ERCOT OKs about 570 MW of generation for commercial operation in June

Houston — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas in June approved about 570 MW of generation for commercial operation, mostly solar, and another 659.5 MW of renewables neared commercial operation in the state, a new report shows.

ERCOT's latest Generation Interconnection Status Report, released late Monday, also showed more than 980 MW of generation projects had been deemed inactive in June because they had failed to meet certain progress benchmarks, and another 1,971 MW of new projects were canceled.

The latest GIS shows the addition of 400 MW of solar capacity, all in Andrews County in West Texas, plus 151.2 MW of wind in Matagorda County on the Gulf Coast and a 19-MW gas-fired plant upgrade in Guadalupe County east of San Antonio in Central Texas.

The latest report also shows a 152.5 MW solar project approved for synchronization to the grid in Crane County, a 525 MW wind project in Coke County, and a repower of a wind project in Pecost County that reduces its capacity by 18 MW. All are in the Permian Basin area of West Texas.

Under ERCOT rules, projects must first get approved for energization, then synchronization, before being approved for commercial operation.

Cumulative totals

With the latest solar additions, ERCOT's total solar capacity approaches 3.1 GW, up from 2.3 GW at the end of 2019 and less than 1.9 GW at the end of 2018. Another 657 MW of solar capacity has been synchronized but not yet approved for commercial operation, and another 2.1 GW has signed interconnection agreements and posted financial security with plans to start up in 2020. If these plans are realized, the ERCOT solar fleet could total about 5.8 GW.

With the latest wind addition, the state's installed wind capacity tops 24,975 MW, up from 23,860 at the end of 2019 and 21,777 MW at the end of 2018. Another 3,045 MW has been synchronized but not yet approved for commercial operation, and another 3.6 GW has signed interconnection agreements and posted financial security with plans to start up in 2020. If these plans are realized, the ERCOT wind fleet could total about 31.5 GW.

Of the 1,972 MW of projects that were cancelled, 1,111.7 MW were solar, 581.4 MW were storage, 150 MW were gas generation, and 192.2 MW were wind.

Through the first six months of 2020, developers have canceled about 16.8 GW of projects, up 4.2 GW, or about 33%, from the 12.6 GW canceled in the first half of 2019.