I’ve been working with MIP solvers a lot at work recently, and the depth of black magic is so deep it’s hard to comprehend. Even after the presolve there are so many tradeoffs and structures to exploit it’s hard to understand the whole system
I agree with your premise, but I think it’s also important to reconcile this with the idea that nothing is simple. Everything that’s made is usually much more complex than it appears in the surface
ERCOT operates under a “connect and manage” interconnection philosophy. This means things can actually get built quickly (unlike other ISOs), but some management is required.
Of course, there are some downsides to this approach, but overall I think it’s a superior. Just look at renewable and battery penetration compared to other ISOs.
Maybe the technical requirements at the time were a good excuse but as soon as you demonstrate the market will tolerate that why on earth would you remove it?
Grids need reliability. Battery tech is not close to providing long enough durations to fulfill load with just renewables. I would much rather have nukes than natural gas filling that role.