| (a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to implement
Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA) §§34.0104, 34.0106,
and 34.0108, which establish requirements and terms for loans to finance
dispatchable electric generating facilities within the ERCOT region.
(b) Definitions. The following words and terms, when
used in this section, have the following meanings unless the context
indicates otherwise.
(1) Borrower--An applicant to the Texas Energy Fund
who is successfully awarded a loan under this section and executes
a loan agreement with the commission.
(2) Commercial operations date--The resource commissioning
date, as defined in the ERCOT protocols, for the last generation resource
that is part of an electric generating facility financed by a loan
under this section.
(3) Generation resource--Has the same meaning as defined
in the ERCOT protocols.
(4) 12-Month performance availability factor (PAF)
--A metric calculated with ERCOT availability and real time (RT) telemetered
data for each generation resource in an electric generating facility
financed by a loan under this section. The PAF is computed as the
average ratio of each generation resource's RT high sustainable limit
(HSL) and its obligated capacity over a 12-month measurement period,
expressed as a percentage. Intervals that occurred during an approved
planned outage of a generation resource are excluded. The PAF is calculated
as follows:
Attached Graphic
(5) 12-Month planned outage factor (POF)--A metric
calculated with ERCOT data for each generation resource in an electric
generating facility financed by a loan under this section. The POF
is computed as the percentage of time each generation resource spent
in planned outages over a 12-month measurement period. The POF is
calculated as follows:
Attached Graphic
(c) Eligibility.
(1) A power generation company, municipally owned utility
(MOU), electric cooperative, or river authority is eligible for a
loan under this section. An electric utility other than a river authority
is not eligible for a loan under this section.
(2) The following are eligible for a loan under this
section:
(A) New construction of an electric generating facility
having at least 100 megawatts (MW) of nameplate capacity with an output
that can be controlled primarily by forces under human control. For
purposes of this section, new construction of an electric generating
facility means that the facility site has no existing point of interconnection
to the ERCOT power region.
(B) An upgrade to an existing electric generating facility
that results in a net increase of at least 100 MW of nameplate capacity
for the facility with an output that can be controlled primarily by
forces under human control. For purposes of this section, an existing
electric generating facility already has a point of interconnection
to the ERCOT power region, and the upgrade does not require an additional
point of interconnection to enable delivery of energy from the increased
capacity.
(C) A new or upgraded electric generating facility
that is serving or will serve an industrial load or PUN, provided
that the electric generating facility meets the following conditions:
the portion of new nameplate capacity that will serve the industrial
load or PUN must be less than 50 percent of the facility's total new
nameplate capacity, and the remainder of new capacity serving the
ERCOT market must be greater than 100 MW.
(3) In addition, to be eligible for a loan under this
section, a proposed electric generating facility must:
(A) be designed to interconnect and provide power to
the ERCOT region;
(B) be designed to participate in the ERCOT wholesale
market;
(C) consist of one or more generation resources that
interconnect to the ERCOT region through a single point of interconnection;
and
(D) be eligible to interconnect to the ERCOT region
based on the attributes of the owners of the facility, according to
the requirements in the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act (codified
at Texas Business and Commerce Code §117.002).
(4) The following activities are not eligible for a
loan under this section:
(A) Construction or operation of an electric energy
storage facility.
(B) Construction or operation of a natural gas transmission
pipeline. For the purposes of this section, only the infrastructure
necessary to connect an electric generating facility to a natural
gas supply system may be considered part of the cost of the facility
and eligible for a loan. Only those costs in support of new or upgraded
capacity that is exclusively provided to the ERCOT region are eligible.
(C) Construction of an electric generating facility
that met the planning model requirements necessary to be included
in the capacity, demand, and reserves report issued by ERCOT before
June 1, 2023.
(D) Construction or upgrade of an electric generating
facility that will provide more than 50 percent of its nameplate capacity
to an industrial load or PUN.
(E) Construction or upgrade of an electric generating
facility that is capable of switching service at its point of interconnection
between ERCOT and another power region.
(d) Notice of intent to apply.
(1) No earlier than May 1, 2024 and no later than May
31, 2024, an applicant must submit a notice of intent to apply in
the manner prescribed by the commission. A corporate sponsor or parent
may submit the notice of intent on behalf of a subsidiary applicant.
Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, information
submitted to the commission as part of the notice of intent to apply
is confidential and not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government
Code. The notice of intent to apply must include:
(A) The applicant's legal name and the proposed name
of the electric generating facility for which it seeks a loan;
(B) The anticipated nameplate capacity of each generation
resource in an electric generating facility proposed to be financed
with a loan under this section, and if the proposed facility will
serve an industrial load or PUN, the net nameplate capacity of each
generation resource that will be dedicated to ERCOT;
(C) The anticipated commercial operations date of each
generation resource in the electric generating facility;
(D) The amount of the loan requested; and
(E) For each electric generating facility, if an applicant
anticipates contributing equity in its application, a non-binding
attestation demonstrating that the applicant, or a corporate sponsor
or parent on the applicant's behalf, is capable of financing project-related
costs not financed by a loan under this section.
(2) Concurrent with the notice of intent to apply,
the applicant, or a corporate sponsor or parent of the applicant,
must separately file a letter with the commission stating the applicant's
legal name and the MW capacity that the requested loan amount will
finance.
(e) Application requirements and process. A loan application
must be submitted in the form and in the manner prescribed by the
commission. The application portal will be open for an eight-week
window, beginning on June 1, 2024, at 12:00 a.m., and closing on July
27, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. The executive director may extend the application
window by providing public notice of the extension at least 30 days
prior to the previously announced closing date. The executive director
may also open additional application windows if necessary to achieve
the objectives of this section. A corporate sponsor or parent may
submit an application on behalf of a subsidiary applicant. Information
submitted to the commission as part of the loan application process
is confidential and not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government
Code. An application must include each of the requirements detailed
in this subsection. An applicant may withdraw an application at any
time while under commission review.
(1) The applicant's legal name and the proposed name
of the electric generating facility for which it requests a loan.
(2) Amount of the loan requested.
(3) The anticipated nameplate capacity of each generation
resource in an electric generating facility proposed to be financed
with a loan under this section, and in the case of an electric generating
facility that will serve an industrial load or PUN, the nameplate
capacity of each generation resource that is proposed to be dedicated
to ERCOT and the anticipated maximum non-coincident peak demand of
the industrial load or PUN.
(4) Applicant information.
(A) A copy of any information submitted to ERCOT regarding
the applicant's attestation of market participant citizenship, ownership,
or headquarters, if submitted, or a direct attestation of market participant
citizenship, ownership, or headquarters, if such information has not
yet been submitted to ERCOT;
Cont'd... |
