TEBA Affiliate Members in Texas

NEWS

ERCOT’s Batch Study Process: What It Is, Why It Matters, and What’s Missing

Across Texas, big prospective energy users are telling ERCOT that they want to put an unprecedented amount of load onto the state’s power grid. That means ERCOT has to figure out which of those loads are real and how the state will serve them. To do so, the grid manager is in the process of implementing what’s known as the batch study process.

Learn more about how the batch process works, where there are gaps, and how ERCOT can close them.

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Improving ERCOT’s Batch Study Process — Testimony to the Texas House State Affairs Committee

   TEBA’s Marshall Coover was among the invited speakers on April 9 for a hearing of the Texas House State Affairs Committee on “the development of data centers in Texas, including its importance to global competitiveness and national security.” Marshall focused specifically on the new batch study process, which will help ERCOT review the unprecedented volume of load interconnection requests that the grid manager is now considering. Here’s what he said: “Chairman, members, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. My name is Marshall Coover, and I’m here on behalf of the Texas Energy Buyers Alliance. TEBA represents a broad coalition of energy consumers; from large-scale traditional manufacturers and heavy industry, to retailers and hyperscalers, to small “main

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It’s called DRRS. It should include batteries.

Texas is rightly renowned for its competitive energy market. ERCOT’s unique structure ensures that, for the most part, Texas consumers only pay for the electricity they use. And market forces create price signals that prompt the private sector to build the generation capacity Texas needs to power our economy. ERCOT also maintains what are known as ancillary services, which deliver additional energy when demand rises or the grid needs it. These energy boosters play an essential role, maintaining grid reliability without preempting the market forces that have made our state the U.S. energy leader. Now, the ERCOT Board of Directors is advancing what’s known as the Dispatchable Reliability Reserve Service (DRRS), a new ancillary service created by the Texas Legislature

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ERCOT’s “Batch” Process Is a Good One, but Must Not Trigger Delays

It’s no secret that ERCOT is racing to accommodate the booming energy demand that data centers, advanced manufacturers, and other 21st century industries will create. The question is how to do it – and how to make sure that needed, well-developed projects don’t get stuck in line. In the past, ERCOT has relied on a serial large-load evaluation framework, which evaluated one project at a time, reconsidering transmission and reliability assumptions as new projects came onto the grid.  That process made sense when there were only a few dozen large-load projects in the queue. But now, there are well over 200 such projects, most seeking to serve industries such as AI that need huge amounts of electricity – and fast. ERCOT

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A New & Improved Way of Assessing Transmission Costs

The massive growth projections for Texas’s ERCOT power grid raise a vitally important question for the future of our grid and our economy: who should pay for the transmission improvements needed to deliver this electricity? The existing system of transmission cost allocation is known as the Four Coincident Peak (4CP) program. Through 4CP, large consumers pay for transmission costs based on four peak-use (“coincident”) periods during the summer.  This system works well with existing users, in part because it encourages them to implement demand response strategies that reduce their use when energy is tight on the grid. But 4CP isn’t set up to allocate costs at the giant scale of new customers that are coming onto the grid — we

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Dallas Morning News Op-Ed: The U.S. needs energy – fast – to compete with China. Texas can help.

China is outpacing the U.S. on energy deployment. Texas is well-positioned to lead the fast energy buildout America needs. Check out TEBA CEO Rich Powell’s new op-ed in The Dallas Morning News detailing the advantages of Texas’s competitive energy market and the critical role our state can play in the economic race with China — delivering the low-cost, reliable electricity our nation needs. “It’s easier and faster to build energy in Texas than almost anywhere in the country. … It’s crucial to move the energy we need onto the grid faster, and Texas is best positioned to help.” Read Op-Ed

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UPDATE: “Firming” must balance cost and reliability

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) is going through the complex process of establishing “firming” requirements, which will dictate how generators must provide dependable electricity during high-risk periods (such as winter storms or severe heat waves). It’s vital that commissioners strike the right balance between cost and reliability — and TEBA submitted comments to the PUCT with options for doing just that. We support parts of the PUCT’s draft firming proposal, especially its intent of strengthening the ERCOT grid. By making a few adjustments, the Commission can increase reliability without unaffordably driving up energy costs or slowing the new resources that Texas needs. Key changes include the following: 1. Firming requirements should better recognize the role that batteries play

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TEBA fights anti-energy bills, warns of future impact

The 2025 regular Texas Legislative Session is over, and the state’s competitive energy market survived it. A few anti-energy bills that would have weakened the state’s abundant, reliable, low-cost power — and that still passed one chamber of the legislature — were ultimately stopped. Through the session, TEBA’s team actively advocated for policies that advance reliable and affordable clean energy, reduce power bills, protect the state’s energy market, and allow a strong diversity of energy resources to meet Texas’s future power needs. In several session wrap-up stories, TEBA praised the legislature for stopping anti-energy legislation but warned about the signal that such bills send to employers who want to invest in Texas. Read More

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New Study Supports ERCOT’s Extra High-Voltage Plan for Texas Grid

AUSTIN — A new study shows that building more powerful electricity lines — called extra high-voltage energy transmission lines (EVH) — could significantly boost the Texas power grid’s ability to deliver electricity. This would mean more dependable power and lower energy costs for all Texans. The study, conducted by Siemens PTI and commissioned by the Texas Energy Buyers Alliance (TEBA) and Google, found that higher capacity 765-kilovolt (kV) electricity systems would significantly outperform the standard 345-kV lines currently in use. Read More

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TEBA Praises PUCT’s High-Voltage Transmission Decision

Austin, Texas (April 24, 2025) — The Texas Energy Business Alliance (TEBA) praised today’s landmark decision by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to build extra high-voltage (also known as 765-kilovolt) transmission lines to serve the Permian Basin’s rapidly growing electricity needs.  Read More

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READ THE OP-ED: Texas needs to invest big in energy transmission to be competitive

Texas is in the middle of a years-long conversation about how to generate energy to meet the need for speed: how will the state’s power grid serve fast-growing new loads and the economic benefits they bring? The question of how we move electricity around our great state is just as important. The Austin American Statesman on Sunday published an op-ed by Bryn Baker, the Texas Energy Buyers Alliance’s (TEBA’s) senior director of policy, that highlights the state’s profound opportunity to plan and invest in a transmission system that will meet the state’s 21 st century needs. She also notes the very real economic danger Texas will face if leaders don’t rise to this challenge… Read More

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