NOTICE DATE: March 29, 2024
NOTICE TYPE: M-E032924-01 Operations
SHORT DESCRIPTION: TCEQ Enforcement Discretion for Certain Generation Resources That May Be Needed to Resolve Transmission Congestion in South Texas
INTENDED AUDIENCE: ERCOT Market Participants
DAY AFFECTED: March 29, 2024
LONG DESCRIPTION: Today, in response to an ERCOT request, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has notified ERCOT of its intention to exercise enforcement discretion with respect to potential violations of certain air permit requirements associated with South Texas Electric Cooperative, Inc.’s (STEC) operation of the Generation Resources at the Red Gate Power Plant (namely, REDGATE_AGR_A, REDGATE_AGR_B, REDGATE_AGR_C, and REDGATE_AGR_D, hereinafter referred to as the “Red Gate Units”). This enforcement discretion will be available only if the Red Gate Units are needed to address certain ERCOT-declared transmission emergencies impacting South Texas. ERCOT’s request and TCEQ’s response are attached to this Notice.
ERCOT requested the TCEQ’s consideration of enforcement discretion to ensure the Red Gate Units can be available if they are needed to serve Load in South Texas. ERCOT has determined that, under certain conditions, the supply of power available from Generation Resources in South Texas and transmission imports into South Texas may not be sufficient to serve demand in that region. TCEQ’s grant of enforcement discretion will reduce the possibility that ERCOT may need to direct firm load-shedding under these conditions. The availability of the Red Gate Units will also enable ERCOT to approve Outages for certain other Generation Resources in South Texas that still need to perform required maintenance ahead of the Summer Peak Load Season.
As described in the TCEQ’s letter, enforcement discretion will be available to STEC only when ERCOT has issued an Emergency Notice declaring a transmission emergency and has committed one or more of the Red Gate Units via a Reliability Unit Commitment (RUC) instruction. In the event of such a commitment, STEC would be required to opt out of the RUC instruction as a condition for enforcement discretion.
TCEQ's enforcement discretion will be in effect starting immediately and until the TCEQ’s final execution of an agreed order in Docket No. 2024-0430-AIR-E, which is currently expected to occur on May 10, 2024. ERCOT will issue a Market Notice when it has been notified that the agreed order has been executed.
The enforcement discretion described in this Policy does not affect the TCEQ’s potential exercise of enforcement discretion under the existing Procedure for Requesting TCEQ Enforcement Discretion Relating to a Power Emergency in Texas for ERCOT, MISO, or SPP Regions.
CONTACT: If you have any questions, please contact your ERCOT Account Manager. You may also call the general ERCOT Client Services phone number at (512) 248-3900 or contact ERCOT Client Services via email at [log in to unmask].
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