Recently, policy makers and some in academia have suggesed that ERCOT and the Eastern Grids should be more interconnected.  In fact, earlier this year a bill was filed in the U.S. Congress to require such an interconnection.  In this presentation, Jeff Billo will explore the technical challenges, benefits and other considerations associated with creating a stronger connection with the two grids.

Jeff Billo is the Director of Operations Planning at the Electrci Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). In this role he oversees load, wind, and solar forecasting, ancillary services, and grid analysis efforts at ERCOT.  Mr. Billo has been at ERCOT for twenty years.  Before his current position, he held various roles in the area of transmission planning and was one of the principal planners for the Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ) project.  Mr. Billo is active in the ERCOT stakeholder process and in various industry forums, including North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) committees and the Global Power System Tranformation (G-PST) consortium. He has also co-authored papers on the topics of transmission planning and wind generation.  Mr. Bill holds a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the The University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas.