Transmission

Texas power companies oppose electric reliability project

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Fuelfix.com

by R.A. Dyer

It’s a construction project that could help prevent blackouts, but that hasn’t stopped two influential electric generation companies from trying to stop it before it starts.
NRG and Calpine, both active in the Houston area, have gone to the Public Utility Commission with a request that the agency dump plans to extend transmission lines 130 miles from the Houston metro area to east-central Texas. Operators of the state’s principal power grid say the lines are needed to bring more power into Houston and improve system reliability.
Dubbed the “Houston Import Project,” the transmission network should cost about $590 million when complete.  The companies successfully blocked an earlier version of the project several years ago, but failed to stop the board of the…

Electricity

GDF Suez uses ‘small fish’ defense in alleged market manipulation suit

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Platts

GDF Suez cited the Public Utility Commission of Texas’ “small fish swim free” rule 17 times in its 25-page motion to dismiss a lawsuit that alleges the French company used its Texas generation fleet to manipulate electricity markets, according to court documents.
In a motion to dismiss the suit filed Monday, GDF Suez North America argued that the plaintiffs, Aspire Commodities and Raiden Commodities, acknowledge GDF Suez’s conduct in managing its 3,957 MW of generation capacity at six Texas sites “was in complete conformity with” Electric Reliability Council of Texas rules and “was expressly authorized by” the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
The “plaintiffs’ suggestion that GDF Suez may have…