(a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to implement Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA) §§34.0104, 34.0106, and 34.0108, which establish requirements and terms for loans to finance dispatchable electric generating facilities within the ERCOT region.
(b) Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in this section, have the following meanings unless the context indicates otherwise.
  (1) Borrower--An applicant to the Texas Energy Fund who is successfully awarded a loan under this section and executes a loan agreement with the commission.
  (2) Commercial operations date--The resource commissioning date, as defined in the ERCOT protocols, for the last generation resource that is part of an electric generating facility financed by a loan under this section.
  (3) Generation resource--Has the same meaning as defined in the ERCOT protocols.
  (4) 12-Month performance availability factor (PAF) --A metric calculated with ERCOT availability and real time (RT) telemetered data for each generation resource in an electric generating facility financed by a loan under this section. The PAF is computed as the average ratio of each generation resource's RT high sustainable limit (HSL) and its obligated capacity over a 12-month measurement period, expressed as a percentage. Intervals that occurred during an approved planned outage of a generation resource are excluded. The PAF is calculated as follows:
Attached Graphic
  (5) 12-Month planned outage factor (POF)--A metric calculated with ERCOT data for each generation resource in an electric generating facility financed by a loan under this section. The POF is computed as the percentage of time each generation resource spent in planned outages over a 12-month measurement period. The POF is calculated as follows:
Attached Graphic
(c) Eligibility.
  (1) A power generation company, municipally owned utility (MOU), electric cooperative, or river authority is eligible for a loan under this section. An electric utility other than a river authority is not eligible for a loan under this section.
  (2) The following are eligible for a loan under this section:
    (A) New construction of an electric generating facility having at least 100 megawatts (MW) of nameplate capacity with an output that can be controlled primarily by forces under human control. For purposes of this section, new construction of an electric generating facility means that the facility site has no existing point of interconnection to the ERCOT power region.
    (B) An upgrade to an existing electric generating facility that results in a net increase of at least 100 MW of nameplate capacity for the facility with an output that can be controlled primarily by forces under human control. For purposes of this section, an existing electric generating facility already has a point of interconnection to the ERCOT power region, and the upgrade does not require an additional point of interconnection to enable delivery of energy from the increased capacity.
    (C) A new or upgraded electric generating facility that is serving or will serve an industrial load or PUN, provided that the electric generating facility meets the following conditions: the portion of new nameplate capacity that will serve the industrial load or PUN must be less than 50 percent of the facility's total new nameplate capacity, and the remainder of new capacity serving the ERCOT market must be greater than 100 MW.
  (3) In addition, to be eligible for a loan under this section, a proposed electric generating facility must:
    (A) be designed to interconnect and provide power to the ERCOT region;
    (B) be designed to participate in the ERCOT wholesale market;
    (C) consist of one or more generation resources that interconnect to the ERCOT region through a single point of interconnection; and
    (D) be eligible to interconnect to the ERCOT region based on the attributes of the owners of the facility, according to the requirements in the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act (codified at Texas Business and Commerce Code §117.002).
  (4) The following activities are not eligible for a loan under this section:
    (A) Construction or operation of an electric energy storage facility.
    (B) Construction or operation of a natural gas transmission pipeline. For the purposes of this section, only the infrastructure necessary to connect an electric generating facility to a natural gas supply system may be considered part of the cost of the facility and eligible for a loan. Only those costs in support of new or upgraded capacity that is exclusively provided to the ERCOT region are eligible.
    (C) Construction of an electric generating facility that met the planning model requirements necessary to be included in the capacity, demand, and reserves report issued by ERCOT before June 1, 2023.
    (D) Construction or upgrade of an electric generating facility that will provide more than 50 percent of its nameplate capacity to an industrial load or PUN.
    (E) Construction or upgrade of an electric generating facility that is capable of switching service at its point of interconnection between ERCOT and another power region.
(d) Notice of intent to apply.
  (1) No earlier than May 1, 2024 and no later than May 31, 2024, an applicant must submit a notice of intent to apply in the manner prescribed by the commission. A corporate sponsor or parent may submit the notice of intent on behalf of a subsidiary applicant. Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, information submitted to the commission as part of the notice of intent to apply is confidential and not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code. The notice of intent to apply must include:
    (A) The applicant's legal name and the proposed name of the electric generating facility for which it seeks a loan;
    (B) The anticipated nameplate capacity of each generation resource in an electric generating facility proposed to be financed with a loan under this section, and if the proposed facility will serve an industrial load or PUN, the net nameplate capacity of each generation resource that will be dedicated to ERCOT;
    (C) The anticipated commercial operations date of each generation resource in the electric generating facility;
    (D) The amount of the loan requested; and
    (E) For each electric generating facility, if an applicant anticipates contributing equity in its application, a non-binding attestation demonstrating that the applicant, or a corporate sponsor or parent on the applicant's behalf, is capable of financing project-related costs not financed by a loan under this section.
  (2) Concurrent with the notice of intent to apply, the applicant, or a corporate sponsor or parent of the applicant, must separately file a letter with the commission stating the applicant's legal name and the MW capacity that the requested loan amount will finance.
(e) Application requirements and process. A loan application must be submitted in the form and in the manner prescribed by the commission. The application portal will be open for an eight-week window, beginning on June 1, 2024, at 12:00 a.m., and closing on July 27, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. The executive director may extend the application window by providing public notice of the extension at least 30 days prior to the previously announced closing date. The executive director may also open additional application windows if necessary to achieve the objectives of this section. A corporate sponsor or parent may submit an application on behalf of a subsidiary applicant. Information submitted to the commission as part of the loan application process is confidential and not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code. An application must include each of the requirements detailed in this subsection. An applicant may withdraw an application at any time while under commission review.
  (1) The applicant's legal name and the proposed name of the electric generating facility for which it requests a loan.
  (2) Amount of the loan requested.
  (3) The anticipated nameplate capacity of each generation resource in an electric generating facility proposed to be financed with a loan under this section, and in the case of an electric generating facility that will serve an industrial load or PUN, the nameplate capacity of each generation resource that is proposed to be dedicated to ERCOT and the anticipated maximum non-coincident peak demand of the industrial load or PUN.
  (4) Applicant information.
    (A) A copy of any information submitted to ERCOT regarding the applicant's attestation of market participant citizenship, ownership, or headquarters, if submitted, or a direct attestation of market participant citizenship, ownership, or headquarters, if such information has not yet been submitted to ERCOT;
Cont'd...