Meeting Summary - 05/01 WMS Meeting - Webex Only

3 - Approval of WMS Meeting Minutes - Vote - Eric Blakey

3.1 - April 3, 2024

• Placed on Combo ballot

4 - Technical Advisory Committee - TAC - Update - Eric Blakey

• NOGRR245 was discussed, ultimately approved at TAC, but remanded back to TAC by the board.
• TAC will have a workshop on May 10th and a regular scheduled meeting on May 22nd, with a possible special meeting on June 10th.
• ECRS was discussed, currently in NPRR1224 which is pending at PRS
• TAC endorsed the San Antonio Southern Reliability Two project, later approved by ERCOT Board, discussing proposed revisions to the board policies and procedures.

5 - ERCOT Operations and Market Items

5.1 - 2024 Q1 Settlement Stability Report - Magie Shanks

• No price corrections occurred in Q1 after initial settlements
• A resettlement occurred due to a non-price error on January 1st through January fourth operating days
• 100% of dispute resolutions were timely
• Average percent change from previous real-time settlements showed a small spike in February due to load changes and RUC fuel dispute
• Settlement metrics for real-time and day-ahead market were presented
• ESI ID consumption data availability was discussed
• Net allocations to load by congestion management zone were shown
• Presentation concluded with securitization default charge data and securitization uplift charge data for the previous 13 months

5.2 - 2024 Q1 and 2023 Annual Unregistered Distributed Generation - DG - report - Dan Mantena

• 2023 Annual Unregistered Distributed Generation report presented by Dan Mantena
• Total unregistered DG for 2023 was 2572 megawatts
• 29% growth in unregistered DG between 2022 and 2023.
• 2024 Q1 unregistered DG total was 2608 megawatts, mostly solar.
• Net change of 105 megawatts between the last two quarters, mostly from solar
• Quarterly growth over time with the recent quarter at the far right

6 - Congestion Management Working Group - CMWG - Alex Miller

• ESRs presentation update with slight changes, posted for review.
• Challenges with CRR auction solution - long run execution times and delays, ERCOT is enforcing 400,000 total bid limits for multi-month products until resolved. Market notice to be sent when the limit is lifted.
• Update on SCR819 “not to exceed methodology implementation”, expected to be released in June.

6.1 - CMWG Leadership - Vote

• CMWG Leadership placed on combo ballot.

7 - Demand Side Working Group - DSWG - Leadership

7.2 - Chair Nathaniel Mancha, BP

• Nathaniel Mancha has stepped in as the new chair and will be confirmed through a vote.
• Discussion on NPRR1217, which involves the removal of VDIs for ERS and load resource deployments.
• Request to ERCOT to understand the impact of eliminating VDIs and working solely off XMLs for ERS and load resource deployments.
• Discussion on weather-sensitive deployment changes to bring ERS deployments in line with measurements and other changes.
• Clarifications on technical requirements, scope, and language changes for ERS.
• Discussion on resettlements for June through September 2023, including problems with VDIs and XML files for deployment.
• A focus on identifying barriers to demand response, distributed generation, and how this is affecting SCED deployments.

8 - Metering Working Group - MWG - Michael Blum

• The MWG guidelines are being refreshed, with minor changes to links and verbiage.
• A presentation from Snyder Electric discussed current limiting reactors and accounting for losses, proposing a line loss methodology and changes in SMOGRR028 language.
• A TDSP suggested locating current limiting reactors in a way that discourages losses on the utility side of the meter.
• No action is recommended at this time for SMOGRR028, awaiting edits.
• Loss compensation worksheet is being refreshed in anticipation of current limiting reactors being incorporated.
• ERCOT is exploring means to address energy storage resources co-located with retail load.
• NPRR1200 is recommended to be tabled until SMOGRR028 is further refined.

9 - Supply Analysis Working Group - SAWG - Kevin Hanson

• Pete Warnken gave presentations on the cone study and the weight average cost capital
• LTSA fee structure for peaking units to be clarified with Brattle
• Proposal to PUC for further WACC study.
• Brattle reduced turbine count for the LM6000PC from eight to six
• ERCOT filed Phase 3 and 4 portfolio simulations with the PUC on April 4th
• VOLL survey had a soft launch on March 26th, survey to be completed by end of Q3.
• NPRR1219 discussion on energy storage and LCC calculation approaches
• New load Forecast presented will be included in the May 2024 CDR
• Further discussion on the CONE NPRR planned for next month.
• Presentation on planned project success rate analysis by Dan Mantena.

10 - Wholesale Market Working Group - WMWG - Kevin Hanson

• ERCOT and TCPA provided comments on NPRR1216
• NPRR1216 requires ERCOT adding a 15-minute system LAMBDA, and fuel plus non-fuel marginal costs will be covered under the emergency pricing plan.
• NPRR1216 is ready for a vote at WMS with the 3/26 TCPA and 04/17 ERCOT comments.
• NPRR1190 is ready for a vote at WMS.

11 - Verifiable Cost Manual Revision Requests - Ino Gonzalez

11.1 - VCMRR040, Methodology for Calculating Fuel Adders for Coal-Fired Resources

• Proposal aims to eliminate the requirement for ERCOT to purchase an annual coal price subscription, saving money and quarterly manual calculations for fuel adders
• Coal resources would receive a default fuel adder of $0.50/MMBtu, with the option to submit based on actual costs if needed
• Process closely resembles that of submitting actual fuel adders for natural gas resources, with a 6-month rolling period for coal rather than a 12-month for natural gas.
• Proposal urgency discussed, with the possibility of avoiding one manual process if approved urgently, but ultimately decided to proceed on a normal timeline
• Decision made to bring the proposal forward for discussion in the next month, with consideration of an additional VCMRR041.

11.2 - VCMRR041, SO2 and NOX Emission Prices Used in Verifiable Cost Calculations

• ERCOT has been calculating emissions costs for years by multiplying the provided emissions rates with a price for SO2 and NOX and adding it to the verifiable O&M.
• Over the last 4-5 years, the prices for SO2 and NOX have remained constant at around $2 and $3 respectively.
• ERCOT is recommending to continue using these fixed prices but not subscribe to the vendor for the prices, as the impact of these emissions costs in dollars per Megawatt hour is minimal.
• Although prices have been stable, there's concern about potential regulatory changes, but ERCOT believes they can subscribe to new prices fairly quickly if needed.
• There's a suggestion to refer the discussion to the RCWG for further evaluation before moving it forward, and it's agreed to be discussed at the next WMS meeting.

12 - WMS Revision Requests Tabled at WMS - Possible Vote - Eric Blakey

12.1 - SMOGRR028, Add Series Reactor Compensation Factors - MWG

• No questions or comments, remains tabled at MWG

12.2 - VCMRR039, Related to NPRR1216, Implementation of Emergency Pricing Program - WMWG

• TCPA's comments were taken into account and included in the discussion, and the group expressed their willingness to move forward as long as TCPA's comments were included.
• Concerns were raised about ERCOT potentially recovering more than the short run marginal costs and how ERCOT plans to manage that. ERCOT mentioned their approach and the need for verification of incremental costs.

13 - Revision Requests Tabled at PRS and Referred to WMS - Possible Vote - Eric Blakey

13.1 - NPRR1070, Planning Criteria for GTC Exit Solutions

• No new updates were reported on NPRR1070.

13.2 - NPRR1190, High Dispatch Limit Override Provision for Increased NOIE Load Costs - WMWG

• Kevin Hanson from WMWG reported that the review for NPRR1190 was completed and ready for WMS to take action.
• Four options were discussed: doing nothing, accepting the Austin Energy proposal, accepting the Reliant proposal, or accepting the Eric Goff proposal. ERCOT did not express an opinion on any of the options.
• Blake Holt of LCRA suggested that HDL overrides are necessary for system security, and ERCOT should cover the costs during the time lag when manual action is needed.
• LCRA supported the reliant version of NPRR1190 and made a motion to approve it, which was seconded by Austin Energy.
• Eric Goff emphasized limiting how and when payments are made for HDL overrides, stating that it's inappropriate to pay a generator to back down due to system constraints, comparing it to reduced payments due to transmission congestion. He opposed the motion.
• Bill Barnes expressed support for either version, stating that if policies for payments are made to some LSEs, it should be available to all LSEs.
• Ino Gonzalez clarified that the comments submitted by ERCOT do not impact the operational side of the business, only the settlement side.
• Brittney Albracht confirmed that the black line language will be trued up next time there is a report on NPRR1190.
• Fei Xie expressed concern that under the proposed versions, no QSEs would be able to meet the requirement for payment for HDL override, and no QSEs would receive any payment.
• Eric Goff responded that inappropriate payments are occurring more often due to the frequency of manual actions, emphasizing the need to fix the problem instead of increasing its magnitude.
• A stand-alone ballot to endorse NPRR1190 as amended by the Reliant comments was conducted and passed with the consumer segment objecting, and two abstentions, one from the consumer segment and one from the cooperative segment.

13.3 - NPRR1200, Utilization of Calculated Values for Non-WSL for ESRs - MWG

• MWG requested that NPRR1200 remain tabled for the SMOGRR028.
• Further discussion and considerations were presented regarding the utilization of calculated values for Non-WSL for ESRs.

13.4 - NPRR1202, Refundable Deposits for Large Load Interconnection Studies

• NPRR1202 is pending LFLTF.
• Need to determine how to handle refundable deposits for large load interconnection studies.
• Concerns raised about potential financial impacts and fairness in the deposit process.
• Discussion on potential options for managing refundable deposits for large load interconnection studies.
• Additional details on potential options required for further analysis and consideration.

13.5 - NPRR1214, Reliability Deployment Price Adder Fix to Provide Locational Price Signals, Reduce Uplift and Risk - CMWG

• NPRR1214 CMWG requested to remain tabled

13.6 - NPRR1216, Implementation of Emergency Pricing Program - WMWG

• NPRR1216 placed on the combo ballot.

13.7 - OBDRR051, Related to NPRR1216, Implementation of Emergency Pricing Program - Possible Vote

• OBDRR051 remains tabled at TAC.

13.8 - NPRR1219, Methodology Revisions and New Definitions for the Report on Capacity Demand and Reserves in the ERCOT Region - CDR, SAWG

• NPRR1219 SAWG is continuing discussion.

14 - Combo Ballot - Vote - Eric Blakey

• April 3, 2024 WMS Meeting Minutes - To approve the April 3, 2024 WMS meeting minutes as submitted.
• CMWG Leadership - To endorse Chair Alex Miller, EDF; Co Vice Chair Beverly Loew, Goff Policy; Co Vice Chair Chenyan Guo, NextEra.
• DSWG Leadership - To endorse Chair Nathaniel Mancha, BP.
• VCMRR039 - To recommend approval of VCMRR039 as submitted.
• NPRR1216 - To endorse NPRR1216 as amended by the 04/17/24 ERCOT comments.
• Motion to approve the combo ballot passed unanimously.

15 - Other Business - Eric Blakey

15.1 - Review Open Action Items - Jim Lee

• Discussion focused on reviewing the impacts of existing and proposed EPA regulations on the ERCOT market, grid reliability, and the future resource mix,
• Recommend WMS move forward with review.
• The discussion indicated the need for ERCOT support and stakeholder discussions on the impacts of the EPA rule.
• Emphasis on monitoring the regulations at a higher level and potential challenges or compliance with EPA regulations.

15.2 - FFSS - Ryan King

• Presentation at WMS summarized firm fuel resource performance during January winter watch
• Received questions from stakeholders about performance issues observed
• Issues were not caused by freezing temperatures but were due to unplanned outages.