All systems are “go” for the nodal day-ahead market trial scheduled to begin April 1st, for operating day April 2nd, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) executives said at Tuesday’s monthly board of directors meeting.
Interim CEO Trip Doggett reported that 256 out of 276 market participants – representing 99.9 percent of ERCOT generation – have qualified for market trials. Full-functionality integrated market trials are scheduled to start May 3rd.
The board’s discretionary or contingency fund for the project is currently at $105 million. If the contingency funding is not needed for unexpected issues, the projected total cost for the project is $537.2 million.
ERCOT, grid operator and manager of the electric market for most of the state, was charged by the Public Utility Commission of Texas in 2003 to develop a nodal wholesale market design to improve market and operating efficiencies through more minutely detailed pricing and scheduling of energy services. The nodal market is scheduled to “go live” on December 1st.
Handouts on the Nodal program update can be found by visiting: http://www.ercot.com/content/meetings/board/keydocs/2010/0323/Item_11_-_Nodal_Program_Update.pdf