Complex problems are seldom solved overnight and often require multiple iterations to solve the problem in stages. This is especially evident in high consequence political situations. Avoiding difficult issues, like failing to invest in black start generation by hiding behind a claim that “we’re focused on fixing things, so we never get to that stage” is akin to not fixing the sprinkler system and fire alarms because we’re going to prevent fires from happening the next time. Reliability and Resilience of essential infrastructure impacts everyone. The forecast of the potential for brownouts during the summer of 2023 and a lack of dispatchable investment in ERCOT are indicators that the problems have not been solved. It will take courage and renewed sense of purpose to fully solve the remaining issues. The clock is ticking.
There has been undeniable progress made on many fronts, but many of the interim solutions have been costly and temporary. The failure to adopt and embrace a robust, transparent, and enforceable reliability standard has produced the predictable result that the heart of the original problem, revenue insufficiency, has remained stubbornly unresolved. ASCE Texas Section now believes that a transparent, robust, and enforceable reliability standard must be established and implemented within ERCOT to serve as a compass for the multitude of efforts required to ensure that ERCOT has a reliable, cost efficient, and resilient system. Supporting mechanisms must be adopted to reinforce this reliability standard with actions and enforceable changes. ASCE Texas Section has developed a series of considerations for the public, industry, and legislators to help ensure that reliability and resilience is restored in the ERCOT system.
Geoff Roberts (ASCE Texas Section Beyond Storms Committee)
Geoff Roberts is the current Chair of the ASCE Texas Section Beyond Storms Committee. He is a Civil Engineer with 40 years of experience in the energy and water industry from electricity, natural gas, water, and liquid products sectors. His roles have ranged from operations to asset development, M&A, trading, and origination to executive leadership positions. He has been fortunate to both work and live overseas; which has allowed him first-hand experience with the various energy markets on five continents across the globe and seen the solutions that work and those that don’t.
Oliver Smith (ASCE Texas Section Beyond Storms Committee)
Oliver Smith, a native Texan, was born and raised on the campus of Prairie View A&M University. He has been a Civil Engineer for 47 years and joined ASCE in his junior year of college at Michigan State University. His early experience in oil and natural gas facility construction and production operations led him to join the 24 volunteers who prepared the analysis and recommendations you are seeing today. He has worked in several business environments and guided actions to improve the reliability and resilience of the processes that enabled those businesses to deliver projects, products and services economically, and in a timely fashion.
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