Building scheduled to be completed by summer 2002

Fact Sheet

• The contractor for the Taylor facility, is the award-winning White Construction Company of Austin, Texas. Founded in 1971, White Construction has gained recognition as the builder of large, complex, and fast-track projects including corporate, manufacturing, healthcare, recreational and retail facilities. Currently, they are concluding construction on the ERCOT Austin 45,000 square-foot facility that is located at 7620 Metro Center Drive (located at the Met Center in south Austin). White Construction received a top honor from the Associated Builders and Contractors for its construction of the Dell Computer-Parmer South Office Building in Austin.
  
• Recognized as an industry leader in Mission Critical facilities, Ellerbe Becket provides a full range of architecture, engineering, interior, planning and construction services from office locations worldwide. Currently, they are putting the finishing touches on the ERCOT Austin 45,000 square-foot facility which will be completed for move-in, by May 2001. Other recently completed projects include the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) System Operations Control Center (Austin, Texas), Xcel Energy World Class Control Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota), and Amtrak Consolidated National Operations Center (Wilmington, Delaware).
  
• Effective April 2, 2001, ERCOT began a trial "Mock Market" in order to prepare for the start of the Pilot Program on June 1, 2001. By January 1, 2002, both individuals and corporations in most cities in Texas will be able to choose their power supplier. The ERCOT coverage areas will initially be serviced by a control center located at the nearly completed 45,000 square-foot facility in Austin. The power grid will be administered at this facility until the 85,000 square-foot Taylor facility is completed in the summer of 2002. Once completed, the Taylor facility will act as the primary control center, and the Austin facility will act as the back-up control center. It will also house the administrative staff and training facilities.
  
• Both the Austin and Taylor facilities will be staffed by crews 24-hours a day. If a natural disaster or other debilitating event incapacitates the Taylor ISO (once completed in 2002), the back-up facility in Austin will immediately take over without any interruption in the power supply.
  
• By 2002, approximately 40-50 employees will work at the Austin facility, while approximately 190-200 employees will staff the Taylor facility (located just 45 minutes north of the Austin facility). ERCOT currently employs 207 employees and is slated to employ nearly 250 employees by the end of 2001.
  
• The ERCOT coverage area serves 85 percent of the state. That expanse includes approximately 75 percent of the land area in Texas. ERCOT does not serve the El Paso region, the northern panhandle, a small area around Texarkana, and a small portion of the region around Beaumont.
  
• ERCOT helps keep the lights on in Texas and is one of ten regional reliability councils in North America. The organization currently oversees the operation of nearly 70,000 megawatts of generation and 37,000 miles of transmission lines in the State of Texas. The primary regulatory authority for ERCOT is the Public Utility Commission of Texas. ERCOT's members include retail consumers, investor and municipally owned electric utilities, rural electric co-ops, river authorities, independent generators, power marketers, and retail electric providers.