| (a) Applicability. This section applies to the Electric
Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). It also applies to transmission
service providers (TSPs) and transmission service customers, as defined
in §25.5 of this title (relating to Definitions), with respect
to interactions with ERCOT. For the purpose of this section and §25.362
of this title (relating to Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)
Governance), an ERCOT rule is a market protocol, operating guide,
market guide, or other procedure that constitutes a statement of general
policy and that has an impact on the governance of the organization
or on reliability, settlement, customer registration, or access to
the transmission system in the ERCOT region.
(b) Functions. ERCOT shall perform the functions of
an independent organization under the Public Utility Regulatory Act
(PURA) §39.151 to ensure access to the transmission and distribution
systems for all buyers and sellers of electricity on nondiscriminatory
terms; ensure the reliability and adequacy of the regional electrical
network; ensure that information relating to a customer's choice of
retail electric provider is conveyed in a timely manner to the persons
who need that information; and ensure that electricity production
and delivery are accurately accounted for among the generators and
wholesale buyers and sellers in the region. ERCOT shall:
(1) administer, on a daily basis, the operational and
market functions of the ERCOT system, including procuring and deploying
ancillary services, scheduling resources and loads, and managing transmission
congestion, as set forth in this chapter, commission orders, and ERCOT
rules;
(2) administer settlement and billing for services
provided by ERCOT, including assessing creditworthiness of market
participants and establishing and enforcing reasonable security requirements
in relation to their responsibilities under ERCOT rules;
(3) serve as the single point of contact for the initiation
of transmission services;
(4) maintain the reliability and security of the ERCOT
region's electrical network, including the instantaneous balancing
of ERCOT generation and load and monitoring the adequacy of resources
to meet demand;
(5) provide for non-discriminatory access to the transmission
system, consistent with this chapter, commission orders, and ERCOT
rules;
(6) accept and supervise the processing of all requests
for interconnection to the ERCOT transmission system from owners of
new generating facilities;
(7) coordinate and schedule planned transmission facility
outages;
(8) perform system screening security studies, with
the assistance of affected TSPs;
(9) plan the ERCOT transmission system, in accordance
with this section;
(10) establish and administer procedures for the registration
of market participants;
(11) manage and operate the customer registration system;
(12) administer the renewable energy program, unless
the commission designates a different person to administer the program;
(13) monitor generation planned outages;
(14) disseminate information relating to market operations,
market prices, and the availability of services, in accordance with
this chapter, commission orders, and the ERCOT rules;
(15) operate an electronic transmission information
network; and
(16) perform any additional duties required under this
chapter, commission orders, and ERCOT rules.
(c) Liability. ERCOT shall not be liable in damages
for any act or event that is beyond its control and which could not
be reasonably anticipated and prevented through the use of reasonable
measures, including, but not limited to, an act of God, act of the
public enemy, war, insurrection, riot, fire, explosion, labor disturbance
or strike, wildlife, unavoidable accident, equipment or material shortage,
breakdown or accident to machinery or equipment, or good faith compliance
with a then valid curtailment, order, regulation or restriction imposed
by governmental, military, or lawfully established civilian authorities.
(d) Planning. ERCOT shall conduct transmission system
planning and exercise comprehensive authority over the planning of
bulk transmission projects that affect the transfer capability of
the ERCOT transmission system. ERCOT shall supervise and coordinate
the other planning activities of TSPs.
(1) ERCOT shall evaluate and make a recommendation
to the commission as to the need for any transmission facility over
which it has comprehensive transmission planning authority.
(2) A TSP shall coordinate its transmission planning
efforts with those of other TSPs, insofar as its transmission plans
affect other TSPs.
(3) ERCOT shall submit to the commission any revisions
or additions to the planning guidelines and procedures prior to adoption.
ERCOT may seek input from the commission as to the content and implementation
of its guidelines and procedures as it deems necessary.
(e) Information and coordination. Transmission service
providers and transmission service customers shall provide such information
as may be required by ERCOT to carry out the functions prescribed
by this chapter, commission orders, and ERCOT rules. ERCOT shall maintain
the confidentiality of competitively sensitive information and other
protected information, as specified in §25.362 of this title.
Providers of transmission and ancillary services shall maintain the
confidentiality of competitively sensitive information entrusted to
them by ERCOT or a transmission service customer.
(f) Interconnection standards. ERCOT may prescribe
reliability and security standards for the interconnection of generating
facilities that use the ERCOT transmission network. Such standards
shall not adversely affect or impede manufacturing or other internal
process operations associated with such generating facilities, except
to the minimum extent necessary to assure reliability of the ERCOT
transmission network.
(g) ERCOT administrative fee. ERCOT shall charge an
administrative fee, and the fees it charges are subject to commission
approval, in accordance with this chapter.
(h) Reports. Each TSP and transmission service customer
in the ERCOT region shall on an annual basis provide to ERCOT historical
information concerning peak loads and resources connected to the TSP's
system.
(i) Anti-trust laws. The existence of ERCOT is not
intended to affect the application of any state or federal anti-trust
laws.
(j) Decertification. ERCOT shall be subject to decertification
as an independent organization in accordance with §25.364 of
this title (relating to Decertification of an Independent Organization).
(k) Pilot Projects.
(1) ERCOT may conduct pilot projects to provide a temporary
platform to evaluate resources, technologies, services, and processes
that demonstrate the potential to advance the operational and market
functions of the ERCOT system. The pilot projects will allow ERCOT
to validate performance claims of alternative technologies, evaluate
the extent to which new technologies or processes can provide services
that comply with federal and state reliability standards, and review
how resources perform in various operational and market scenarios.
As part of a pilot project, ERCOT may grant temporary exceptions from
ERCOT rules, as necessary to effectuate the purposes of the pilot
project. ERCOT may use information gained from pilot projects to inform
the development of permanent changes to ERCOT rules.
(2) Process for Development and Approval of Pilot Projects.
ERCOT may conduct a pilot project upon approval of the scope and purposes
of the pilot project by the governing board of ERCOT. Proposals for
approval of pilot projects shall be made to the governing board only
by ERCOT staff, after consultation with affected market participants
and commission staff designated by the executive director. The ERCOT
governing board shall ensure that there is an opportunity for adequate
stakeholder review and comment on any proposed pilot project. Pilot
project proposals approved by the ERCOT governing board shall include:
(A) The scope and purposes of the pilot project;
(B) Designation of temporary exceptions from ERCOT
rules that ERCOT expects to authorize as part of the pilot project;
(C) Criteria and reporting mechanisms to determine
whether and when ERCOT should propose changes to ERCOT rules based
upon results of a pilot project;
(D) An estimate of costs ERCOT will incur attributable
to the pilot project; and
(E) An estimated date of completion for the pilot project.
(3) Participation in a pilot project shall not be required
as a condition to the deployment of any resource, technology, or process
that complies with existing ERCOT rules. The existence of a pilot
project does not prohibit any market participant from proposing changes
to ERCOT rules that are not dependent on the outcome of the pilot
project.
(4) A decision of the ERCOT governing board approving
a pilot project pursuant to this subsection constitutes "ERCOT conduct"
for purposes of appeal to the commission pursuant to §22.251
of this title (relating to Review of Electric Reliability Council
of Texas (ERCOT) Conduct).
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| Source Note: The provisions of this §25.361 adopted to be effective June 20, 2001, 26 TexReg 4440; amended to be effective March 30, 2003, 28 TexReg 2496; amended to be effective October 19, 2009, 34 TexReg 7197; amended to be effective March 22, 2011, 36 TexReg 1817; amended to be effective June 20, 2012, 37 TexReg 4410 |
