ERCOT Wholesale Market Subcommittee Meeting Notes - 11/2

Agenda

1)    Antitrust Admonition

2)    Agenda Review

3)    Approval of WMS Meeting Minutes (Vote)

a)    October 12, 2022

4)    Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Update

a)    TAC discussed the TAC structural review.

b)    There will be a requirement for the IMM to speak to their recommendations on revision in addition to ERCOT.

c)     The expedited revision request process was discussed as well.

5)    ERCOT Operations and Market Items

a)    Proposed Changes to Ancillary Service Methodology for 2023 (Vote)

i)      ERCOT presentation posted and given regarding the proposed Ancillary Service methodology for 2023

ii)    Solar and thermal ramp capability were raised as potential issues in determining amounts of resources to deploy. The appropriateness of forecasts and amounts will have to be reviewed in future years.

iii)   ECRS can be carried on offline quick start units.

iv)   ERCOT was asked about the timeline for the implementation to deploy ECRS. There is not an OBDRR that is tied to this, but they will draft a word document that explains the methodology. Commenters stated that good documentation would be extremely helpful to the industry.

v)     A question was asked about the net load forecast error used to deploy non-spin – whether it would be 10-hour ahead or 6-hour ahead. The commenter asked why it was necessary to buy more non-spin than ERCOT did this year. In reviewing the data for this year, ERCOT noticed that about 22% of the committed units did so based on the 10-hour ahead data. They are going to use 10-hour ahead for non-spin prior to ECRS deployment, and then after ECRS is implemented they will decrease the lead time to 6-hour ahead.

vi)   ERCOT was asked whether they expect more RUC’s in 2023 and answered that RUC behavior is controlled by the actions/issues that the control room sees, and stated that this methodology will help ensure a sufficient amount of headroom daily. Additional discussion of RUC occurred, but ERCOT asserted that they deployment of RUC’s, and right-sizing of RUC, was a discrete issue aside from AS methodology and should be discussed at WMWG.

vii)  ERCOT is targeting to launch ECRS in May. They intend to post the AS methodology for both pre- and post-ECRS.

viii)Endorsed as proposed on the combo ballot

b)    FFSS Results and Stakeholder Request for Offer Disclosure

i)      ERCOT previewed the FFSS webpage, which is under services & programs. Multiple documents, including the disclosure statements, are available.

ii)    There will be a revision request once additional direction is received from the Commission to clean up the FFSS program, hopefully prior to the solicitation period for the second procurement.

c)     2022 Q3 Unregistered Distributed Generation (DG) Report

i)      ERCOT presentation posted and given.

d)    2022 Q3 Settlement Stability Report

i)      ERCOT presentation posted and given.

ii)    They approved an ADR for 2/18/2021.

6)    New Protocol Revision Subcommittee (PRS) Referrals (Vote)

a)    NPRR1149, Implementation of Systematic Ancillary Service Failed Quantity Charges

i)      ERCOT summarized the revision including a daily automated check that they are inputting to address issues reveal during WS Uri, and changes to the calculations.

ii)    The IMM voiced support for this revision.

iii)   LCRA is drafting comments about the automation and applying a tolerance band to it.

iv)   The group requested that PRS continue to table for further review by WMWG. WMWG will discuss the proposed changes to the calculations.

7)    Market Credit Working Group (MCWG)

a)    Presentation posted and given by MCWG leadership.

8)    Wholesale Market Working Group (WMWG)

a)    Presentation posted and given by WMWG leadership.

b)    WMWG Leadership (Vote)

i)      WMWG leadership was confirmed on the combo ballot.

9)    Revision Requests Tabled at PRS or Reliability and Operations Subcommittee (ROS) and Referred to WMS (Possible Vote)

a)    NPRR1067, Market Entry Qualifications, Continued Participation Requirements, and Credit Risk Assessment (MCWG)

b)    NPRR1070, Planning Criteria for GTC Exit Solutions

c)     NPRR1138, Communication of Capability and Status of Online IRRs at 0 MW Output (WMWG)

i)      NPRR1138 was discussed in detail at WMWG. It was noted the ERCOT wants urgency on this revision, but WMWG may need to have more discussion on compensation such that the discussion time frame and ERCOT’s time frame may not match.

d)    NPRR1143, Provide ERCOT Flexibility to Determine When ESRs May Charge During an EEA Level 3 (WMWG)

i)      ERCOT is supposed to be bringing back information to answer questions about charging to the next WMWG meeting.

e)    NPRR1144, Station Service Backup Power Metering

i)      A second set of comments were submitted by Enel and Plus Power. Other commenters raised the issue of who was going to pay for the interconnection. Plus Power clarified that the interconnection is intended to be a back-up service, and that they would be paying for it out of their pocket for the distribution interconnection. However, it was noted that this aspect is not an ERCOT issue.

ii)    One TSP noted that the structure here goes against their interconnection practices.

iii)   Endorsed as amended by the 8/29/22 Joint Commenters comments, via separate ballot

f)     NPRR1145, Use of State Estimator-Calculated ERCOT-Wide TLFs in Lieu of Seasonal Base Case ERCOT-Wide TLFs for Settlement (WMWG)

g)    NPRR1146, Credit Changes to Appropriately Reflect TAO Exposure (MCWG)

h)    NOGRR215, Limit Use of Remedial Action Schemes

Break

10) WMS Revision Requests Tabled at WMS (Possible Vote)

a)    VCMRR031, Clarification Related to Variable Costs in Fuel Adders (RCWG)

b)    VCMRR033, Excluding Exceptional Fuel Costs from Fuel Adders (WMWG)

c)     VCMRR034, Excluding RUC Approved Fuel Costs from Fuel Adders (WMWG)

d)    VCMRR035, Allow Verified Contractual Costs in Fuel Adder Calculation (WMWG)

11) Combo Ballot (Vote)

a)    Ballot passed

12) Supply Analysis Working Group (SAWG)

a)    Presentation posted and given by SAWG leadership. They covered two studies about zonal supply delivery and effective load carrying capacity. The firm that performed these studies summarized their findings.

b)    The presentation also covered the recent reserve margin study for 2023, which will begin in January.

13) Demand Side Working Group (DSWG)

a)    DSWG leadership provided a verbal update.

b)    The DR survey was returned to ERCOT on 10/31 and ERCOT is working to summarize the responses.

c)     On 11/10/22 ERCOT will host a workshop on DR, ancillary services, and feeder considerations.

d)    The ADER pilot project continues and TDSP’s have begun filing their interest with the PUC. The PUC is working on the form to facilitate DR’s joining the pilot. The governing document was approved by the Board.

e)    The Commission’s comments around the ability of load to provide non-spin was raised as an issue that should be discussed.

f)     Another idea raised was the potential to expand the pilot into AS beyond non-spin. This will on the DSWG December agenda, pending input from DER task force members.

14) Other Business        

a)    2023 ERCOT Membership/Segment Representative Elections

i)      Applications and fee are due on November 18^th, and elections will begin shortly thereafter.

b)    Review Open Action Items

i)      CDR and Winter SARA reports will be released in the last week of November.

c)     No Report

i)      Congestion Management Working Group (CMWG)

ii)    Market Settlement Working Group (MSWG)

iii)   Meter Working Group (MWG)

iv)   Resource Cost Working Group (RCWG)

15) Adjourn