Lubbock Power & Light Makes History, Successfully Connecting 70% of its System to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas
Work began Saturday, May 29, and concluded Sunday, May 30, with no major incidents
At 12:09 p.m. on Sunday, May 30, Lubbock Power & Light (LP&L) finished connecting 70% of its system (approximately 83,000 customers) to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). This interconnection is the first in Lubbock’s history and the first in the state in 25 years.
Saturday’s work began at 8 a.m. and concluded at 6:10 p.m. with LP&L connecting 11 substations to ERCOT. Crews proceeded smoothly throughout the day with all but one substation staying within the estimated 30 minute outage window.
Over Saturday and Sunday, the average outage time for all 17 substations was 16.6 minutes.
LP&L has been working to make infrastructure updates to connect with the ERCOT system since March 2018.
“This is a historic day and weekend for our entire community,” said David McCalla, Executive Director for LP&L. “It’s been a massive undertaking, and I want to thank our staff and crews, City staff, local authorities and everyone that worked together to ensure a safe and smooth transition. I especially want to thank our customers for their patience throughout the holiday weekend.”
Following this first phase of connecting to ERCOT, the City can now seek approval from the Public Utility Commission of Texas for the second phase, connecting the remaining 30 percent of LP&L’s system (about 24,000 customers).
LP&L customers can expect to see savings in power costs with the removal of expensive fixed capacity charges that aren’t required in ERCOT. Joining ERCOT also eliminates the need to build a new power plant at an estimated cost ranging from $350 million to $700 million.