[woodrow]

It’s a matter of capacity. ERCOT only has 1220 MW of interconnection capacity across 4 asynchronous links [1]. Compare this to e.g. California ISO which seems to have about 10,000-15,000 MW of synchronous interconnection capacity [2]. Neither is adequate to fully support historic peak demand in the system [3-4], but California has much more flexibility in emergencies.

[1] https://www.ercot.com/files/docs/2020/07/30/ERCOT_DC_Tie_Ope...

[2] http://www.caiso.com/Documents/ISOMaximumResourceAdequacyImp...

[3] https://www.caiso.com/documents/californiaisopeakloadhistory...

[4] https://www.ercot.com/files/docs/2022/07/20/ERCOT%20Monthly%...

[theteapot]

Link 1 is dead. This doc from May 2023 lists the 1220MW figure for async links -- https://www.ercot.com/files/docs/2023/05/05/SARA_Summer2023_....

[woodrow]

Thanks. Fixed.

[onionisafruit]

They put too much trust in Tres Amigas coming online.