Freepoint Commodities LLC (“Freepoint”) files this Petition for Emergency Relief and requests the Public Utility of Commission of Texas (“PUCT” or “Commission”) to waive Section 9.6(2) of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”) Nodal Protocols. Freepoint is requesting a waiver that is limited in time and scope to allow Freepoint to fully exercise its dispute resolution rights under the ERCOT Nodal Protocols without incurring the immediate, significant expenses for which ERCOT has invoiced Freepoint with respect to day-ahead market (“DAM”) charges attributable to Ancillary Services during the February 2021 Winter Weather Event. Freepoint has made this request of ERCOT Staff, and no response has been made. In the absence of the requested relief, Freepoint faces the very real prospect that it may successfully challenge the Ancillary Services charges, but ERCOT will have insufficient funds to return the successfully disputed amounts to Freepoint. …
ERCOT lost almost half of generation capacity in storm, causing 20-GW load shed
Andrew Engblom and Justin Horwath of S&P Global Market Intelligence and Mark Watson
New York — Almost half of Electric Reliability Council of Texas generation capacity – 52.3 GW in all — was forced out at the highest point during the winter storm starting Feb. 14, which prompted rotating outages to cut load by as much as 20 GW, ERCOT CEO and President Bill Magness said Feb. 24.
With demand climbing and many power plants unable to provide power, ERCOT ordered load shedding at 1:20 am CT on Feb. 15 to prevent the risk of a systemwide blackout. Power plants across its operating territory, however, continued to struggle through the hour, prompting additional load shedding and pushing grid frequency below 59.4 Hz for four minutes and 23 seconds.
Had the grid’s frequency remained below 59.4 Hz for nine minutes or more, more generation units would have …