Houston (Platts)--24Mar2011/1222 pm EDT/1622 GMT
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is asking generators in the state to submit more detailed information on their plans for coping with extreme weather conditions, after the grid operator was forced to resort to rotating outages in February when freezing temperatures forced about 7,000 MW of capacity offline. ERCOT on Wednesday asked generators to submit their emergency operations plans "in order to ensure that ERCOT has in its possession the most detailed plans, procedures, and information presently in use." The Texas Public Utility Commission ordered ERCOT to make the assessment in the wake of February's blackouts. In its request, ERCOT asked for "all current weatherization plans and procedures concerning plant availability during extremely cold or extremely hot weather events and any plans, procedures, or information addressing plant availability in the event of fuel supply disruptions, including any information concerning alternative fuel capability and alternative fuel storage capacity." ERCOT is asking for the information by April 6. ERCOT last month asked generators to supply similar information, but said most of the initial responses "contained only basic summaries of weatherization procedures or alternative fuels information."--John-Laurent Tronche, john-laurent_tronche@platts.comSimilar stories appear in Megawatt Daily. See more information at http://bit.ly/MegawattDaily