PUC's Anderson is latest to blast capacity market in ERCOT

Kenneth Anderson, one of three members of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, argues that Texas' biggest power grid can meet growing demand without resorting to a system that pays generators to provide capacity sufficient to meet supply targets. In a filing with the PUC, Anderson said the Electric Reliability Council of Texas can meet its goal of 13.75 percent reserve margin of supply over projected demand by calling in currently mothballed plants, counting "reliably anticipated new generation" and valuing the state's vast wind power, especially coastal installations, at a higher rate as supported ERCOT staff. Do that, he says, and "ERCOT does not dip below its 13.75 percent target reserve margin until after 2018."

Anderson's filing is here.

-- Jim Fuquay