| Geography |
 Back to Top |
-
States covered: Most of Texas
Reliability regions: Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) [NERC regions map
]
Balancing authority: Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) [NERC balancing authority map
]
Zones: Houston, North, South, West
| RTO/ISO |
Back to Top |
-
ERCOT schedules and centrally dispatches the grid within a single control area, ensures transmission reliability and wholesale open access, and manages financial settlement in the wholesale power market. It also administers the Texas competitive retail market, including customer switching. ERCOT operates wholesale markets for:
- Balancing energy
- Ancillary service markets with zonal congestion management.
Market participants trade physical electricity bilaterally, either directly or through brokers, and through the EIS market.
Market participants trade electricity bilaterally directly, through brokers and through the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE). Physical products predominantly use the ERCOT hub pricing point, but physical and financial products priced at the four ERCOT zones are also traded.
ERCOT 2006 State of the Markets Report
Market Monitors:
Dan Jones of Potomac Economics – Independent Market Monitor, ERCOT
Jess Totten, Design Oversight and Pam Whittington Enforcement Oversight, PUC of Texas
| Generation/Supply |
Back to Top |
-
Marginal fuel type: Coal and natural gas
Generating capacity (summer 2007): 71,244 MW
Capacity reserve (summer 2007): 8,744 MW
Reserve margin (summer 2007): 14%
The region currently has excess capacity, and some generation has recently been mothballed or decommissioned. Reserve margins are nevertheless expected to decline to ERCOT's 12.5% target in the next two years.
| Demand |
Back to Top |
-
All time peak demand: 62.5 GW (set August 13, 2007)
In summer of 2006, demand reached record levels on several occasions due to extremely hot weather.
Peak demand growth: 0.0% (2006–2007)
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer Peak Demand (GW) | 60.2 | 62.3 | 62.5 |
| Source: PUC of Texas | |||
| Prices |
Back to Top |
-
Annual Average Real-Time Price
ERCOT North Hub
2004 $42.33/MWh
2005 $66.47/MWh
2006 $51.39/MWh
2007 $51.96/MWh
| Interconnections/Seams |
Back to Top |
-
The ERCOT control area is not synchronously connected to the Eastern or Western Interconnection (it is a separate interconnection) but it can exchange about 1,100 MW with SPP and Mexico through DC links. An additional 250 MW of exchange capacity with Mexico came online in 2007.