More than 645 MW of solar capacity nears commercial operation in ERCOT

Canceled: 380 MW of solar, 58 MW of storage

Solar queue grows by almost 5 GW

Houston — More than 645 MW of solar capacity in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas neared commercial operation in January, which will boost the state’s solar nameplate capacity by more than 28% when that capacity comes online, though solar projects totaling 380 MW were canceled in the month, a new report shows.

“Strong solar output could easily put a damper on super-peak pricing, but also runs the risk of increasing volatility, especially in instances of high [forced generation] outages,” Travis Whalen, a power market analyst at S&P Global Platts Analytics, said Tuesday. …

FERC accepts Cal-ISO annual study plans to asses local capacity requirements

Houston — The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has accepted the California Independent System Operator’s tariff filing to align its annual study of local capacity procurement requirements with current reliability mandates and transmission planning standards.

There were no comments, protests or motions filed by the December 30 deadline and the tariff revisions are accepted for filing, effective February 1, as requested, according to the FERC letter. Requests for rehearing …