Existing and potential constraints within ERCOT

摘要

Since Texas opened its electricity market to competition in January 2002, a major part of a successful restructuring operation has been transmission lines―how many there are and if there's enough transmission capacity to meet changing requirements. That's where ERCOT comes in, managing the power grid for the state of Texas. In fact, 85 percent of the state's consumer, business and industrial power customers rely on this power grid to receive electricity. The ERCOT service area is about 200,000 square miles and includes counties ranging from a population of 67 (Loving County in West Texas) to 3 million (Harris County in Southeast Texas). It represents a bulk electric system located entirely in Texas. ERCOT oversees the operation of approximately 75,000 MW of installed generations and more than 37,000 miles of transmission lines.