[00:00:01]
OKAY.[1. Call General Session to Order]
TO ORDER THE GENERAL SESSION OF THE TECHNOLOGY AND SECURITY COMMITTEE MEETING.UM, WE'LL START WITH THE SECURITY ADMONITION, UM, WHICH SHOULD BE IN FRONT OF YOU.
UM, AND, UH, AND ALSO, UH, NEXT, THE, THE NOTICE OF PUBLIC COMMENT.
I DO NOT BELIEVE THERE ARE ANY PUBLIC COMMENTS.
[3. October 16, 2023 General Session Meeting Minutes]
LET'S START THEN WITH THE MINUTES.UM, THESE ARE THE MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 16TH, UH, GENERAL SESSION MEETING.
I ASSUME EVERYONE'S LOOKED AT THEM.
ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THE MINUTES? IF NOT, CAN I HAVE A MOTION TO APPROVE PLEASE? SO MOVED.
[4. Recommendation regarding Committee Charter]
FOUR, UH, ON THE AGENDA IS THE COMMITTEE CHARTER.AS YOU RECALL, WE LOOKED AT THIS LAST TIME, UH, AND, AND THIS IS A, IS A MOTION TO MAKE A RECOMMENDATION TO THE FULL BOARD ON THE COMPOSITION OF THE CHARTER.
UM, JOHN, DO YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS THAT YOU'D LIKE TO MAKE ABOUT THE CHARTER FOR THE MEMBERS? UM, I COULD JUST ADD A COUPLE OF COMMENTS AND WE, BASED ON THE COMMITTEE FEEDBACK FROM THE LAST MEETING, WE DID HAVE ONE SECTION TO THE DRAFT CHARTER, UH, TO ADD DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES RELATED TO GRID TRANSFORMATION, WHICH FROM THE COMMITTEE'S DISCUSSION, UH, THE COMMITTEE WANTED THAT TO BE PART OF THE COMMITTEE'S SCOPE.
UH, THERE WERE A FEW OTHER EDITS THAT WE HAD RECEIVED FROM, UH, VARIOUS COMMITTEE MEMBERS, UH, PRIOR, I THINK, TO THE LAST MEETING, AND THOSE WERE ROLLED INTO THE DRAFT ALSO.
SO, UH, WE THINK THAT THE DRAFT IS READY.
AND THE ONLY OTHER COMMENT I WOULD MAKE IS THAT, UH, OUR PHILOSOPHY, I THINK WITH ALL OF THE NEW COMMITTEES IS THAT THE CHARTER IS KIND OF AN ORGANIC DOCUMENT, AND IT CAN BE OPENED, REVISED ANY TIME.
THERE'S NO REASON THE COMMITTEE CAN'T DO THAT DOWN THE ROAD IF THEY, YOU KNOW, WANT TO CONTINUE TO WORK ON IT.
YOU KNOW, AS ALL OF YOU KNOW, I THINK WE'RE STILL FEELING OUR WAY A LITTLE BIT IN TERMS OF SCOPE AND AND RESPONSIBILITIES.
SO, UH, I'M SURE WE WILL MODIFY THE COMMITTEE CHARTER AS WE GO FORWARD.
LET'S GET INTO THE MEAT OF THINGS THEN.
THAT'S, UM, THAT WAS A, A VOTING ITEM, SO IF THE COMMITTEE'S READY, WE CAN TAKE ON THAT.
THIS IS, SO, SO WHAT YOU'RE VOTING ON IS A RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD TO APPROVE THE CHARTER.
SO IF I COULD HAVE A MOTION, PLEASE.
[5.1 Projects Update]
GO ON WITH GIANT AND THE, UH, UH, PROJECT UPDATE.UM, SO I'M GONNA GIVE YOU A SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT DELIVERIES IN, UH, 2023.
UM, I WOULD SAY THAT, UM, OUR PRIMARY CHALLENGES CONTINUE TO BE HOW GOOD WE ARE IN EXECUTING GREENFIELD PROJECTS.
SO THAT'S AN PLACE WHERE WE CONTINUE TO IMPROVE.
UM, ANOTHER CHALLENGE IS TO PROPERLY PLAN AND MAY MANAGE OUR RESOURCES UNDER VARYING CIRCUMSTANCES.
PROJECT DEMANDS IN GENERAL HAVE INCREASED OVER TIME.
CAN I HAVE ONE GENERAL COMMENT? BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE IN THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS, UM, I WOULD SAY THAT WE ARE EXPERIENCING NOW THE BENEFITS OF GOVERNANCE CHANGES THAT WE HAVE IMPLEMENTED IN THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS WITH RESPECT TO HOW ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE AND IT ARCHITECTURE WORK WITH BUSINESS IT AND PMO IMPLEMENTING COMPLEX PROGRAMS. I EXPECT MORE STRENGTH IN THIS DIRECTION, WHICH IN TURN WILL HELP US TO DELIVER SOLUTIONS THAT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT LONGER TERM IMPACTS OF A CHANGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT, AS WELL AS FUTURE TECHNOLOGY MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS COSTS.
IN THE NEXT TWO SLIDES, I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THE TOP 10 PROJECTS FROM A COST PERSPECTIVE AND HOW WELL WE PERFORMED IN TERMS OF DELIVERING THEM IN BOTH FROM A BUDGET PERSPECTIVE AND SCHEDULE PERSPECTIVE, COMPARING THE FIGURES BETWEEN WHAT WAS PLANNED AT THE GATE TO EXECUTION AND WHAT WAS ACHIEVED AT THE END.
UM, I'LL BE TALKING ABOUT VARIANCES THAT ARE MORE THAN 10%.
[00:05:02]
SO ON THIS BUDGET PERFORMANCE, UH, SLIDE, THE ENTERPRISE COLLABORATION SOFTWARE, WHICH WE UPGRADED FROM LEGACY TO MODERN ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE MANAGING ERCOT INTRANET, DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT, AND REAL TIME COLLABORATION.THIS PROJECT ACTUALLY HAD A 200 K, UM, POSITIVE VARIANCE IN THE SENSE THAT WE SPENT LESS, AND THIS WAS DUE TO PRIMARILY OVER FORECASTING OF LABOR THAT IT WOULD TAKE TO DELIVER THE PROJECT.
UH, THE SECOND BUDGET VARIANCES WAS IN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW ANCILLARY SERVICE, ERCOT CONTINGENCY RESERVE SERVICE, WHICH IS DISPATCHED BY SC.
AND THIS WAS IMPLEMENTED IN JUNE, 2023.
THERE WERE A COUPLE OF REASONS FOR A BUDGET VARIANCE FOR OF ALMOST 40%, WHICH IS ABOUT 700 K.
AND THIS WAS BECAUSE OF A COUPLE OF NPRS THAT WERE PASSED AFTER THE GET TO EXECUTION, WHICH NEEDED TO BE INCLUDED, SOME MISSED IMPACTS TO REPORTS AND DASHBOARDS, AND THEN FINALLY SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN, UH, TESTING AND, AND DEFECT RESOLUTION.
SO THOSE WERE THE PRIMARY REASONS FOR THE BUDGET VARIANCE.
AND THEN I AM GOING TO GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE TO TALK ABOUT SCHEDULE VARIANCES.
THE FIRST ONE WAS, UM, A SOFTWARE APPLICATION FOR MONITORING PERFORMANCE APPLICATION PERFORMANCE.
AND THEN, AND THIS ONE, THERE WAS A MINOR ONE AND A HALF MONTH DELAY, PRIMARILY DUE TO CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS THAT TOOK LONGER THAN WE HAD ORIGINALLY PLANNED.
THE SECOND, UM, SECOND ITEM HERE WITH A HIGHER SCHEDULE VARIANCE IS THE, UM, UPGRADE TO PSSE VERSION 35, UM, FOR, FOR THE MODELS.
AND THIS ONE WAS BECAUSE OF SOME LOSS OF EXPERIENCE RESOURCES, AS WELL AS, UH, A REVISION REQUEST THAT CAME IN AFTER THE GATE TO GATE TO EXECUTION.
SO THOSE WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT DROVE THE FOUR AND A HALF MONTH, UH, DELAY AS COMPARED TO WHAT WAS PLANNED AT GATE TO EXECUTION.
NOW THE NEXT SLIDE GIVES YOU A KIND OF AN OVERVIEW OF, UM, THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS.
JAY, THERE'S A QUESTION ON THE FLOOR.
UM, ACTUALLY, THE, THE VARIANCES ARE VERY SMALL IN TERMS OF COST, REALLY? YEAH.
UM, YOU HAVE SIGNIFICANT VARIANCE.
I'M LOOKING AT THE LAST ITEM, FOR EXAMPLE, 2%, UH, CHANGE IN COST AND 35% IN TIME.
USUALLY, AT LEAST IN, IN MY INDUSTRY, WHEN THERE'S A A DELAY IN SCHEDULE, THE COST IMPACT IS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER.
UH, AND I WANTED TO KNOW IF YOU'RE CAPTURING ALL THE, ALL THE COST MEANING INEFFICIENCY OF LABOR, FOR EXAMPLE, THIS KIND OF THING.
UM, YOU KNOW, IF YOU ASKED ME WHICH PART OF THE COST IS MORE DIFFICULT FOR CAPTURING, UM, IT'S WHEN PEOPLE WORK ON THE PROJECTS AND DO NOT CHARGE TO THE PROJECTS.
AND I WOULD SAY THAT IN THE PAST YEAR WE HAVE MADE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN, IN MAKING SURE THAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY CHARGE TO THE PROJECTS.
SO IF I GO BACK A COUPLE OF YEARS, I WOULD SAY THAT THE ERROR IN CAPTURING LABOR WOULD BE MUCH HIGHER THAN WHAT IT IS NOW.
WE'RE NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET.
RIGHT NOW, I WOULD SAY THAT THE CHARGES TO PROJECTS COMING FROM PROJECT MANAGEMENT IS PRETTY ACCURATE FROM IT IS REASONABLY ACCURATE.
AND THEN FROM BUSINESS, IT'S STILL CHALLENGING.
WE ARE STILL WORKING ON GETTING THEM TO CHARGE TO THE PROJECTS.
SO IT'S THE SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS THAT ARE THE, THE PROBLEM
BUT AT THE SAME TIME, IF I TAKE A PROJECT AND SEE WHERE IS THE MAJORITY OF THE LABOR COMING FROM, IT WOULD MOSTLY BE IT AND, UM, AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT AS OPPOSED TO BUSINESS.
SO EVEN IF THERE IS A LARGE PERCENTAGE ERROR IN THE BUSINESS AREAS, THE OVERALL IMPACT ON THE PROJECT WOULD GENERALLY BE LOWER.
I GUESS JUST AS A COMMENT, UH, I, I WOULD INFER FROM THAT, THAT LIKELY YOU'RE NOT CAPTURING ALL YOUR OVERHEAD AND YOUR
[00:10:01]
INDIRECTS.SO I I HAVE TO MAKE A CAUTION, WHICH IS IN YOUR EFFICIENCY, OOPS, SORRY, I HAVE TO MAKE A CAUTION.
IF YOU DON'T KNOW THAT THEY, WHAT THEY'RE CHARGING TO, THEN YOU DON'T KNOW THAT THEY'RE NOT CHARGING CORRECTLY.
ARE YOU ASSUMING THEY'RE NOT CHARGING CORRECTLY BECAUSE YOUR OVERHEAD CHARGES ARE GOING WAY UP? I MEAN, WHERE IS IT GOING IF THEY'RE NOT CHARGING IT TO THE PROJECT? THE, THE, THE CHARGES, IT'S NOT LIKE AN, THERE'S NOT LIKE A BUCKET FOR OVERHEAD.
IT'S EACH PERSON HAS A TASK ASSIGNED TO THEM AND A SPECIFIC NUMBER OF HOURS THAT THEY HAVE TOLD US IT WOULD TAKE FOR THEM TO EXECUTE THE TASK.
SOMETIMES THEY COMPLETE THE TASK AND MAY NOT ACTUALLY CHARGE THE FULL TIME ALLOCATED.
THEN THEY SPENT EITHER SPENT LESS TIME ON IT, OR YOU'RE PAYING FOR IT IN SOME OTHER BUCKET.
SO SOME OTHER BUCKET HAS TO GO OUTTA WHACK IN OR, SO YOUR, YOUR, YOUR, YOUR ASSUMPTION THAT THEY'RE CHARGING INCORRECTLY IS PROBABLY TRUE BECAUSE PEOPLE AREN'T PERFECT, BUT THE MAGNITUDE OF THE LACK OF CHARGING IS UNKNOWN UNLESS YOU'RE SHOWING AN OVERCHARGE SOMEWHERE ELSE, AN OVERAGE SOMEWHERE ELSE.
SO I'M ONLY CAUTIONING YOU ABOUT PUTTING A BLANKET STATEMENT OUT THAT THAT'S THE BIGGEST PROBLEM.
UM, WE ONLY TRACK PROJECT TIME, BY THE WAY.
THE, THE REST OF THE TIME IS NOT, IT'S NOT ALL TIME IS NOT TRACKED.
THEY DON'T TRACK NON-PROJECT TIME FOR THE SUBJECT MATTER, THE OPERATIONS PEOPLE AND THE SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS.
SO IS THAT BUDGET OUTTA WHACK OR NOT? I I'M JUST PUTTING IT OUT THERE THAT IF YOU'RE JUST TO MAKE A BLANK BLANKET STATEMENT, YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOME DATA TO LEAD YOU THAT WAY.
I JUST DON'T, EVERYTHING'S WITHIN TOTAL BUDGET IS WHAT YOU'RE TELLING ME.
WHAT, WHAT I THOUGHT MIGHT BE HELPFUL HERE, GIANT IS AS YOU LOOK FORWARD ON THIS, IS TO START TRACKING THE PERCENTAGE OF TIME THAT IS ACTUALLY ALLOCATED TO SPECIFIC PROJECTS.
UM, AND WHILE THAT DOESN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION, IT ALLOWS YOU TO MAKE INFERENCES ABOUT, YOU KNOW, DISCIPLINE ON PROJECT TRACKING AND OTHER THINGS.
UM, AND, AND I GUESS FOR THE THREE GROUPS, THE PROJECT GROUP AND, AND THE IT GROUP AND, AND, AND THE, THE BUSINESS GROUP AS WELL.
JEFF, YOU YOU WANTED TO ADD SOMETHING? YEAH, I JUST WANTED TO ADD THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, IF YOU HAVE A, A PROJECT WHERE A VENDOR HAS TO DELIVER MAJOR PART OF IT AND THE DELAYS ON THE VENDOR SIDE, YOU MIGHT SEE NO COST INCREASE ON OUR SIDE, BUT THERE IS A SCHEDULE INCREASE, RIGHT? THAT'S AN EXAMPLE OF THAT.
WELL, THERE WILL STILL BE OVERHEAD INCREASE, BUT IT MAY NOT BE AS LINEAR AS A COMPLETELY INTERNAL DRIVEN PROJECT.
THE, THE COMMENT IS YEAH, DIRECT COST WILL NOT CHANGE INDIRECT COST AND, UH, INEFFICIENCY OF LABOR WILL.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S WHAT WE'RE, I GUESS, TRYING TO CAPTURE.
BUT IT'S, THESE ARE MINOR NUMBERS.
I MEAN, YEAH, YOUR COMMENT IMPLIES THEN THAT PEOPLE GET REASSIGNED TO OTHER THINGS WHILE THEY'RE WAITING FOR THE VENDOR.
IN THE REAL WORLD, IT DOESN'T ALWAYS HAPPEN.
SO HERE, I'M, I'M REFERRING TO, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S HAPPENED IN THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS, THE, YOU CAN SEE THAT THE TOTAL SPEND IS ON THE RISE.
THE EXCEPTION IS 2022, BECAUSE THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF DC FIVE HARDWARE THAT WAS PART OF THE 54 AND A HALF MILLION.
SO IN GENERAL, THE TOTAL SPEND ON PROJECTS ON A YEARLY BASIS IS ON THE RISE.
UH, YOU CAN TELL FROM THE THIRD ROW INTERNAL LABOR, FULL-TIME EQUIVALENCE, UM, THERE WAS ABOUT A 15% INCREASE IN THE, UM, PROJECT DEMAND FROM 66 FTES TO ABOUT 76 FTES.
IN GENERAL, WHAT YOU ALSO NOTICE IS THAT THE NUMBER OF LARGE AND EXTRA LARGE PROJECTS ARE INCREASING OVER TIME.
UM, AND THE NUMBER OF UNIQUE PROJECTS ARE AS WELL AS THE, YOU KNOW, NUMBER OF ACTIVE PROJECTS AT ANY GIVEN TIME IS ALSO GOING UP.
SO IS THIS, IS THIS, UM, LABOR NUMBER, IS THIS JUST FOR THE 10 PROJECTS THAT YOU SHOWED? NO, THIS IS ALL, ALL THIS IS ALL THE PROJECTS.
UM, AND IT'S ONLY THE FTES DOESN'T INCLUDE THE CON CONTINGENT WORKERS.
CONTINGENT WORKERS ARE SIGNIFICANTLY LESS, YOU KNOW, FTS ARE, ARE A LOT MORE WHEN IT COMES TO PROJECTS.
I THINK YOU SHOULD SHOW THE CONTINGENT LABOR IN THIS AS WELL, JUST BECAUSE IT'S OBVIOUSLY THEY'RE FUNGIBLE, RIGHT? MM-HMM.
SO LOOKING INTO NEXT YEAR, UM, THIS IS THE LIST OF PROJECTS THAT WE WOULD BE WORKING ON.
[00:15:01]
TOUCH UPON SOME OF THEM IS YOU'RE VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE REALTIME CO-OP OPTIMIZATION AND BATTERIES.SO THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE ARE IN THE PLANNING PHASE, UM, FOR SEVERAL OF THE COMPONENT PROJECTS, I WOULD SAY, UH, NPRR 1186, WHICH IS TO MODEL THE STATE OF CHARGE IN THE SC AND, UH, RELIABILITY UNIT COMMITMENT TO SOMETHING THAT WE ARE ACTIVELY WORKING ON.
BUT OF COURSE, WE ARE WAITING FOR PUC APPROVAL BEFORE WE CAN DEPLOY IT.
A COUPLE OF OTHER ONES ARE, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THE DC FIVE PROJECTS WILL CONTINUE.
THE DC FIVE PROGRAM WILL BE COMPLETED IN 2025.
THERE IS THE TEXAS SET, OR THE TEXAS STANDARD ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION SET NUMBER FIVE, WHICH WILL BE DEPLOYED IN NOVEMBER, 2024.
UM, THE VAN REPLACEMENT, BECAUSE ONE OF THE PROVIDERS, I GUESS THE CURRENT PROVIDER WILL NO LONGER PROVIDE THAT SERVICE.
SO WE ARE MIGRATING TO A NEW, UH, NETWORK SERVICE PROVIDER.
SO THAT'S THE ERCOT WIDE AREA NETWORK REPLACEMENT.
UM, SOME OF THE AUTOMATION IN OUR BUSINESS PROCESSES IS IN THE TREASURY MANAGEMENT AREA, AS WELL AS THE WEATHERIZATION AND INSPECTION MANAGEMENT.
UM, AND I WANT TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE TREASURY MANAGEMENT, BECAUSE THAT IS A GREENFIELD PROJECT, WHICH HAS EXPERIENCED THE ADVANTAGES THAT I INITIALLY TALKED ABOUT WHERE ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE WORKED WITH IT ARCHITECTURE AND BUSINESS AND DEVELOPMENT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE TAKE THOSE STEPS, THOSE APPROPRIATE STEPS TO MANAGE RISK AS WE GO ALONG SO THAT THE GREENFIELD PROJECT CAN, YOU KNOW, DOESN'T START OFF WITH A CLEAR SET OF GOALS, BUT AS WE GO ALONG, WE ARE TRYING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND, UM, MANAGE IN A MORE PREDICTABLE MANNER.
SO THAT PROJECT WILL ACTUALLY BE COMPLETED WITH THE RELEASES PLAN IN JANUARY AND IN APRIL NEXT YEAR.
THE LAST ONE IS A SECOND I TEST ENVIRONMENT, WHICH WAS INCLUDED IN THE BUDGET, AND THAT WILL IMPROVE OUR TESTING EFFICIENCY, RISK MITIGATION, AND SUPPORT FUTURE AUTOMATION INITIATIVES AS WELL.
FINALLY, IN THE I QUESTION THERE, DID, DID WE APPROVE ANOTHER, UM, TEST FACILITY? DID, DID, DID THAT GET DONE A COUPLE OF MEETINGS AGO? A A TE ANOTHER TEST FACILITY, A STANDALONE TEST FACILITY FOR, FOR YOUR GROUP? SECOND, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT THE SECOND EYE TEST? YEAH.
WE JUST GOT IT APPROVED FOR THE BUDGET, RIGHT? IT'S LIKE A 10 PLUS MILLION DOLLARS THAT WE HAVE, WE TALKED ABOUT DURING BUDGET.
SO, SO, SO THIS IS THE PROJECT INFLUENCE.
THIS IS THE PROJECT THAT WILL ACTUALLY GO THROUGH THE ANALYSIS TO SAY WHAT IT'S GONNA COST AND HOW DOES IT LAY OUT.
RIGHT NOW IT'S IN THE, YOU KNOW, CHARTERING PHASE IF YOU WANT.
UM, IN THE APPENDIX, WE HAVE A LIST OF OTHER REVISION REQUESTS THAT WE DELIVERED IN 2023, ALONG WITH A BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF, YOU KNOW, EACH, EACH ONE OF THEM.
NOW, TO SUMMARIZE, I'D SAY THAT WE HAVE EXPERIENCED AN OVERALL SUCCESSFUL YEAR IN PROJECT DELIVERY AND WE CONTINUE TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS IN GOVERNANCE.
UM, I'M LOOKING FORWARD FOR ANOTHER EXCITING AND CHALLENGING YEAR.
AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS YEAR, PMO WILL ACTUALLY MOVE TO THE TECHNOLOGY TEAM UNDER JPS LEADERSHIP, AND I EXPECT THIS CHANGE TO FURTHER STRENGTHEN OUR CAPABILITY TO IMPLEMENT STRATEGIC SOLUTIONS, BECAUSE THEY ARE, THEY'LL BE REALLY WORKING TOGETHER WITH, UH, WITH THE FOLKS WHO, YOU KNOW, REALLY IMPLEMENT THE SYSTEMS. SO I THINK THAT THAT WILL BE A GOOD MOVE FOR US.
AND THAT CONCLUDES MY PRESENTATION.
ANY, ANY QUESTIONS FOR GIANT HEARING? NONE, JP.
[5.2 Information Technology Update]
TWO TOPICS.THE FIRST IS AN UPDATE ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND THE SECOND IS A SPECIFIC UPDATE ON REAL-TIME CO-OP OPTIMIZATION.
SO, SO LET ME START WITH AN UPDATE ON WHAT WE DELIVERED SINCE OUR LAST, UH, COMMITTEE MEETING.
UH, WE CONTINUE TO WORK ON VARIOUS, UH, PROTOCOL REVISIONS AND SYSTEM CHANGE REQUESTS, AND ALL THE CHANGES THAT YOU SEE HERE ARE LIVE IN PRODUCTION IN THIS RELEASE.
UM, I'M ALSO EXCITED TO SHARE A COUPLE OF DASHBOARDS THAT WE HAVE RELEASED.
ONE RELATES TO BATTERIES, UH, CHARGING, DISCHARGING, AND THE OTHER RELATES TO OUTAGE INFORMATION.
[00:20:01]
THEM ON THE FOLLOWING SLIDES.SO LAST WEEK WE RELEASED A DASHBOARD SHOWING THE FIVE MINUTE AVERAGE VALUES FOR CHARGING AND DISCHARGING, AS WELL AS THE NET VALUE FOR THIS.
UM, THIS GRAPH IS AVAILABLE FOR THE CURRENT DAY AS WELL AS THE PREVIOUS DAY.
NOW I HAVE TWO SNAPSHOTS HERE, ONE THAT SHOWS ALL THE THREE CURVES AND THE OTHER ONE WHERE YOU COULD FILTER OUT, FOR EXAMPLE, CHARGING AND DISCHARGING US IN THIS SNAPSHOT.
SO GIVEN THE GROWTH OF BATTERIES, THAT'S A GREAT, UH, DASHBOARD TO PUT OUT THERE AT THIS TIME.
IS THERE A WAY TO SHOW THE VOLUME OF BATTERIES ONLINE WHEN THAT MEASUREMENT IS TAKEN? UM, I THINK YOU CAN PROBABLY SEE THAT IN THE FUEL MIX, YEAH.
NOT IN TERMS OF COUNT, BUT AT LEAST THE MEGAWATT AND ALL THAT ITEM GOING OFF MEMORY, WOULD IT BE OF ANY INTEREST TO OVERLAY MEGAWATT? I MEAN, I WAS ACTUALLY THINKING OF QUANTITY BECAUSE THE, IT WOULD ILLUSTRATE THE ADDITIONAL INTERCONNECTION OF BATTERIES OVER TIME.
YOU'RE, WHEN YOU SAY QUANTITY, YOU MEAN THE NUMBER, NUMBER? OKAY, LET ME TAKE THAT BACK.
YEAH, LET GO FORWARD THIS WEEK.
UH, WE ALSO PLAN TO RELEASE AN OUTAGE DASHBOARD THAT SHOWS THE TOTAL FIRST OUTAGES AS WELL AS PLANNED OUTAGES, UM, ACROSS ALL GENERATION.
WE ALSO HAVE AN OPTION TO SHOW IT ACROSS DISPATCHABLE AND RENEWABLE GENERATION.
WE WERE NOT ABLE TO DECOMPOSE IT ANY FURTHER BECAUSE OF A NEED TO PRESERVE CONFIDENTIALITY ON THESE OUTAGES.
UM, THIS DATA'S AVAILABLE FOR THE CURRENT DAY AS WELL AS FOR THE PREVIOUS SIX DAYS, SO I'M EXCITED ABOUT THAT AS WELL.
UM, JUST A PREVIEW OF WHAT I KNOW SO FAR, OUR UPCOMING, UM, CHANGES THAT WE WILL BE RELEASING.
NOW, I WANT TO TAKE A MINUTE TO TALK ABOUT THIS MAJOR PROJECT THAT WE COMPLETED, WHICH IS THE EMS UPGRADE.
THE EMS UPGRADE PROJECT WAS STARTED IN 2019 AND HAD SIGNIFICANT MORE COMPLEXITY THAN PREVIOUS EMS UPGRADES.
UM, AND MAINLY IT'S BECAUSE, UH, WE HAD A MODEL VERSION CHANGE THAT WE HAD TO, THAT WE HAVE TO ACCOUNT FOR IN THE PROJECT WHERE THE COMMON INFORMATION MODEL WENT FROM VERSION 10 TO VERSION 16.
AND THE OTHER ONE THAT MADE IT SIGNIFICANT IS THAT THE VENDOR CHANGED, UH, ON SOME OF THE KEY, UH, SUBSYSTEMS, LIKE THE LOAD FREQUENCY CONTROL, WE ARE CHANGING FROM FOUR TRAN TO C PLUS PLUS.
SO THIS MEANT THAT ANY CHANGE THAT WE ARE PUTTING IN THE OLD SYSTEM, WE HAD TO ALWAYS REWRITE IN THE NEW SYSTEM.
AND WE DID A LOT OF WORK, IF YOU REALIZE WITH ECRS AND FFRA.
SO ALL THAT HAD TO BE RE-IMPLEMENTED.
SO, SO THIS PROJECT HAD TO TAKE THAT INTO ACCOUNT AS WELL.
UM, I PRESENTED, UM, UH, IN THE BOARD IN 2021 THAT WHY WE REALLY NEED TO STICK WITH THIS PROJECT, UH, EVEN AT THE COST OF DELAYING OTHER MARKET INITIATIVES THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT BECAUSE IT'S SUCH A CRITICAL SYSTEM.
AND AT THAT TIME, WE THOUGHT WE'LL GO LIVE IN 2024.
SO I'M HAPPY TO REPORT THAT WE ACTUALLY WENT LIVE ON NOVEMBER 2ND AHEAD OF EVEN THE AGGRESSIVE TARGET THAT WE SET LAST YEAR OF END OF NOVEMBER.
UM, UM, AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THIS EARLY DELIVERY AS, AS WELL AS THE HIGH QUALITY OF DELIVERY, WE ARE UNDER BUDGET.
UM, WE ALSO HAD A SEAMLESS TRANSITION, ACTUALLY A FIRST IN OUR HISTORY OF AIRCO WHERE WE CUT OVER A CRITICAL SYSTEM LIKE THIS WITHOUT IMPACTING IN ANY, WITHOUT ANY SCED MISS.
AND NORMALLY FOR AN UPGRADE LIKE THIS, WE WOULD PLAN ABOUT THREE SCED MISSES.
AND HERE WE DID THIS WITH NO SCED MISS.
NOW ALL THIS IS BECAUSE OF ROBUST TESTING REALLY.
UM, AND LAST TIME IN OUR C THIS COMMITTEE, I SAID THAT WE HAD A GOOD TEST RUN WHERE WE CUT OVER THIS SYSTEM FOR A CLOSED LOOP TEST, AND WE RAN THE GRID ON THIS SYSTEM FOR ABOUT FIVE HOURS.
AND I WAS KIND OF REGRETTING WHY DID I EVEN CUT BACK, RIGHT? UM, SO IT WAS A GOOD TEST DRIVE.
UM, NOW AS A RESULT OF THIS UPGRADE, WE DO HAVE, UM, SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE THAT IS COMPLIANT, UM, AND ALIGNED WITH OUR TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP.
AND THE FURTHER BENEFIT THAT WE HAVE IS THAT WE HAVE ALSO DEPLOYED IT IN AN ENHANCED SECURITY CONFIGURATION, WHICH REALLY BOOSTS THE CYBERSECURITY OF OUR MOST CRITICAL SYSTEM.
SO REALLY HAPPY ABOUT HOW THIS PROJECT PLAYED OUT.
[00:25:03]
OKAY, WELL, I HAVE TO REPORT HIGHLIGHTS AND LOW LIGHTS.SO HERE'S A LOW LIGHT THAT HAPPENED.
UM, WELL, THIS IS AN ISSUE THAT HAPPENED ON OCTOBER 22ND THAT LED TO A PRICE CORRECTION.
NOW, CANNAN WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THIS ISSUE IN R AND M FROM THE MARKET OPERATIONS POINT OF VIEW, BUT, UH, HERE I WOULD LIKE TO TALK ABOUT IT MORE FROM THE TECHNOLOGY SIDE OF THIS ISSUE.
SO ON OCTOBER 22ND, UM, ON SUNDAY AROUND SIX 30, THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS STARTED EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS AROUND, UH, SUBMISSION FOR THE BIDS AND OFFERS.
AND THIS SUBMISSION WAS AFFECTING BOTH THE REALTIME MARKET AS WELL AS THE DAY AHEAD MARKET, BUT THE IMPACT WAS NOT FELT ON REALTIME BECAUSE YOU ALREADY HAD ENOUGH SUBMISSION TO RUN REAL TIME.
AND, YOU KNOW, SO IT IS NOT SHOWING ANY IMPACT, BUT THE DAY AHEAD MARKET HAD NOT YET RUN.
SO WE WERE FOCUSED ON MAKING SURE THAT THE DAY AHEAD MARKET WAS ABLE TO RUN THAT DAY.
NOW, THE, SO WHAT WE FOUND OUT IS THAT WE HAVE AN INTE COUNTER THAT WE USE TO IDENTIFY ANY SUBMISSION THAT COMES INTO OUR SYSTEM.
SO AN ANALOGY FOR THIS IS LIKE AN INTE J THAT WE USE TO IDENTIFY OUR DRIVER'S LICENSE IN TEXAS, IT'S AN INTE J RIGHT? BUT ON 10 22 AT SIX 30, THIS COUNTER WENT OVER THE MAXIMUM INTE SIZE THAT WE USE IN OUR SOFTWARE SYSTEM, OKAY? UM, WE USE A PRETTY STANDARD WAY OF DEFINING AN INTEGER IN OUR SYSTEM, WHICH IS A 32 BIT, 32 BITS OF DATA TO REPRESENT AN INTEGER.
AND WHAT HAPPENED AT SIX 30 IS THAT IT WENT PAST WHAT THE CAPACITY IS TO HOLD THAT, OKAY? AND THAT NUMBER IS, IT'S NOT A SMALL NUMBER, IT'S, IT'S LIKE 2,147 MILLION.
BUT WHAT WE IDENTIFIED IS, OKAY, THIS IS THE ROOT CAUSE AND WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO AT THAT POINT? SO WE WENT ABOUT IT IN TWO PATHS.
ONE WAS TRYING TO SAY, CAN WE FIX IT BY CHANGING IT FROM A 32 BIT TO A 64 BIT TEACHER? AND THAT WILL ALLOW US TO STORE, I DON'T KNOW, 9 BILLION, BILLION OR SOME MASSIVE NUMBER LIKE THAT.
SO IN A WAY, THAT PROBLEM AND SOLUTION SOUNDS LIKE A Y 2K KIND OF ISSUE.
OKAY? SO, SO ONCE YOU UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM, IT'S KIND OF STRAIGHTFORWARD, BUT THE BREADTH OF THE PROBLEM IS THE ISSUE, RIGHT? BUT, SO THAT ONE PATH WE WENT TO, AND THE OTHER PART THAT WE LOOKED AT IS WHAT IF YOU COULD JUST RESET THAT NUMBER TO START FROM ONE? OKAY? SO THAT'S, UM, BUT, BUT RESETTING IS RISKY BECAUSE NOW WE ALLOW DOUBLE NUMBERS AND WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT IS EVERY SYSTEM CAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING THAT OTHERWISE WE'LL HAVE A MESS WITH, UM, BIDS BEING MERGED IN AND OUT.
SO, UM, SO WE CARRIED DOWN THESE TWO PATHS, AND AT LEAST ON THE SUBMISSION SYSTEM, WE WERE READY WITH THE SOLUTION FOR THE 64 BIT, AND WE DEPLOYED THAT AROUND NOON.
OKAY? SO WHAT THIS DID IS THE SUBMISSIONS WERE SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE, YES, NOW THE SUBMISSION SYSTEM COULD HANDLE THAT.
UM, BUT WHAT IT UNFORTUNATELY DID IS IT BROKE THE REAL TIME MARKET, WHICH UNTIL THAT POINT WAS WORKING FINE, BECAUSE IT WAS READING THE BIDS THAT WERE THERE.
BUT WHEN WE ASKED THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS TO RESUBMIT WITH THE NEW SYSTEM THAT WE HAD, THE MARKET SYSTEM COULDN'T COMPREHEND THIS LARGE NUMBER AND, AND THE MARKET SYSTEM, BECAUSE IT COULDN'T READ ALL THE BITS, IT FELT THAT THERE WAS A SHORTAGE IN THE SYSTEM WHEN, SO IT WAS AN ARTIFICIAL SHORTAGE BECAUSE SIMPLY BECAUSE IT COULDN'T READ ALL THE OFFERS, AND AS A RESULT THERE WAS A PRICE SPIKE AND THAT ASPECT KENAN WILL TALK ABOUT.
BUT FROM A TECHNOLOGY SIDE, NOW, WE SUDDENLY HAD A NEW PROBLEM, A MORE CRITICAL PROBLEM, WHERE NOW REAL TIME WAS IMMEDIATELY IMPACTED.
BUT THE GOOD THING IS BY THIS TIME WE WERE FAIRLY COMFORTABLE WITH THE RESET, RESET IDEA, AND WE IMMEDIATELY STARTED ROLLING THAT IN.
UM, SO WE DELETED ALL THE BIDS, THE, OF THE SUBMISSIONS THAT THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS SUBMITTED, AND WE ASKED THEM TO RESUBMIT THE BID.
AND ALL THOSE NUMBERS CAME IN WITH THE RIGHT NUMBER, AND THE REAL TIME MARKET WAS FUNCTIONAL AGAIN AT 1:09 PM 1 0 9.
UM, AFTER THAT, WE FOCUS BACK TO THE DAY AHEAD, AND WE AGAIN ASKED THE MARKET, UM, MARKET PARTICIPANTS TO RESUBMIT THE DAY AHEAD BIDS.
OKAY? BUT HERE, BECAUSE THE DAY AHEAD MARKET PARTICIPANTS HAVE BEEN STRUGGLING WITH THIS ISSUE FOR SIX 30, WHEN THEY SAW THE SUCCESSFUL SUBMISSION, YOU KNOW, THEY THOUGHT IT WAS ALL TAKEN
[00:30:01]
CARE OF AND THEY HAD LEFT.SO IT WAS HARD TO FIND SOME OF THEM.
SO WHILE SOME MARKET PARTICIPANTS DID RESUBMIT THE BITS, WE DID HAVE TROUBLE, UM, CLOSING EVERYTHING.
SO WE HAD TO PAUSE THE MARKET AND WE MANUALLY RENUMBERED THOSE BITS SO THAT THEY FELL INTO THE 32 BIT RANGE.
BUT NEVERTHELESS, AFTER ALL THIS, WE DID MANAGE TO EXECUTE THE DAY AHEAD MARKET BY 5 4 20 5:00 PM AND PUBLISH THE RESULTS BY 5:35 PM WELL AHEAD OF PROTOCOL REQUIREMENTS OF 7:00 PM.
SO NOW, AS YOU CAN SEE FROM MY DESCRIPTION OF THE ISSUE, THAT WE HAD TO ASK MARKET PARTICIPANTS TO SUBMIT AND RESUBMIT THE ISSUES, AND ESPECIALLY AFTER THEY SAW SUCCESS MESSAGES, WE ARE ASKING THEM TO RESUBMIT THE ISSUE.
AND THIS COMMUNICATION IS PROBABLY AN AREA THAT WE COULD IMPROVE MORE, ALTHOUGH, YOU KNOW, WE'LL BE COMMUNICATING INTERNALLY BECAUSE IT'S A PRODUCTION ISSUE.
YOU KNOW, YOU'RE NOT EXACTLY SURE WHAT TO COMMUNICATE, BUT THE POINT IS, WE ARE NOT COMMUNICATING ENOUGH, AND THAT IS CAUSING CONFUSION IN THE MARKET.
SO THAT'S CERTAINLY A TOPIC, UM, WE WANT TO TAKE ON TO MAKE SURE THAT HOW WE CAN TRANSPARENTLY COMMUNICATE AND CANNOT, WE TALK ABOUT THIS ISSUE AS WELL, BECAUSE I'M SURE MARKET PARTICIPANTS HAVE GIVEN TWISTED IS HERE ON THAT.
UM, AND, UM, ALSO INTERNALLY WE LOOK, WE COMB THROUGH OUR SYSTEMS TO LOOK AT OTHER COUNTERS THAT WE HAVE AND TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE NOT OPERATING CLOSE TO LIMITS LIKE THIS.
UM, TYPICALLY BECAUSE THERE'S AN INTERNAL COUNTER USE FOR COMPUTER TO COMPUTER COMMUNICATIONS, WE DON'T USUALLY LOOK AT IT.
IT'S NOT LIKE ON A UI THAT'S APPARENT.
SO WE HAVE TO ACTUALLY LOOK BEHIND THE SCENE TO MAKE SURE THAT, UH, IT'S TAKEN CARE OF.
LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ON ANY OF THESE.
SO, LINDY, SORRY, I JUST HAVE A COMMENT.
SO YOU ANSWERED IT AT THE VERY END STATEMENT.
YOU SAID YOU'RE LOOKING INTO ALL THE SYSTEMS TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE NOT HITTING OVERFLOW.
THAT'S REALLY THIS FIX TO THIS IS, YES.
SO TO PUT SOME KIND OF ALARMS IN SO THAT AS YOU APPROACH OVERFLOW, YOU SAID IT YES.
BUT IT WAS BURIED IN YOUR COMMENTS AS OPPOSED TO YES, I JUST WANTED TO COVER THE EXTERNAL THING FIRST AND THEN THE INTERNAL.
LET ME KNOW IF THERE ARE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS AND THIS, WE'LL TALK ABOUT THIS TOPIC AGAIN IN R AND M.
SO ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO ASK QUESTIONS, YOU MIGHT WANNA JUST ADD THAT THE ISSUE HERE AS, AS YOU ALLUDED, WAS, WAS NOT WITH SORT OF OUR OWN SYSTEMS, BUT WITH A COUPLE OF THE VENDOR SYSTEMS THAT DIDN'T SUPPORT 64 BIT, UH, INTEGER.
THEY, THEY, THEY SUPPORTED 32 BID INTEGERS, AND I THINK YOU DID TALK TO THE VENDORS ABOUT GETTING, SEEING IF THEY WOULD SUPPORT 64 BID INTEGERS AND, AND IT WAS A MASSIVE EFFORT FOR THEM.
THEY WOULD'VE TO BASICALLY REBUILD THEIR SYSTEMS, UH, IN ORDER TO DO THAT.
SO THAT THAT WASN'T A PRACTICAL SOLUTION.
SO WHAT, WHAT YOU ENDED UP DOING, I THINK WAS THE ONLY PRACTICAL SOLUTION.
UM, WE'LL JUST HAVE TO WATCH IT AS LINDA SAID, BECAUSE IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE.
BUT THAT SYSTEM HAD BEEN RUNNING FOR, WHAT, 30 YEARS? MM-HMM.
SO, SO IT'D BEEN RUNNING LONG ENOUGH.
SO THIS IS SOMETHING YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO HAVE ON THE CLOCK IS, YOU KNOW, EVERY, EVERY FEW YEARS WE LOOK AT IT AND SEE WHERE, SEE WHERE YOU ARE.
AND ALSO THE SOLUTION TO THE DUPLICATE NUMBERS, OF COURSE IS JUST TO HASH WITH THE DATES.
SO, SO WHEN HE, WHEN WHEN WE STORE ALL THIS INFORMATION, UM, THE RISK IS THAT YOU HAVE TWO BIDS WITH NUMBER ONE ON THEM AND TWO BIDS WITH NUMBER TWO ON 'EM.
THEY JUST HAPPEN TO BE 15 YEARS APART.
SO YOU CAN USE, YOU CAN USE DATE AS PART OF A HASH KEY.
AND WE ARE DOING MULTIPLE KEYS TO IDENTIFY IT.
AND, AND LIKE I SAID, YOU KNOW, THERE IS A FIX.
YOU COULD WAIT FOR THE VENDOR, BUT THIS WAS NOT LIKE A NICE TO HAVE, WE HAD AN OPERATIONAL ISSUE THAT WE NEEDED TO FIX, LIKE IN MINUTES, RIGHT? SO WE HAD TO GO DOWN, THIS WAS THE BEST, UH, WAY WE COULD DO THAT.
LET ME KNOW IF THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS.
I THINK, THINK WE GOT, LET'S KEEP GOING.
[5.3 Real-Time Co-Optimization Implementation Update]
RTC.SO WHAT YOU WANT TO START DOING WITH RTC IS TO PROVIDE A PERIODIC UPDATE ON WHAT WE ARE CONSIDERING AS THE MOST, UH, IMPORTANT PROJECT WE CURRENTLY HAVE ON OUR BOOKS.
SO TO SET UP THE FOUNDATION, I WOULD LIKE TO, YOU KNOW, SHOW YOU THE DECOMPOSITION OF THE PROJECT, HOW THE PROJECT IS SET UP, AND KEY DATES, AS WELL AS MAJOR DEPENDENCIES.
OKAY? AND THIS INFORMATION HOPEFULLY WILL HELP THE COMMITTEE PROVIDE BETTER OVERSIGHT AS WE GET INTO THE EXECUTION PHASE.
NOW, I'M GOING TO PROVIDE MORE DETAILS THAN WE HAVE TYPICALLY SHARED IN A PUBLIC FORUM.
AND I FEEL IT'S ALSO IMPORTANT AND YOU'LL SEE WHY.
[00:35:01]
SO THIS IS THE HIGH LEVEL OVERVIEW OF THE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT.WHILE WE SIMPLY CALL IT RTC FOR CONVENIENCE, IT'S MORE THAN RTC, RIGHT? THERE ARE THREE ASPECTS TO IT.
THE FIRST IS, OF COURSE, THE RTC ITSELF, THE REAL TIME CO-OP OPTIMIZATION, WHERE WE WILL NOW CO OPTIMIZE ANCILLARY SERVICES ALONG WITH ENERGY.
THE SECOND PART OF THIS PROJECT RELATES TO BATTERIES, UM, AND HOW WE MODEL BATTERIES TODAY.
SO TODAY WE HAVE WHAT I CALL A WORKAROUND MODEL, WHERE WE MODEL THE BATTERIES AS A COMBINATION OF, UH, GENERATION AND LOAD.
UM, WHERE, WHEREAS IN REALITY IT'S, IT'S ONE SINGLE DEVICE WITH ITS OWN UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS THAT WE SHOULD BE MODELING TO FULLY LEVERAGE A RESOURCE LIKE THAT.
SO THAT'S, UM, A BIG CHANGE TO A SYSTEM, WHICH MAKES SENSE TO DO IT ALONG WITH A BIG PROJECT LIKE RTC.
AND THE THIRD PART IS ABOUT THE MANAGEMENT OF THE STATE OF CHARGE, AND IT'S ACTUALLY PART OF YOUR, UH, CONSENT AGENDA FOR THE BOARD TOMORROW.
UM, AND THERE ARE ALSO LINKS TO THE BENEFITS THAT THE IMM AT CALCULATED IN 2018.
UM, $1.6 BILLION OF ANNUAL BENEFIT.
THAT'S ABOUT, I DUNNO, $130 MILLION OF BENEFIT PER MONTH.
OKAY? SO, SO YES, THE SOONER WE DO IT, THE BETTER WE ARE AND THE TOPICS ARE ON THE BATTERIES ARE JUST ICING ON THAT CAKE.
OKAY? SO HOW DOES THAT PROJECT BREAK UP AND HOW DOES IT LOOK LIKE INTERNALLY? SO WE HAVE BROKEN UP THIS, UH, PROJECT INTO FOUR PROJECTS, AND I'LL REPORT AT THE COMMITTEE LEVEL AT, FOR, AT THIS GRANULARITY.
OKAY? UH, THE TOP LEVEL PROJECT IS, UH, A PROGRAM LEVEL CONTROL PROJECT.
AND I DIDN'T REPRESENT IT HERE, BUT THE INTENT OF THAT PROJECT IS TO PROVIDE LEADERSHIP COORDINATION AS WELL AS COMMUNICATIONS, BUT IT ALSO HOLDS THE DOLLARS FOR THE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE.
SO IT LOOKS LARGE IN THAT SENSE.
OKAY? BUT THE THREE CONSTITUENT PROJECTS ARE WHAT I'VE SHOWN HERE.
SO PROJECT ONE, WHICH IS THE MAIN PROJECT IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT, IS THE ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM THAT WE JUST HAVE TALKED ABOUT IN THE UPGRADE, THE MARKET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, OBVIOUSLY THE OUT SCHEDULER, THE NETWORK MODELING THAT GOES WITH IT, OKAY? THAT'S THE FIRST PROJECT.
THE SECOND PROJECT I COULD USE THE MOUSE, I GUESS TO SHOW THAT IS, UM, IS THIS ONE WHERE WE TALK ABOUT WHERE WE ARE, UH, HANDLING THE CHANGES FOR REGISTRATION SETTLEMENTS, UH, AS WELL AS THE CREDIT MONITORING.
AND THE THIRD PROJECT HERE, UM, DEALS WITH THE DASHBOARDS, THE REPORTING, BUT, BUT MOST SIGNIFICANTLY DEALS WITH ALL THE INTEGRATION THAT'S HAPPENING BETWEEN THESE BIG, UH, PROJECTS.
OKAY? SO IT, IT ACCOUNTS FOR THAT WORK.
AND LASTLY, AND NOT THE LEAST, UM, I WANT YOU TO ALSO PAY ATTENTION TO THIS MARKETS PARTICIPANT SYSTEM THAT ARE CONNECTED TO US, OKAY? THESE CHANGES IN RTC ARE NOT BACKWARD COMPATIBLE.
SO IT MEANS THAT WHEN WE GO LIVE, WE NEED THESE MARKET PARTICIPANT SYSTEMS TO GO LIVE WITH US.
UM, SO, SO IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE WORK WITH THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS AND COMMUNICATE EARLY TO THEM ABOUT CHANGES THAT THEY NEED TO IMPLEMENT.
SO, SO IT'S A FACTOR THAT, UM, I THINK IT'S CALLED OUT IN THIS PICTURE.
SO ON THIS SLIDE NOW, I'M SHOWING THE BREAKUP OF THE BUDGET FOR RTC BETWEEN THESE VARIOUS PROJECTS.
AND YOU CAN GET A SENSE OF THE RELATIVE AMOUNT OF WORK BETWEEN THE PROJECTS.
UM, EXCEPT FOR, LIKE I SAID, THE FIRST ONE, UH, IT DOES INCLUDE THE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE FOR IT.
UM, AND A COMMENT ON THE GREEN LIGHT IT, THE GREEN LIGHT MEANS THAT I HAVE A PLAN.
I KNOW WE ARE IN PLANNING RIGHT NOW.
WE HAVE A PLAN FOR THIS PLANNING PHASE, AND AT THIS POINT WE ARE TRACKING TO THAT PLAN.
IT DOESN'T MEAN I HAVE CRYSTAL CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF ALL REQUIREMENTS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT.
WE ARE WORKING ON THAT IN THIS PHASE, BUT AT THIS POINT, THIS PROJECT IS STILL TRACKING TO PLAN AND THAT'S WHY IT'S GREEN.
OKAY? SO THIS IS THE SLIDE THAT I'M TO SPEND SOME TIME ON.
UM, ON THE TOP I HAVE TIME THAT IT'S NOT LINEAR REALLY, BUT I ADJUSTED IT TO FIT THINGS.
[00:40:02]
UM, SO ON THE TOP PART I'M SHOWING DEPENDENCIES THAT ARE EXTERNAL TO THE PROJECT.AND SOLID LINE MEANS THAT, YOU KNOW, THERE IS A SOLID PLAN THERE.
IF IT'S NOT SOLID, THEN I'M SHOWING IT WITH THE DASHED OR NOT SOLID LINES, I GUESS.
SO IN THAT SENSE, EASIER TO UNDERSTAND.
I'M USING THE SAME CONVENTION INSIDE THE PROJECT AS WELL, WHERE IF IT'S SOLID, IT MEANS IT'S WELL UNDERSTOOD.
UH, WHEREAS IF IT IS DASH LINES, YOU KNOW, WE NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD OR WE DON'T HAVE A SOLID PLAN YET.
SO THE MAJOR DEPENDENCY I HAD FOR RTC WAS THE EMS UPGRADE, RIGHT? ONE, ONE OF THE REASON WHY WE WANTED THE UPGRADE TO GET DONE SOONER SO WE CAN GET STARTED ON RTC.
AND NOW THAT IT'S DONE IN MY FUTURE SLIDES, I'LL TAKE IT OUT 'CAUSE THERE'S NO REASON FOR ME TO TALK ABOUT THAT ANYMORE.
UM, NOW I'M SHOWING, UH, NPRR 1 180 6.
AND AS IT STANDS RIGHT NOW, UM, WE ARE SCHEDULED TO GO LIVE WITH THIS NPRR IN MARCH.
UH, THIS NPRR IS ALREADY IMPLEMENTED AND WE ARE TESTING IT.
AND IF YOU ASK ME WHY HAVE WE ALREADY STARTED THAT WORK, IF IT'S NOT APPROVED, IT'S BECAUSE WE ARE COMMITTED TO PROVIDE THIS FUNCTIONALITY TO DAN BEFORE SUMMER.
AND THE ONLY WAY I CAN DO THAT IS BY STARTING EARLY.
I CAN'T HAVE REQUIREMENTS APPROVED IN MAY AND HAVE THIS DELIVERED IN JUNE.
SO, SO NOW I HAVE SOME OPTIONS HERE.
IF YOU HAVE A DECISION BEFORE MARCH OF OBVIOUSLY WE'LL DEPLOY IT AS PLANNED.
UM, IF THERE IS NO DECISION BY MARCH, THEN, UH, PEOPLE ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT IT, THEN WE WILL DEPLOY IT STILL WITH THE FUNCTIONALITY DISABLED.
OKAY? I STILL, FOR ME THEN IT'S THERE AND I'LL STOP WORKING ON IT AND WAIT TILL THE DECISION IS MADE.
IF THE DECISION REQUIRES ADDITIONAL CHANGES, I'LL STILL DEPLOY IT WITH IT DISABLED, AND THEN WHEN I WORK ON THOSE ADDITIONAL CHANGES, I WILL ENABLE IT ON AT THAT TIME.
UM, MAYBE I SHOULD PAUSE ON THIS TOPIC AND SEE IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.
MY QUESTION IS, UH, IS THIS MAYBE THE, DAN, IS THIS STATE OF CHARGE APPROACH SIMILAR TO OTHER ISOS THAT HAVE IMPLEMENTED RTC? SO TH THIS THAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT IS ACTUALLY IN THE TIMEFRAME BEFORE RTC, SO IT'S THE INTERIM PERIOD.
AND IT'S, UM, UH, STILL UNDER DISCUSSION OBVIOUSLY, AND IT, UH, THE, BECAUSE THE COMMISSION HASN'T APPROVED IT YET, AND, UM, IT, IT'S BASICALLY THE, THE BEST APPROACH WE COULD FIT INTO THIS WINDOW THAT HE HAS TO GET IT DONE.
THE PER THE PERFECT OR THE BETTER APPROACH IS GONNA BE ONCE WE GET INTO RTC, THAT THE APPROACH WE'RE GONNA USE THERE.
UH, BUT THIS WAS WHAT WE COULD DO TO MANAGE IT WITHIN KIND OF THE TIMEFRAME THAT WE COULD GET IT DONE AND ACTUALLY GET SOME VALUE OUT OF IT BEFORE RTC IS IMPLEMENTED.
BUT WHAT I UNDERSTOOD FROM YOUR QUESTION THOUGH, JULIE, IS YOU'RE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND, IS THIS COMPARABLE TO WHAT OTHER SYSTEM OPERATORS ARE REQUIRING OF ENERGY STORAGE RESOURCES AND CANON? YEAH.
SO, UM, AS FAR AS OTHER JURISDICTIONS THAT, UH, ARE WORKING ON THIS, WE'RE ACTUALLY AHEAD OF EVERYBODY ELSE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF CALIFORNIA.
CALIFORNIA DOES IT SLIGHTLY DIFFERENTLY THAN THIS.
THEY HAVE A CAPACITY PAYMENT THAT BINDS THE BATTERIES TO PERFORMANCE AND STATE OF CHARGE MANAGEMENT.
SO 1186 IS ACTUALLY, UH, I WOULD SAY SLIGHTLY, UM, MORE RELAXED THAN THAN CALIFORNIA.
UM, HOWEVER, UH, THERE, THERE'S ALSO A PAYMENT THAT DOESN'T EXIST IN OUR, IN OUR MARKET AND, AND THAT'S DIFFERENT AS WELL.
SO, UH, THAT, BUT THAT'S THE ONLY ONE THAT REALLY HAS A LARGE NUMBER OF BATTERIES THAT HAS REAL CO-OP OPTIMIZATION.
MAYBE TO EXPAND ON THE QUESTION, JUST SO THERE'S CLARITY, IF YOU LOOKED AT IT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE REQUIREMENT OF STATE OF CHARGE AND REAL-TIME INFORMATION SUBMITTAL TO THE SYSTEM OPERATOR, IS THAT REQUIREMENT SIMILAR TO WHAT CALIFORNIA'S REQUIRING? YES.
AND THEN, THEN THERE'S A COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENT WHICH IS TIED TO THE CAPACITY OBLIGATION.
SO THERE'S A COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENT THAT IF THE PRODUCT IS SOLD, THE PAYMENT IS MADE, THE STATE OF CHARGE IS ASSURED, CORRECT? CORRECT.
[00:45:01]
REQUIREMENT AS PART OF THE CAPACITY, UH, PAYMENT.SO IF YOU LOOK AT IT FROM THOSE TWO LEVELS, THERE'S THE TECHNICAL REQUIREMENT OF SHARING THE STATE OF CHARGE AND THE REAL TIME INFORMATION SO THE OPERATOR UNDERSTANDS WHAT THE BATTERY IS DOING AND IS CAPABLE OF, AND THEN THERE'S A COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION BASED ON THE PRODUCT THAT THEY'VE SOLD AND THE PAYMENT THAT THEY'RE RECEIVING.
BUT THAT, THAT DISCUSSION IS SPECIFIC TO BATTERIES, YOU'S JUST THE BATTERY REQUIREMENT.
RTC HAS BEEN WIDELY IMPLEMENTED, AS I UNDERSTAND.
YEAH, THIS IS JUST THE BATTERY KIND OF MANAGEMENT CHANGE, YOU KNOW, THAT CALIFORNIA UTILIZES.
SO I HAVE A COMMENT, I'M, AND I'M LOOKING FOR A YES.
OKAY,
THE PARTICIPANTS, THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS, THE YELLOW, THIS IS, THIS IS, OH NO, I'M JUST TALKING ABOUT THIS LINE HERE.
WHICH IS OUTSIDE OF RTC RIGHT NOW.
BUT THIS IS NPO THAT IS STILL IN DISCUSSION, SO NOT APPROVED.
BUT I HAD TO GET STARTED ON IT EVEN WITHOUT THE APPROVAL LESS MOVEMENT, THE BOARD APPROVED IT.
AND WHEN YOU SAY GET STARTED, WHAT THEY'RE DOING IS PREPARING TO RECEIVE WHAT WE'RE GONNA, WHAT GETS NO, HE'S TALKING ABOUT CODING IT.
PARDON? HE'S TALKING ABOUT CODING IT.
HE'S NOT TALKING ABOUT THE MARKET.
DEPLOY TO OUR PRODUCTION SYSTEMS. OKAY.
AND OUR PLAN IS TO DEPLOY 'EM AT THIS TIME, END OF MARCH.
I SEE 1, 1 8, 6 DELAYING MY PRESENTATION AS WELL.
UH, THE MMS MIGRATION TO LINUX IS WHERE WE HAVE REALLY SIGNIFICANT SAVING IN HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE SYSTEM.
THIS IN COMBINATION WITH DC FIVE IS A REASON WHY LARGELY WE ARE, YOU KNOW, STAYING AT THE BUDGET LEVEL SET IN 2019 DESPITE ADDITIONAL LABOR HOURS OR INCREASED LABOR RATES SINCE 2019.
SO IT'S AN IMPORTANT PROJECT FOR ME TO BE, UM, DONE WITH BEFORE RTC IMPLEMENTATION.
THIS RIO PROJECT, THE MODELS ARE BATTERIES USING THE SINGLE MODEL CONSTRUCT.
AND ONCE THIS PROJECT GOES LIVE, IT'LL FEED THE RTC SYSTEM WITH A SINGLE MODEL CONSTRUCT.
BUT UNTIL RTC GOES LIVE, WE HAVE TO TAKE THIS DATA AND MAP IT BACK TO OUR CURRENT SYSTEM, WHICH IS A COMBO MODEL.
SO THERE IS, WHEN, WHEN THIS PROJECT GOES LIVE, THERE IS AN OPERATIONAL BURDEN WHICH GOES AWAY WITH RTC GO LIVE, BUT STILL THAT IS MODELING WORK THAT THE TEAM HAS TO WORK WITH.
I'LL COME BACK TO THE SAME PROJECT AS AFTER I FINISH.
UM, NOW WITHIN THIS RTC WINDOW, I THINK THE MAIN THING TO FOCUS FOR 2024 IS THIS 9 24 DATE.
THIS RED LINE THAT I HAVE HERE NOW, THIS IS THE DATE WHERE OUR PLANNING IS COMPLETE, AND WE CAN BE MUCH MORE SPECIFIC ABOUT THE GO LIVE WINDOW THAN THIS LARGE WINDOW THAT WE HAVE RIGHT NOW.
THIS IS ALSO THE DATE BY WHICH WE MUST RELEASE EXTERNAL SPECIFICATIONS SO THAT THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS CAN WORK WITH THEIR VENDORS AND LOCK DOWN THEIR DELIVERY COMMITMENTS SO THAT THEY ARE READY FOR THE MARKET TRIALS.
UM, SO UNTIL WE REACH THIS MILESTONE, THE DATES ON THE RIGHT ARE INDICATIVE DATES.
THAT WAY THEY'RE NOT SOLID DATES.
JP, WHAT HAPPENS IF A MARKET PARTICIPANT DOES NOT DO THE REQUISITE WORK AND UPGRADE THE APIS? ARE THEY NO LONGER ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MARKET? YEAH, THEY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SUBMIT BECAUSE IT'S NOT BACKWARD COMPATIBLE AND CANNOT, YOU MAY ADD MORE.
YEAH, I MEAN, SO EVERYBODY WILL GO THROUGH SOME KIND OF QUALIFICATION, UH, PROCESS FOR THIS.
UM, THERE SHOULD BE KIND OF ADVANCED, UH, A TEST ENVIRONMENT OR SOMETHING ALONG THOSE LINES.
SO WE WOULD, UH, START REPORTING ON NUMBER OF PEOPLE QUALIFIED.
UM, I, NOT NAMING PEOPLE, BUT IDENTIFYING THE NUMBERS OF FOLKS THAT WERE NOT, OR WERE HAVING ISSUES AS, AS WE GO THROUGH THE PROCESS.
HA HAVING BEEN THROUGH THIS PROCESS A NUMBER OF TIMES, I CAN TELL YOU THAT YOU'RE GONNA NEED TO HAVE A FAIRLY ROBUST TECHNICAL SUPPORT TEAM TO HELP THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS DO THIS.
I MEAN, YOU'LL BE SURPRISED, UH, EVEN IF THEIR VENDORS ARE LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR DOING THE WORK, YOU'LL BE SURPRISED AT HOW MUCH HANDHOLDING IT NEEDS.
AND, AND THE OTHER THING I WOULD URGE YOU TO DO IS START EARLY ON THIS, I MEAN, START NOW
[00:50:01]
COMMUNICATING TO THE MARKETPLACE THAT THEY'RE GONNA HAVE TO DO THIS KIND OF STUFF.I BELIEVE THAT'S IN THE PROJECT PLAN ALREADY.
UM, AND BY THE WAY, THAT WAS ALSO A, A LESSON REINFORCEMENT FROM ECRS WHERE WE HAD TO DEL DELAY THE DELIVERY OF ECRS BECAUSE OF THE VERY PROBLEM YOU'RE, YOU'RE SHARING.
SO WE PLAN TO MEET WITH THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS AND THE VENDORS EVEN BEFORE WE RELEASE THIS EXTERNAL SPEC, THIS DATE, 9 24 DATE.
OKAY? UM, AND WE HAVE AN ACTUALLY AN INTERNAL OKR STRETCH DATE TO RELEASE EXTERNAL SPECS BY END OF JUNE.
SO, SO THAT'S OUR STRETCH TARGET.
BUT OUTSIDE OF THIS, UM, BOTH BANQUETTE AND MATT ARE ALONG WITH CLIENT SERVICES OF, WE ARE FIRST REACHING OUT TO THE MPS TO SURVEY THE VENDORS THAT WE HAVE SO THAT WE HAVE A GOOD HANDLE ON WHO THE VENDORS ARE SO THAT WE CAN TALK TO THEM DIRECTLY AS WELL, SO THAT WE ARE NOT GOING THROUGH LAYERS BEFORE THE VENDOR GETS INFORMATION.
UM, I THINK BANKER IS GOING TO USE THE TECHNOLOGY WORKING GROUP THAT WE HAVE.
THAT'S A, THAT WAS A LESSONS LEARNED THAT KENNAN'S TALKING ABOUT WHERE WE DIRECTLY TALK NOT TO THE BUSINESS FOLKS AT THESE MARKET PARTICIPANTS, BUT TO THE IT FOLKS AT THIS PLACE.
UH, SO THAT'S ONE PLACE, UH, MATT MARIN IS USING THE RTC PLUS B TASK FORCE TO TALK ABOUT THIS.
AND THE POINT OF ALL THIS IS NOT JUST FOR US TO COMMUNICATE TO THEM, BUT ALSO TO GET EARLY FEEDBACK FROM THEM SO THAT WE KNOW MM-HMM,
BUT ORGANIZATIONAL QUESTION, PABLO, MAYBE IT'S TO CHRISTIE, DO WE HAVE THE EQUIVALENT OF FIELD APPLICATIONS ENGINEERS HERE WHERE THEY INTERACT WITH THE FIELD ON A MAJOR TECHNOLOGY CHANGE? NO.
YOU KNOW, LIKE, I DON'T THINK SO.
I DON'T THINK WE HAVE THAT CONSTRUCT IN OUR, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE DESCRIBING IS IN OUR WORLD, THAT WOULD BE A FIELD APPS ENGINEER HELPING SYSTEMS ENGINEERS, ENGINEERS ARE UPGRADED, BUT IT'S CALLED A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT THINGS.
BUT, BUT, BUT IN THAT CONSTRUCT IS USUALLY A PRODUCT THAT YOU HAVE AND YOU'RE DOING FIELD SERVICE PRODUCT OR SUPPORT FOR THAT PRODUCT.
IN THIS CASE, IT'S NOT OUR PRODUCT, RIGHT? LET'S SAY IF I GO BACK TO THIS SLIDE, RIGHT? WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THESE SYSTEMS HERE, WE DON'T KNOW, WE HAVE A GOOD IDEA OF WHO THE VENDORS ARE, BUT WE DON'T HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM.
WE MAY NOT EVEN HAVE SEEN SOME OF THEM, RIGHT? SO WE CAN ONLY EXPLAIN IN TERMS OF REQUIREMENTS.
BUT THE THING ON THE RIGHT IS OUR PRODUCT, YES.
EVERYTHING ON THE RIGHT IS OURS IS NOT OUR PRODUCT.
SO THAT WE HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT FROM THAT POINT OF VIEW THAT HOW DO WE GET THESE OTHER PEOPLE TO INTERFACE CORRECTLY TO OUR PRODUCT? ABSOLUTELY.
AND, AND THERE'S A ROBUST EXTERNAL TESTING FUNCTION THAT WE ARE GONNA BE FACILITATING IN ORDER TO ENSURE THAT THOSE INTERFACES AND INTEGRATIONS WORK PROPERLY.
AND THAT IS THE MARKET TRIALS, RIGHT? SO WE HAVE THAT PLANNED, BUT WHAT I'M TRYING TO GET TO IS I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THIS MARKET TRIAL DOES START HERE AND NOT GET HERE AND THEN FIND OUT, OH, YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A CONTRACT AND I DELAY THIS BECAUSE ANY DELAY HERE IS A DELAY TO OUR GO LIVE WINDOW.
BECAUSE IF YOU LOOK AT THIS DIAGRAM, REALLY WHAT I'M SAYING IS FROM AN AIRCRAFT PERSPECTIVE, WE ARE REALLY READY TO START TESTING WITH THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS, RIGHT? SO IF YOU WANT TO SAY HOW EARLY CAN RTC GO LIVE? IT DEPENDS ON THE SUCCESS HERE IN THIS WINDOW.
THE OTHER THING I WOULD URGE YOU TO DO, JP, I MEAN SINCE WE KNOW THAT OTHER ISOS HAVE DONE A VERSION OF RTC, SO, SO THERE MUST BE IN ON THE PART OF THE VENDORS, THERE MUST BE AN INTERFACE THAT THEY'VE ALREADY BUILT AND, AND WE SHOULD ENGAGE WITH THEM VERY EARLY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS THAT INTERFACE TECHNICALLY, WHAT'S IT BASED ON, AND CAN WE MAP TO IT AS CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE? I MEAN, IN A PERFECT, IN AN IDEAL WORLD, MAYBE NOT A PERFECT WORLD, BUT AN IDEAL WORLD, WE WOULD IMPLEMENT AN INTERFACE THAT THEY'VE ALREADY AGREED TO OR MAYBE IEE OR SOMEBODY HAS AN INTERFACE THAT'S ALREADY BEEN DEFINED.
I SUSPECT THAT'S NOT THE CASE AND THAT'S A GOOD POINT, RIGHT? AND THAT'S WHAT WE MEAN BY WE WANT TO ENGAGE WITH THEM EARLY BEFORE WE RELEASE THE SPECS SO THAT WE CAN ALIGN IT TO WHAT'S THE LEAST AMOUNT OF WORK THAT YOU NEED TO DO SO THAT IT'S NOT BIG CHANGES THAT WE ARE IMPOSING ON THEM.
I CAN'T JUST DICTATE CHANGE AND THEN HOPE THEY'LL BE READY, RIGHT? IF IT'S MASSIVE CHANGE, THEN I ALLOW TO MAKE TIME.
UM, NOW IN THIS SLIDE, YOU KNOW, THAT'S, I'VE COLORED THESE TWO BOXES AS YELLOW.
[00:55:01]
UM, SO IF THERE'S SOMETHING THAT THE COMMITTEE WANTS TO HELP OR PAY MORE ATTENTION TO, IT'S THESE TWO BOXES.WE KIND OF TALKED ABOUT THIS HERE.
THE OTHER ONE IS THE REQUIREMENTS.
OKAY? UM, AS IT STANDS RIGHT NOW, WE DO HAVE PLANS TO COMPLETE THE REQUIREMENTS BY 5 31 OR AT LEAST MOST THAT GETS US INTO MARKET TRIALS.
OKAY? UM, OBVIOUSLY IF WE ADD MORE REQUIREMENTS BETWEEN NOW AND, YOU KNOW, OUR MARKET TRIAL DATE, IT'LL HAVE SOME IMPACT, RIGHT? BECAUSE IF IT'S NOT HAVING AN IMPACT, IT MEANS I HAVE SLACK, RIGHT? SO, SO LOGICALLY IT SHOULD HAVE IMPACT.
NOW I DO, I AM AWARE THAT WE ARE WORKING ON THE ROCK CAPACITY SHORTAGE AND STATE OF CHARGE MODEL HANDLING, AND THERE MAY BE OTHER CLEANUP NPRS THAT MAY COME UP AS WE GO THROUGH IT.
I UNDERSTAND THAT, BUT NONE OF THEM AT THIS POINT SHOULD HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON OUR SCHEDULE.
SO I WOULD LIKE, AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE THAT WHEN WE GET TO EVERY PHASE THAT WE ARE LOOKING AT THIS GOAL LIVE WINDOW AND TRYING TO SHIFT LEFT, OKAY? AND, AND THIS IS WHERE I'M LOOKING AT THIS PROJECT AND MAKING SURE THAT WHEN I SHIFT LEFT, I DON'T RUN INTO ANY PROJECT THAT ASSUMES THAT IT NEEDS TO GO LIVE BEFORE RTC, BECAUSE THE FLIP SIDE IS IF THAT PROJECT IS LATE, I DON'T WANT IT TO PUSH OUT RTC EITHER.
UH, SO THIS PROJECT ISN'T PLANNING RIGHT NOW, BUT WE ARE WORKING WITH THAT PROJECT TO MAKE SURE THAT IT IS INDEPENDENT OF RTC AND THE MOMENT THEY CONFIRM THAT, I'LL TAKE IT OFF MY SLIDE AS WELL.
UM, I THINK I SPOKE A LOT ON THIS SLIDE, MEAN IF THERE'S ANY MORE QUESTIONS, OKAY.
RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO ADD MORE THINGS IN TO RTC SCOPE.
AS A GIANT POINTED OUT, SCOPE CREEP IS THE KILLER OF PROJECTS.
UM, SO MY LEAST FAVORITE WORDS, LET'S DO IT WITH RTC.
I MEAN, WE CAN DO RTC ADVANCED SOMETIME LATER, BUT YEAH.
AND YOU KNOW, LIKE NOT WILL GO LIVE, RIGHT? I MEAN, IF YOU GO LIVE, THEY CAN ALWAYS MAKE CHANGES AND ADD SMALLER THINGS ON TOP OF THAT, BUT WE SHOULD RESIST THE TEMPTATION OF JUST ADDING TO IT, ESPECIALLY ONES THAT REQUIREMENTS ARE COMPLETE OR PLANNING IS COMPLETE.
ALRIGHT, SO I DO PLAN TO GIVE AN UPDATE TO THE COMMITTEE ON MAJOR MILESTONES THAT WE SHOULD EXPECT TO THE NEXT, UH, COMMITTEE MEETING.
UM, SO ANYTHING THAT MARKED DECEMBER, THEY'RE ALREADY COMPLETE, BUT I TO TURN THESE SLIDES BEFORE THESE DATES.
SO, BUT THESE ARE COMPLETE AND THESE ARE MAJOR MILESTONES BETWEEN NOW AND, UH, THE NEXT, UM, UH, COMMITTEE MEETING.
SO I'M THINKING THAT, UH, FUTURE COMMITTEE UPDATES WOULD BE THIS SLIDE OUR PERHAPS HAD A SLIDE THAT SAYS, OKAY, WHAT IN THE PREVIOUS, UH, COMMITMENT WE MET, RIGHT? WE HAVE THAT WE'LL HAVE A VARIATION OF THIS SLIDE, AN UPDATE OF THIS, UM, HIGH LEVEL, UM, UM, SCHEDULE AND THE STATUS OF WHERE WE ARE.
SO THIS IS WHAT I'LL TRY TO DO EVERY COMMITTEE MEETING.
UM, LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO ADD SOME MORE DETAILS ANYWHERE ELSE ON THAT HELPS YOU.
WELL, JUST LIKE A HISTORIC LOOK BACK, WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME A PROJECT THIS LARGE WAS UNDERTAKEN AND IMPLEMENTED? UH, BEFORE MY TIME? UH, I THINK THE, UH, MOST COMPARABLE PROJECT TO THIS IS, UH, NODAL.
THIS IS NOT AS BIG AS THAT, BUT IT IS THE LARGEST PROJECT SINCE THAT.
AND THAT WAS WHAT, 2001 OR SOMETHING? UH, IT WAS DELIVERED IN 2010, KICKED OFF AROUND 2005.
BUT NO, WHILE WE MAKE THAT COMPARISON, IT IS NOT LIKE, AS KENAN SAID, AS BIG AS NORO BECAUSE THAT WAS A REWRITE OF EVERYTHING, RIGHT? THIS IS ADDING A FUNCTIONALITY THAT, THAT PROJECT WAS ABOUT $600 MILLION IN 2010.
IT WAS AN ENTIRE REWRITE OF PROTOCOLS.
COMPLETE REWRITE OF PROTOCOLS.
ALRIGHT, THAT'S MY PRESENTATION.
[5.4 Security Update]
TO TAKE US THROUGH A SECURITY UPDATE.[01:00:01]
SHE'S ACTUALLY GONNA TAKE US THROUGH TWO, ONE IN EXECUTIVE SESSION AND ONE NOW.SO JOHN, I JUST WANTED TO MENTION DURING THE, THE BREAK IN THE APPENDIX WHERE THERE'S LINKS, THEY'RE NOT HOT ON DILIGENT.
THERE, THERE'S A, THERE'S A LOT OF VERY INTERESTING DOCUMENTATION ON OUR, IN THE IEE JOURNAL AND SOME OTHER PLACES YOU MIGHT, YOU MIGHT WANNA SEND US AROUND A READING GUIDE.
AND, UM, I'LL ALSO SEND THE SLIDE THEMSELVES TO YOU ALL.
I HAVE A BRIEF SECURITY UPDATE IN OPEN SESSION TODAY AND THEN A MORE DETAILED ONE IN, IN EXECUTIVE SESSION.
TODAY I WANT TO, UM, REVIEW OUR GRID X ACTIVITIES THAT OCCURRED IN NOVEMBER.
UH, NO ACTION FROM THE, FROM THE COMMITTEE OR FOR THE BOARD ON THIS ONE.
SO GRID X, WHAT IS IT? UM, IT'S A NERC SPONSORED EVENT.
THEY SPONSOR THIS EVERY TWO YEARS.
IT'S THE LARGEST SECURITY EXERCISE IN NORTH AMERICA AND IT COVERS BOTH CYBER AND PHYSICAL SIMULATED ATTACKS.
UM, IT'S CALLED GRID X SEVEN BECAUSE THIS IS A SEVENTH SUCH EXERCISE.
SO ERCOT DID PARTICIPATE IN MULTIPLE WAYS FOR GRID X SEVEN.
WE HAD AN EXECUTIVE TABLETOP THAT SIMULATED, UM, A NATION STATE ATTACK.
IT INCLUDED ALL MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE TEAM.
AND WE ALSO HAD PARTNERS FROM THE FEDERAL AND STATE LEVEL THERE.
WE HAD D-H-S-F-B-I, STATE AND LOCAL POLICE.
AND WHILE WE WERE DOING THIS, THERE'S ALSO GRID OPERATOR TRAINING THAT WAS OCCURRING WITH OUR, OUR GRID OPERATORS IN THE TRAINING SIMULATOR.
THEY WERE GETTING SOME OF THE SAME INJECTS THAT WE DISCUSSED IN OUR EXECUTIVE TABLETOP.
SO OVERALL IT WAS EXCELLENT PARTICIPATION.
UM, THE, UH, NERC WILL HAVE A LESSONS LEARNED REPORT COMING OUT IN FIRST QUARTER.
ONE OTHER TRAINING THAT I WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT WAS ONE THAT IS, UM, PUT ON BY DOE AND THE NATIONAL LABS AND ERCOT AND THE PUC UH, FACILITATED THIS, IT WAS CALLED CYBER STRIKE LIGHTS OUT.
AND IT WAS A TRAINING, A VERY TECHNICAL TRAINING, UM, THAT SIMULATED THE 2015, 2016 UKRAINE ATTACKS, UH, RUSSIAN ATTACKS ON THE UTA UKRAINE POWER GRID.
AND SO, UM, THIS WAS, AS I SAID, A VERY HANDS-ON TECHNICAL TRAINING.
WE HAD ABOUT 50 PARTICIPANTS, UM, SOME FROM ERCOT, SOME FROM MARKET PARTICIPANTS, EVEN OIL AND GAS.
SO WE HAD TECHNICAL FOLKS THERE FROM THE IT SIDE AS WELL AS OPERATORS AND SO FORTH.
IT WAS VERY, VERY WELL RECEIVED.
SO AS I SAID, NERC WILL BE RELEASING THE REPUBLIC REPORT, UM, IN FIRST QUARTER.
THEY'VE ACTUALLY SETTLED, IT'LL BE DURING MARCH.
UM, THE GRID OPERATOR TRAINING THAT AS I DISCUSSED, THE GRID X INJECTS, THEY'VE BEEN INCORPORATED INTO THE COMPLETE TRAINING CYCLE.
SO THAT'S BEEN A GOOD THING GOING FORWARD.
AND THEN THE FEEDBACK ON THE CYBER STRIKE LIGHTS OUT, THE PARTICIPANTS WERE VERY FAVORABLE, UM, AND COMPLIMENTARY ON THIS.
THE CYBER LIGHT, CYBER STRIKE LIGHTS OUT TRAINING IS, IS CONTINUING THROUGH, UM, DOE AND NATIONAL LABS IN VARIOUS PLACES ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
SO WE WERE VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVE THAT HERE, UH, AT ERCOT AND PARTICIPATE IN THAT.
SO THESE THINGS REALLY PROVIDE VERY VALUABLE HANDS-ON TRAINING.
UH, AND IT IMPROVES EVERYBODY'S RESPONSE FROM A CYBER OR PHYSICAL, UH, PERSPECTIVE IN TERMS OF SECURITY SO WITH THAT, I WILL BE HAPPY TO TAKE QUESTIONS.
ALL RIGHT, WE'LL SEE YOU BACK IN A FEW MINUTES.
[6. Future Agenda Items]
JP, ANYTHING ON FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS WHILE JP P'S NAME IS ON THIS, THIS IS AS MUCH FOR THE COMMITTEE AS AS ANYONE ELSE.SO I MEAN, YOU CAN SEE SORT OF A LIST, UH, A PROFORMA LIST OF THINGS THAT WE, WE NEED TO DO AND, AND THEN CAN DO AND SHOULD DO.
UM, SOME OF WHICH WE'VE ALREADY COVERED AND SOME OF WHICH WE'LL DO AN EXECUTIVE SESSION, BUT COMMITTEE MEMBERS WANTING TO SEE ANY MORE, UM, ANY, ANY DEEPER LEVEL OF DETAIL OR, OR ANY MORE PROJECT RELATED THINGS.
SINCE WE JUST FORMED, I, I THINK WE SHOULD GO WITH WHAT'S PROPOSED AND GET A LITTLE BIT MORE EXPERIENCE UNDER OUR BELT.
[01:05:02]
VERY GOOD.[Convene Executive Session]
YOU.NOW WE'RE GONNA GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION.
I THINK WE NEED A BREAK TO FACILITATE THAT.
UM, I DON'T BELIEVE THERE ARE ANY, I DON'T BELIEVE THERE ARE ANY VOTING ITEMS IN EXECUTIVE SESSION.
JOHN, IS THAT CORRECT? SO WE WILL NOT COME BACK INTO GENERAL SESSION.
AT THE END OF EXECUTIVE SESSION.
WE'LL ADJOURN THE WHOLE THING.
AND DO YOU WANT TO TAKE WHAT? 10 MINUTES, TEN'S FINE.
SO LET'S, LET'S SAY QUARTER AFTER 10.