ERCOT Reorganizes Leadership

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has announced a “strategic leadership reorganization”.

As part of the reorganization, Woody Rickerson, previously the company’s Vice President of System Planning and Weatherization, has been promoted to the newly created position of Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and Kristi Hobbs, previously the company’s Vice President of Corporate Strategy and PUC Relations, has been named Vice President of System Planning and Weatherization.

In his new position, Rickerson will oversee grid operations, weatherization, planning, and commercial operations, ERCOT revealed. Hobbs will report to Rickerson and oversee transmission planning, generator interconnection activities, modeling, and weatherization, the company highlighted.

Also under the reorganization, Betty Day, the company’s Vice President of Security and Compliance and Chief Compliance Officer, assumed oversight of Business Continuity and Rebecca Zerwas was appointed Director of State Policy and Public Utility Commission Relations, Board Liaison.

Rickerson has worked at ERCOT, in various roles, for more than 19 years, the company’s site highlights. A licensed professional engineer, he has worked for utilities in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, ERCOT’s site shows.

Hobbs joined ERCOT in 2002 after serving for two years as a Senior Retail Market Analyst for the PUCT, where she worked with the Commission to implement policy in the Texas electric industry’s transition to competition, ERCOT states on its site. During her tenure at ERCOT, Hobbs has served in various roles focused on developing relationships both internal and external to the organization, the ERCOT site notes.

“These changes were designed to harness the collaborative talents and strengths of our experienced team in supporting the delivery of reliable and efficient energy to the millions of Texans that we serve,” Pablo Vegas, ERCOT President and Chief Executive Officer, said in a company statement.

“As our industry faces dynamic changes, ERCOT is continuously evolving and making the necessary improvements to the grid to support the needs of a growing population and robust economy. This reorganization allows us to sharpen our focus on daily operations while implementing our long-term strategic plan,” he added.

Back in June, ERCOT announced the selection of Linda Capuano to serve on its board of directors. The company described Capuano as an experienced corporate director and business leader who brings broad commercial, government, and academic experience to the role, having held leadership positions in large and small businesses, startups, universities, and within the U.S. Department of Energy.

In December 2022, ERCOT named Mark Miner as the organization’s new Director of Corporate Communications and in October 2022, ERCOT announced the hiring of Robert Black as the organization’s new Vice President of Public Affairs.

ERCOT announced the selection of Pablo Vegas to serve as its President and CEO in August last year. He previously served as Executive Vice President of NiSource and Group President of NiSource Utilities.

In April 2021, ERCOT announced the selection of Brad Jones to serve as interim President and CEO and in February 2021, ERCOT announced the election Sally A. Talberg to serve as its new Board Chair and Peter Cramton to serve as Vice-Chair.

Conservation Requests

ERCOT announced a string of conservation requests recently.

On August 30, the company asked Texans to conserve electricity use, if safe to do so, on the same day from 6pm to 9pm CT.

“Due to a high level of unexpected thermal generation outages and forecasted low wind generation, operating reserves for ERCOT are expected to be low this evening,” the company noted in an August 30 update.

On August 29, ERCOT asked Texans to conserve electricity use from 5pm to 9pm CT, highlighting that, “due to a high level of unexpected thermal generation outages and forecasted low wind generation”, operating reserves for ERCOT were expected to be low in the afternoon and evening.

On August 27, ERCOT issued another conservation notice.

“Due to low wind and potential low solar generation and high demand, operating reserves for ERCOT are expected to be low in the afternoon and evening,” ERCOT said in a statement posted on the same day.

ERCOT also issued a conservation notice on August 26, “due to low wind and potential low solar generation and high demand” and another on August 25, “due to continued low wind-power generation and high demand”. 

An electricity conservation notice was also issued on August 24, “due to low wind-power generation and high demand”.

At the time of writing, ERCOT’s site shows that grid conditions are “normal” and notes that “there is enough power for current demand”.

Rigzone has asked ERCOT if it sees more conservation requests occurring this summer. At the time of writing, the company has not yet responded to Rigzone.

ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers, representing about 90 percent of the state’s electric load, ERCOT notes on its website.

“As the independent system operator for the region, ERCOT schedules power on an electric grid that connects more than 52,700 miles of transmission lines and 1,100 generation units, including Private Use Networks,” the site states.

“It also performs financial settlement for the competitive wholesale bulk-power market and administers retail switching for eight million premises in competitive choice areas,” it adds.

ERCOT is a membership-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, governed by a board of directors and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com