September 6, 2012:  The Senate Committee on Natural Resources met to hear testimony regarding their interim charge to study the effectiveness of the Texas renewable portfolio standard (RPS) .

Chairman Nelson of the PUC recommended that legislators move with extreme caution before adopting any incentives or mandates for renewable energy.  Her recommendation was based on her belief that current state and federal incentives for wind have caused market distortions that have been a primary cause of Texas’ resource adequacy problems.

Texas Association of Manufacturers stressed that it would like to see all types of energy be developed… Continue reading →

September 11, 2012 –  On September 6, the PUC convened to discuss the five market design options set forth in the Brattle Group Report. Those five options are (1) energy-only market with market based reserve margin; (2) energy-only market with adders to support a target reserve margin; (3) energy-only market with backstop procurement; (4) mandatory resource adequacy requirement for Load Serving Entities (i.e., bilateral capacity market); and (5) resource adequacy requirement with a centralized forward capacity market.

After opening remarks by Sam Newell where he once again explained these five options, it was the stakeholders turn to… Continue reading →