POWER March 2012 - 65

POWER MARKETS
3. ERCOT service territory. Courtesy: ERCOT
January 2011 report, " Scope of Competition
in Electric Markets in Texas, Report to the
82nd Texas Legislature, " " [t]he supply of
generation relative to demand will influence
energy prices, which in turn can serve to encourage
or discourage development of new
generation. "
To facilitate market transparency, the Texas
PUC requires ERCOT to make available
a wide range of information about the status
of the ERCOT system, including long-, medium-,
and short-term projections for load, resources,
and transmission. Some economists
believe that energy-only market structures
with uncapped energy prices can support resource
adequacy because prices during scarcity
would provide sufficient price signals
and compensation to justify new construction.
However, most regulators, including those in
Texas, are unwilling to allow energy prices to
be totally uncapped. Energy prices in ERCOT
are currently capped at $3,000/MWh.
Until recently, there has been sufficient
ERCOT must purchase energy as needed to
supply their customers through bilateral contracts
or energy markets. The energy price
alone is relied upon to provide resource adequacy.
As the Texas Public Utility Commission
(PUC) describes this system in its
generating capacity in Texas to maintain a
comfortable reserve margin. However, during
the past year, questions have been raised
about whether ERCOT's resource adequacy
approach will continue to be sufficient given
load growth and generator retirements for enNew
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POWER March 2012

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