Distributed resources face tough challenges in ERCOT: panel
Distributed energy resources face two categories of challenges — information and market design — for full integration in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, attendees of a regional trade association’s fall conference learned Tuesday.
At a workshop associated with the Gulf Coast Power Association’s Fall Conference in Austin, Texas, Jaclyn Harr, lead analyst for grid engineering solutions at SolarCity, a provider of residential solar and power management solutions, said managing information from a wide number of distributed resources to maximize value “is probably the most important” part of the process and the “hardest nut to crack.”
Greg Thurnher, general manager for regulatory policy at Shell Energy North America and chairman of ERCOT’s Distributed Resource Energy & Ancillaries Markets Task Force, said his company operates as an independent power marketer in ERCOT.
“As an independent power marketer, we are somewhat resource-agnostic,” Thurnher said. “We are most interested in efficient, transparent markets that are liquid. … Distributed energy resources … have access to a tremendous transparency in the ERCOT market, but don’t necessarily have an obligation to provide [that transparency].”
