Wind Integration in ERCOT

This chapter discusses the challenges and solutions associated with integration of large-scale wind generation in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) system. It begins with a brief introduction to the ERCOT system and the factors that have contributed to the success of large-scale wind generation build out such as wind resource, support schemes, and transmission access. This is followed by a short description of the ERCOT’s energy market and ancillary services. Next, the chapter focuses on the impacts that the changing generation mix has on synchronous inertia of the system, ancillary service needs and system frequency performance. The solutions already implemented in ERCOT and changes still under discussion to further address those impacts are presented. Finally, due to the variability and uncertainty of power production from renewable energy resources, there is a need for additional monitoring and prediction tools to assess the impact of renewables on the system frequency response. Some features of these tools, which were recently developed in ERCOT, are introduced in the chapter.