permian Basin Power Plant.
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LCG, September 24, 2025--Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. (ERCOT) yesterday announced its new initiative to increase its efforts to fully use and apply innovation and transformation through industry collaboration to best overcome the challenges and opportunities facing future grid operations. The new Grid Research, Innovation, and Transformation (GRIT) initiative will advance research and prototyping of emerging concepts and solutions to better understand the implications of rapid grid and technology evolution and position ERCOT to lead in the future energy landscape.
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Industry News
Reliant Fined in Plant Shutdown Case
LCG, Feb. 3, 2002--The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Friday released documents and announced a $13.8 million fine based on what a commissioner called "blatant" actions by Reliant Resources to drive up power prices in June 2000 by shutting down power plants in California.Transcripts of conversations between traders for Reliant that were provided to the FERC indicated that multiple plants were taken out of the market on June 21 and June 22, about one month after prices in the Western power market had begun to climb from previous levels. One trader, whose identity was not given, stated in one transcript, "We decided prices were too low on the daily market, so we shut down everything except Ormond." In another conversation, a trader asked about shutdowns, "Did the market find out?" The answer was "No, God, no." Transcripts were posted on the FERC website.The Sacramento Bee reported that Mike Florio, an attorney on the board of the California Independent System Operator, said that during the period in question, "roughly 8,000 to 10,000 megawatts disappeared from the Power Exchange market, virtually overnight." Many plant operators said that prolonged running of plants at high capacity made it necessary to take plants down for maintenance.Reliant Resources will be required to have shutdowns at its plants during the next two years overseen by an independent engineering firm, which will need to provide updates to federal authorities. The fine imposed on Reliant was assessed based on FERC's calculation of the overall impact on buyers of power at the time. The fine will be allocated to individual participants, such as the state's utilities, after specific impacts have been determined.The amount of the fine was strongly criticized by Gov. Gray Davis, who deemed it "insulting." State Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey, said claims by generators that all possible capacity had been provided to the market had been shown to be "an absolute farce."
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UPLAN-NPM
The Locational Marginal Price Model (LMP) Network Power Model
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UPLAN-ACE
Day Ahead and Real Time Market Simulation
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UPLAN-G
The Gas Procurement and Competitive Analysis System
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PLATO
Database of Plants, Loads, Assets, Transmission...
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