#12 Additional question: Are there long term commitment issues of negative localized pricing?  How does a fossil fuel plant survive in an area of a constrained intermittent portfolio?  DA market vs Secondary market?
The concern is that "letting the market work" (by allowing the wind farms to use their Production Tax Credits to set the price for the entire Western Zone at less than $zero) will adversely impact the financial viability of all the other units in the west.  And if (when?) the fossil fueled units take that price signal and depart the market, how will the voltage profile in the western half of ERCOT be kept in an acceptable range?  Does the west have enough import capability to meet the entire load if all wind generation is experiencing doldrums and there are no other resources left?  Is this a matter of a market issue impacting relaibility?  Does the market need to address the value of synchronous condensors for reliability?