12/10/2025 Texas RE Board of Directors Meeting Summary

1 – Call to Order

The meeting of the Texas Reliability Entity Board of Directors was called to order.

2 – Antitrust Admonition

The Antitrust Admonition was displayed for participants.

3 – Consent Agenda (Vote)

One item was on the consent agenda: approval of the 09/17/2025 meeting minutes.
A motion to adopt the minutes was made and seconded.
The minutes were adopted with no opposition.

4 – Remarks and Reports

See sections 4.1–4.5 for details of reports.

4.1 – Keynote Remarks by Pablo Vegas, ERCOT President & Chief Executive Officer

Speaker: Pablo Vegas

Pablo Vegas thanked attendees and emphasized the importance of his annual remarks for ERCOT’s reliability mission.
He highlighted ERCOT’s newly launched vision and mission:

• Vision: “To be the most reliable and innovative grid in the world.”
• Mission: “Ensure reliable grid each day through competitive and cost-efficient markets.”

Key themes included:

• Continued progress in transmission planning and implementation
• Market design changes including real-time co-optimization
• The need for innovation to manage rapid operational change and energy sector transformation
• Ongoing security exercises and collaboration efforts
• Growth in interconnection and generation capability, including major progress in solar, storage, and natural gas
• 2026 challenges including large load interconnection and resource adequacy tools
• Congestion and winter reliability risks due to variability in resource availability

Pablo also responded to concerns about the financial feasibility of firmware updates for wind and solar facilities due to new standards, confirming ERCOT’s continued collaboration with NERC and FERC.

4.2 – Remarks by Kal Ayoub, Director, Office of Electric Reliability, FERC

Speaker: Kal Ayoub

Kal Ayoub noted he was honored to attend and clarified that his remarks were his own and not representative of the Commission.

Highlights included:

• Recognition of Texas RE’s reliability and cybersecurity efforts, including board packages, newsletters, webinars, standards review, and dashboards
• Praise for ERCOT’s cooperation on black start preparedness and the PUCT partnership
• Overview of FERC OER mission: protect and improve reliability/security, review NERC standards, and conduct cybersecurity audits
• Mention of the new FERC Chairman Laura Swett and priorities including reducing regulatory burden, increasing transparency, and rebuilding workforce
• DOE ANOPR focus on large loads such as AI data centers and the need for NERC/ERO adaptation
• Emphasis on Texas’s significance in large load growth and renewable development

4.3 – Remarks by Suzanne Keenan, NERC Board of Trustees

Speaker: Suzanne Keenan

Suzanne Keenan, Chair of the NERC Board of Trustees, emphasized the responsibility of ensuring reliability and security of the North American bulk power system.

Key points included:

• Reliability as a national security obligation amid growing energy consumption and increasing inverter-based resources
• NERC’s shift toward anticipating emerging threats rather than only resolving past events
• Importance of modernizing standards and registering IBRs
• Commitment to improving engagement, coordination, and communication across NERC and regions
• A new strategic engagement committee to strengthen NERC and E-ISAC outreach
• Culture shift from compliance-focused work toward reliability-focused outcomes
• Need for forward-looking strategies using probabilistic analysis, robust data coordination, and credible validation

4.4 – Remarks by Jim Robb, NERC President & Chief Executive Officer

Speaker: Jim Robb

Jim Robb was welcomed back to Texas and praised for leadership in reliability advocacy and enterprise consistency.
He congratulated Texas RE on workplace recognition and highlighted Texas’s leadership in grid reliability and innovation.

Key NERC initiatives discussed:

MSPP (Modernized Standards, Processes, and Procedures):

• Streamlining reliability standards development
• Recommendations expected within the next month
• Target to cut standards development time roughly in half
• Extensive stakeholder engagement (~5,200 participants over the past year)

Large Load Integration:

• Focus on reliable integration of large data center loads
• Noted the 1,700 MW Virginia load drop event
• Task force white papers on reliability risks and requirement gaps
• A Level 2 alert to gather large load data, with a report expected to FERC in January

Modernizing oversight:

• Streamlined low-risk violation processing
• New abeyance period for certain standards
• Reduced cycle times and improved productivity across regions

Energy assessments:

• Piloting continental-wide assessments for reliability evaluation
• Resource adequacy risks highlighted due to rapid load growth
• Recent small load shed events cited as evidence of system fragility

Jim emphasized the need for action within the next 18 months to address infrastructure vulnerabilities.

4.5 – Chief Executive Officer’s Report

Speaker: Jim Albright

Jim Albright expressed gratitude for collaboration and emphasized Texas reliability priorities, including proactive work on IBR integration and winterization.

Key updates included:

• Recognition of new and reelected MRC members and thanks to departing members
• Continued budget process discussions for the upcoming year
• Approval of the 2026 business plan budget
• FERC approval of the regional delegation agreement, extending operations continuity for five more years
• Leadership transition: Chair Corbett passing the role to the new chair Ashby, with Corbett remaining as vice chair
• Appreciation for outgoing chair Corbett’s service and ongoing involvement

5 – Audit, Governance, Risk, and Finance Committee Meeting Report

Crystal Ashby provided the report for the Audit, Governance, Risk, and Finance Committee Meeting.
The committee met earlier in the day.
Suzanne Spaulding was selected to serve as the AGR&F chair for 2026.

6 – Director Compensation Committee Report

The Director Compensation Committee (DCC) met on October 15, 2025.
The DCC voted to adjust the independent director compensation to include an annual retainer for the DCC chair.
No other changes were made.

The Nominating Committee met on August 20, 2025.
The committee recommended Crystal Ashby as the Texas RE board chair and Jeff Corbett as the board vice chair for 2026.

7 – Revisions to Board Policies and Procedures (Vote)

A motion was made to approve changes to the board policies and procedures to memorialize the compensation change.
The vote passed in favor with no opposition.

8 – Nominating Committee Report and Recommendation – 2026 Board

A motion to approve the nominations was made and seconded.
The nominations were approved unanimously.
Crystal Ashby was elected as chair and Corbett as vice chair.

9 – 2026 Corporate Goals and Focus Areas

Texas RE reported strong progress on 2025 corporate goals and outlined 2026 focus areas centered on reliability, security, workforce, and mission execution.

Highlights included:

• Successful progress toward 2025 corporate goals
• Over 125 formal touchpoints in 2025 (workshops, webinars, advisory sessions)
• Continued leadership across the ERO enterprise and reliability culture initiatives
• Workplace culture efforts including give back day and quarterly town halls
• Enhanced reporting mechanisms and KPI development
• Annual risk assessment and coordination with ERCOT
• Focus on energy engagement, cyber/physical security, AI implications, and reliability assessments
• Efficiency efforts to reduce minimal-risk issue inventory to the lowest level since 2017

10 – Texas RE’s Chief Engineer’s Report

Speaker: Mark Henry

Mark Henry presented winter assessment and reliability trends, highlighting:

• Winter reliability risks driven by cold weather and resource variability
• Ongoing winterization collaboration for generators and transmission systems
• Active coordination with the Railroad Commission and ERCOT on inspection/compliance
• Wildfires as an emerging risk factor and related emergency management coordination
• Continued work on inverter-based resource performance, modeling, and standards development
• Large load growth (data centers and other industries) and its operational challenges
• Supply chain pressures, including transformer core steel constraints impacting grid integration

11 – NERC Program Area Reports

Directors were directed to the program reports included in the meeting materials packet.
Directors were available for any questions regarding the program reports.

12 – Other Business & Future Agenda Items

No other items of business were raised before the meeting adjourned.
The open meeting was adjourned without additional discussion.

15 – Adjourn Meeting

A decision was made to adjourn to executive session.

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