[00:00:04]
[1. Call General Session to Order]
EVERYONE, AND WELCOME TO MEMBERS OF THE TECHNOLOGY AND SECURITY COMMITTEE AND GUESTS.THIS IS JOHN SWENSON, COMMITTEE CHAIR.
UM, I HEREBY CALL THIS MEETING TO ORDER.
THIS MEETING IS BEING WEBCAST LIVE TO THE PUBLIC ON OUR COP'S WEBSITE.
I HAVE CONFIRMED THAT THERE IS A QUORUM PRESENT IN PERSON.
BEFORE WE BEGIN, I'D LIKE TO ASK PEW CHAIRMAN THOMAS GLEASON, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CALL AN OPEN MEETING OF THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS TO ORDER.
CHAIRMAN, I DON'T BELIEVE WE HAVE A QUORUM, SO NO NEED TO CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER.
UH, BEFORE WE MOVE ON TO TODAY'S BUSINESS, I'D LIKE TO HIGHLIGHT TO THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS THAT THE ANTITRUST ADMONITION AND SECURITY MAP ARE INCLUDED IN THE POSTED MATERIALS, WHICH YOU CAN SEE IN FRONT OF YOU ON THE SCREEN.
UM, THE FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS ON TODAY'S AGENDA IS ITEM TWO.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC COMMENT, IF ANY.
UH, TODAY'S MEETING AGENDA WAS POSTED PUBLICLY ON JUNE 10TH AND PROVIDED INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PUBLIC FOR COMMENTING IN PERSON.
TO DATE, NO ONE HAS EXPRESSED INTEREST IN COMMENTING.
IS THAT CORRECT, JOHN? THAT IS CORRECT.
THEN IN THAT CASE, WE WILL MOVE ON TO ITEM NUMBER THREE.
UH, WE ARE GONNA CALL AN AUDIBLE ON THE THREE TOPICS UNDER ITEM NUMBER THREE.
UM, AND I WOULD LIKE TO, HEY, JOHN, ITEM NUMBER THREE IS THE, UH, MEETING MINUTES.
I DIDN'T KNOW IF YOU WANNA TAKE CARE OF THAT BEFORE WE GO ON TO THE NEXT ONE.
[3. April 22, 2024 General Session Meeting Minutes]
GENERALS MEETING MINUTES.UM, THERE ARE, THERE'S A DRAFT OF THE MEETING MINUTES IN YOUR MATERIALS.
IF ANYONE HAS ANY COMMENTS, PLEASE MAKE THEM.
OR IF YOU WISH TO MAKE A MOTION, PLEASE DO SO AS WELL.
[4.3 Emerging Technology – Introduction to Grid Forming Inverters – a Key to Transforming our Power Grid]
LET'S THEN MOVE ON TO ITEM NUMBER FOUR.ITEM NUMBER FOUR IS THE ONE WHERE WE'RE GONNA DO THE UPDATE IN TERMS OF THE SCHEDULE.
UM, JP DO YOU WANT TO TAKE, UH, INTRODUCE THIS TOPIC AND THEN, UM, BRING UP OUR FIRST SPEAKER, PLEASE? THE CHANGE WE'RE GONNA MAKE, BY THE WAY, IS TO BRING, UH, ITEM 4.3 UP TO THE FIRST, THE BEGINNING OF THIS PRESENTATION.
UH, WE'RE DOING THAT IN SO THAT MEMBERS OF THE OTHER COMMITTEES CAN LISTEN IN ON IT.
UH, THEY HAVE ABOUT HALF AN HOUR BEFORE THEIR COMMITTEE MEETING STARTS, SO I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE VALUABLE FOR THEM TO HEAR THIS.
SO, JP, PLEASE GO AHEAD AND INTRODUCE OUR SPEAKER.
SO, UM, AS WE DISCUSSED, UH, LAST COMMITTEE MEETING, UM, ONE OF THE ASKS FROM THE COMMITTEE WAS THAT LET'S TALK ABOUT NEW GRID TRANSFORMATION TOPICS, RIGHT? AND, AND ONE OF THE TOPIC THAT THE BOARD WANTED TO HEAR WAS ABOUT GRID FORMING INVERTERS.
AND, UM, AND ON THAT TOPIC, ONE OF THE FOREMOST EXPERT IN THIS FIELD IS BEN KOWSKI, UM, DOCTOR KOWSKI TO BE MORE PRECISE.
UM, HE HAS A BACHELOR'S AND MASTER'S FROM VIRGINIA AND VIRGINIA TECH AND, UM, UH, A PHD FROM COLORADO MINES.
SO HE HAS ABOUT 20, 30 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN THIS AREA.
SO WE HAVE POSSIBLY THE BEST EXPERT IN THIS FIELD.
SO WITHOUT WASTING ANY TIME, I'M GOING TO LET, UH, DR.
KOWSKI GO THROUGH HIS SLIDES AND, UH, INTRODUCE US TO THIS, UH, GRID FORMING INVERTERS, WHICH AS THE TITLE SAYS, IT IS A KEY TO TRANSFORMING OUR GRID WITH THE RISE OF, UM, INVERTER TECHNOLOGIES THAT WE WILL SEE AND, UM, AND THE PENETRATION OF RENEWABLES, WHICH MAKES IT SUCH A CURRENT TOPIC WITHOUT ANY DELAY, DR.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND, UH, I APPRECIATE BEING INVITED HERE TO GIVE YOU A TALK TODAY ON GRID FORMING INVERTERS, UM, AND HOW THIS IS REALLY GONNA REVOLUTIONIZE THE POWER SYSTEM AS WE MOVE FORWARD.
SO I'M GONNA DIVE INTO A WHOLE THING ABOUT WHY WE NEED GRID FORMING INVERTERS.
I'LL ALSO TALK ABOUT WHAT IS A GRID FORMING INVERTER, BUT IF WE JUST TAKE A QUICK LOOK AT WHAT'S HAPPENING ACROSS NOT ONLY THE UNITED STATES, BUT ACROSS THE WORLD, THE DEPLOYMENT OF VARIABLE RENEWABLE TECHNOLOGIES LIKE WIND AND SOLAR, AS WELL AS BATTERIES, IS DRASTICALLY INCREASING OVER THE LAST DECADE.
WE'VE REALLY SEEN A HUGE RAMP UP IN THE DEPLOYMENT OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES.
AND ONE KEY FEATURE ABOUT THESE AS WE'LL DESCRIBE A LITTLE BIT, ALL OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES ARE WHAT WE CALL INVERTER BASED RESOURCES.
SO THERE'S A LITTLE MAGIC BOX INSIDE OF EACH OF THESE THAT CONNECTS TO THE GRID FROM THE RENEWABLE
[00:05:01]
RESOURCE ITSELF.I PUT THIS SLIDE UP REALLY TO KIND OF SHOW WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE INDUSTRY TODAY.
THIS IS EIA DATA PROJECTED CAPACITY DEPLOYMENTS IN 2024.
AND THIS IS PRETTY UNHEARD OF WHEN YOU LOOK AT WHAT IS EXPECTED TO BE DEPLOYED IN THE UNITED STATES.
94% OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES DEPLOYED ARE PROJECTED TO BE INVERTER BASED RESOURCES, SO SOLAR, WIND, AND BATTERIES.
AND YOU CAN SEE THE RELATIVE PERCENTAGES THERE.
BUT IN, IN GENERAL, IF YOU GO BACK IN TIME, THIS IS, UH, UNPRECEDENTED IN TERMS OF THE AMOUNT OF THESE TYPE OF VARIABLE RENEWABLES BEING DEPLOYED AS NEW CAPACITY ADDITIONS INTO THE POWER SYSTEM.
AND WHAT'S REALLY DRIVING THIS AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT ALL COMES DOWN TO COSTS.
NO MATTER HOW MUCH WE REALLY LIKE CLEAN ENERGY COSTS REALLY DICTATE EVERYTHING.
AND SO IF YOU HAVE THE LOWEST FORM COST, UH, OF NEW ELECTRICITY, THAT'S GONNA START WINNING OUT.
AND YOU START TO SEE THIS REALLY BEING THE DRIVING FORCE.
THIS IS, UM, DATA UP TO 2023, BUT YOU CAN SEE THAT UTILITY SCALE, SOLAR AND ONSHORE WIND ARE THE LOWEST FORM COSTS OF ELECTRICITY AND PROBABLY HAVE BEEN FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS.
AND SO THAT'S REALLY THE DRIVING FACTOR WHEN YOU GET DOWN TO IT AT THE END OF THE DAY, UM, THIS IS REALLY GONNA BE CRITICAL AS WE THINK ABOUT HOW DO WE CREATE LOW COST PRICING FOR CONSUMERS IS TO USE THE LOWEST COST OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION.
NOW, THERE ARE SOME LITTLE HICCUPS, IF YOU WILL, WITH VARIABLE RENEWABLES.
THEY ONLY RUN WHEN THERE'S WIND OR SOLAR.
AND SO TYING THOSE TO BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE IS KIND OF CRITICAL AS WE START TO MASS DEPLOY THESE TECHNOLOGIES.
SO I'LL DIVE A LITTLE BIT INTO THE ACTUAL TECHNICAL DETAILS OF WHY THIS IS SUCH A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE OF HOW WE OPERATE THE POWER GRID.
SO ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE, CONVENTIONAL GENERATING PLANTS, THINGS LIKE COAL PLANTS, NATURAL GAS, NUCLEAR PLANTS, HYDRO PLANTS, IF YOU OPEN THOSE UP, THEY ALL SORT OF WORK THE SAME WAY.
THEY'RE, UH, ON COAL, NATURAL GAS AND NUCLEAR.
THEY'RE HEATING WATER CREATING STEAM THAT'S TURNING A TURBINE THAT'S SPINNING AN ELECTRICAL GENERATOR CALLED A SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR.
AND THE REASON WHY WE CALL IT A SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR IS IT ACTUALLY SYNCHRONIZES TO THE 60 HERTZ WAVE FORM OF THE GRID, AND WE CAN TIE THOSE ALL TOGETHER AND THEY CAN ACT LIKE ONE BIG MACHINE PRODUCING ELECTRICITY.
IF YOU LOSE A MACHINE, THE REST OF THE, UM, SYNCHRONOUS GENERATORS CAN REACT ALMOST INSTANTANEOUSLY AND RAMP UP THEIR OUTPUT POWER AND PROVIDE STABLE OPERATING CONDITIONS.
NOW, IF WE THINK ABOUT VARIABLE RENEWABLES LIKE WIND, SOLAR, AND THEN I'LL ALSO THROW BATTERIES INTO THIS.
THERE IS THIS BOX THAT, UH, TAKES WHAT WE CALL DC ELECTRICITY AND CONVERTS THAT TO GRID COMPATIBLE AC 60 HERTZ HERE IN THE UNITED STATES, 50 HERTZ AND OTHER PLACES AROUND THE WORLD.
BUT WE BASICALLY ARE REPLICATING THAT AC WAVEFORM THAT YOU NATURALLY GET OUT OF A SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR.
AND THIS WAY THESE TECHNOLOGIES CAN INTEGRATE INTO THE ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEM AND SEAMLESSLY WORK TOGETHER WITH THE ELECTRIC POWER GRID.
NOW, IT'S NOT JUST AS EASY AS SAYING, OKAY, LET'S PUT AN INVERTER ON THE SYSTEM, UM, BECAUSE THERE ARE ACTUALLY TWO BASIC TYPES OF INVERTERS.
THERE'S ALSO KIND OF A SPREAD OF CAPABILITIES THAT YOU HAVE IN HERE.
BUT WE'LL START OFF WITH A HIGH LEVEL KIND OF OVERVIEW SAYING THAT THERE'S TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF INVERTERS, GRID FOLLOWING AND GRID FORMING.
SO GRID FOLLOWING, WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT IT LOOKS AT THAT AC WAVEFORM SO THAT, UH, UM, UH, FREQUENCY COMING OUT THERE IN THE VOLTAGE AND BASICALLY SYNCHRONIZES TO IT AND THEN STARTS INJECTING POWER.
SO IT NEEDS TO SEE THAT GRID BEING FORMED FROM SOME OTHER DEVICE FOR A GRID FOLLOWING INVERTER TO WORK.
IF YOU HAVE, UH, AND, AND IN GENERAL FOR THE BLAST, UH, 15 TO 20 YEARS, THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE DEPLOYED AS GRID CONNECTED INVERTERS ON THE SYSTEM.
SO ALL BIG INVERTERS, EVEN LITTLE INVERTERS ON PEOPLE'S HOMES ARE USING GRID FOLLOWING TECHNOLOGY.
THERE IS ONE HUGE DRAWBACK THERE.
IF THE GRID GOES DOWN AND DISAPPEARS, THESE GRID FOLLOWING INVERTERS ALSO GO DOWN.
THERE'S NO GRID TO SYNCHRONIZE TO, SO THEY STOP WORKING.
SO IF YOU HAD A, A PV SYSTEM ON YOUR ROOF, OR IF YOU HAVE A 50 MEGAWATT PV SYSTEM, IF THAT GRID AC WAVEFORM DISAPPEARS, THEN THAT INVERTER IS GONNA STOP PRODUCING POWER AND, UM, UH, OPERATING.
NOW, GRID FORMING INVERTERS, ON THE OTHER HAND, THESE ARE WHAT WE CALL VOLTAGE SOURCE DEVICES.
THEY ARE, ARE CAPABLE OF MAKING THEIR OWN AC WAVEFORMS. WE HAVE HAD THIS TECHNOLOGY AROUND FOR QUITE A WHILE.
[00:10:01]
WE USE THIS A LOT ON SMALL REMOTE ISLAND POWER GRIDS ALL THE TIME WHEN THE INVERTERS ARE THE ONLY SOURCE OF ENERGY AND ELECTRICITY.BUT THEY ARE A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT.
THEY HAVE SOME UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS, ESPECIALLY WHEN ONE KEY ONE BEING THIS ABILITY TO REACT EXTREMELY FAST TO CHANGES ON THE GRID, AND THAT HELPS ENSURE OVERALL GRID STABILITY ON THE SYSTEM.
SO WE'LL DIVE A LITTLE BIT MORE INTO THAT.
OKAY, SO I PUT TOGETHER KIND OF A QUICK LITTLE THING THAT PROBABLY PEOPLE MIGHT HAVE A BUNCH OF QUESTIONS ON.
UM, AND THESE ARE QUICK LITTLE QUESTIONS THAT, UH, WE GET QUITE A BIT GRID FOLLOWING VERSUS GRID FORMING.
IS THIS JUST A SOFTWARE CHANGE OR IS THERE A HARDWARE DIFFERENCE IN WHAT IN THERE? SO IN GENERAL, WHEN WE TALK ABOUT GRID FORMING CONTROLS, IT'S A SOFTWARE DIFFERENCE.
IT'S JUST A, A DIFFERENT WAY OF PROGRAMMING THE CONTROLLERS IN THE INVERTERS TO FORM THAT GRID OR FOLLOW THE GRID.
BUT THERE ARE SOME UNIQUE CAPABILITIES.
IF YOU'RE DOING THINGS LIKE BLACKSTAR AND WE'LL TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT BLACKSTAR CAPABILITY, YOU MAY NEED ADDITIONAL HARDWARE ON THERE.
SO IT'S NOT JUST A SIMPLE BLACK AND WHITE QUESTION, BUT, UM, IN GENERAL, FOR THE MOST PART, IT IS A, UH, CONTROLLABLE CHANGE.
AND IN FACT, THERE ARE COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE PRODUCTS TODAY FROM MANUFACTURERS, ESPECIALLY ON BATTERY SYSTEMS THAT CAN SWITCH MODE ON THE FLY.
THEY CAN RUN IN GRID FOLLOWING AND INSTANTANEOUSLY SWITCH TO GRID FORMING MODE TO HELP IMPROVE STABILITY.
AND IN GENERAL, YOU'LL SEE GRID FORMING CAPABILITY AVAILABLE TODAY ON INVERTERS THAT ARE PAIRED WITH BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS. THEY'RE NOT REALLY COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE YET ON JUST A PV ONLY OR JUST A WIND ONLY SYSTEM, BUT THE MANUFACTURERS ARE WORKING ON THEM.
WE'VE BEEN TESTING THEM AT OUR LABORATORY IN COLORADO, AND YOU'LL START TO SEE THOSE PRODUCTS APPEAR OVER THE, UM, COMING YEARS.
UM, HOW EASY IS IT TO RETROFIT OLDER INVERTERS? SO INVERTERS UNFORTUNATELY ARE KIND OF LIKE IPHONES.
THEY, THEY CHANGE A LOT AND CAN GET UPDATED VERY QUICKLY.
SO THINGS THAT ARE FIVE YEARS OLD, YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT GONNA BE ABLE TO RETROFIT THE CONTROLS IN THOSE INVERTERS.
WE'VE TRIED TO DO SOME DEMO PROJECTS AND HAVE HAD DIFFICULTY ON THINGS THAT ARE PROBABLY, UH, FIVE YEARS OR OLDER THINGS THAT ARE TWO YEARS OR OLDER, MAYBE YOU CAN DO THE RETROFITS, DEPENDS ON WHICH, UH, MANUFACTURER.
AND THEN MOVING FORWARD, THERE IS COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE PRODUCT THAT DOES THIS.
AND EVENTUALLY, AS I'LL POINT OUT, YOU'LL WANT TO SEE THIS KIND OF CAPABILITY AT LEAST PUT INTO THE INVERTER DEVICES, WHETHER IT'S USED OR NOT, THAT'S AT ALL A MATTER OF, OF THE SETTINGS ON THE INSIDE OF THE SYSTEMS. HOW MUCH GRID FORMING DO I NEED ON A SYSTEM? SO I'LL, I'LL SHOW A GRAPH HERE COMING UP, BUT IN GENERAL, YOU CAN USE A RULE OF THUMB THAT YOU NEED AT LEAST 25 TO 30% OF SOME ASSET ON THE GRID BEING GRID FORMING.
THAT COULD BE SYNCHRONOUS GENERATORS, THAT COULD BE GRID FORMING INVERTERS.
UM, BUT YOU NEED AT LEAST THAT MUCH TO MAINTAIN OPERATIONAL STABILITY ACROSS THE GRID.
AND WE CAN DIVE MORE INTO THAT IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS.
AND WHERE'S THE BEST PA PLACE TO PUT THESE? YOU WANNA PUT 'EM ACTUALLY AT THE WEAKEST PART OF YOUR SYSTEM.
IF YOU PUT 'EM IN THE WEAKEST PART OF YOUR GRID, THEY ACTUALLY IMPROVE THE OVERALL STABILITY THE BEST WHEN THEY'RE LOCATED THERE.
SO FURTHER OUT ON THE GRID, ADDING GRID, UH, FORMING INVERTERS IMPROVES OVERARCHING STABILITY.
AND THEN FINALLY, DO I NEED ENERGY STORAGE? THAT'S ONE OF THESE THINGS WHERE IF YOU PAIR YOUR DEVICES WITH ENERGY STORAGE, YOU DEFINITELY CAN GET A LOT BIGGER BENEFITS ON THAT AND A FULL, UH, RESPONSE OF THE GRID FORMING CAPABILITIES.
OKAY, SO, UM, I'LL PUT THIS UP AS A, UH, SLIDE TO KIND OF WALK YOU THROUGH.
WHAT DO WE KNOW TODAY ABOUT OPERATING POWER GRIDS WITH EXTREMELY HIGH LEVELS OF INVERTER BASED RESOURCES? YOU SEE THE SYSTEM SIZE ON THE X AXIS THERE, THAT GOES FROM VERY TINY ISLAND POWER GRIDS, MAYBE A HUNDRED KILOWATTS ALL THE WAY UP TO THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES, WHICH IS AROUND, UM, 800 GIGAWATTS.
BUT, UM, TWO IMPORTANT POINTS HERE.
ONE IS THOSE TWO DIFFERENT NUMBERS THAT YOU SEE FOR EACH OF THESE AREAS.
ONE, THE ANNUAL ENERGY FROM INVERTER BASED RESOURCES OR FROM WIND AND SOLAR.
THAT'S A NUMBER THAT GETS THROWN AROUND ALL THE TIME, AND THAT'S THE AMOUNT OVER THE ENTIRE YEAR BEING PROVIDED FROM THOSE RESOURCES.
BUT THE MORE IMPORTANT TO POWER SYSTEM ENGINEERS IS THIS INSTANTANEOUS NUMBER.
SO THAT MEANS AT ANY PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME YOU COULD BE RUNNING A GRID WITH THAT AMOUNT OF INVERTER BASED RESOURCES.
SO AS YOU CAN SEE ON ISLAND SMALL ISLAND GRIDS, WE'VE BEEN OPERATING THESE GRIDS FOR MANY YEARS WITH A HUNDRED PERCENT INSTANTANEOUS LEVELS AND EVEN UP TO A HUNDRED PERCENT YEAR ROUND FROM RENEWABLE SOURCES.
HOW DO WE DO THAT GRID FORMING INVERTERS AND LOTS OF ENERGY STORAGE AS WE START TO LOOK AT NEWER SYSTEMS LIKE THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
WE'VE BEEN WORKING VERY CLOSELY WITH THE HAWAIIAN, UM, UTILITIES ON TRYING TO GET THOSE SYSTEMS TO A HUNDRED PERCENT RENEWABLES AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
[00:15:01]
SO YOU CAN SEE THERE UPWARDS OF 90% INSTANTANEOUS VALUES, AND THAT WILL GET YOU TO AROUND 50% ON AN ANNUAL ENERGY BASIS AS YOU GO TO SOME OF THESE LARGER SYSTEMS, YOU CAN SEE IRELAND IS AN, UH, INDEPENDENT SYSTEM, RUNS AROUND 75% INSTANTANEOUS, AND THEN ERCOT JUST THIS YEAR GOT UP TO 75% INSTANTANEOUS LEVELS FOR JUST A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME.BUT THIS IS SOME, THIS IS WHERE WE'RE HEADING ON THIS.
AND IF WE WANNA PUSH ABOVE THAT LEVEL, THAT'S WHERE YOU NEED TO REALLY FOCUS ON GRID FORMING INVERTER TECHNOLOGIES LIKE WE DO ON THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS AND THE SMALLER ISLAND POWER SYSTEMS. SO LET ME JUST DO A VERY QUICK EXAMPLE HERE OF KIND OF WALKING YOU THROUGH WHY GRID FORMING INVERTERS WORK AND HOW THEY ACTUALLY PROVIDE THIS GRID STABILITY CAPABILITY.
SO THIS IS A VERY SIMPLIFIED SYSTEM OF THE WESTERN, UH, ELECTRIC COORDINATING COUNCIL OR THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.
IF YOU TAKE ALL THE GENERATION IN THERE AND KIND OF LUMP THE HYDRO, THE INVERTER BASED RESOURCES IN GREEN, UM, STEAM PLANTS.
AND THEN WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO IS WE'RE GONNA, UM, PUT A CONTINGENCY, MEANING WE'RE GONNA DROP 2.8 GIGAWATTS OF LOAD AND WATCH WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SYSTEM FREQUENCY.
SO NOMINALLY WE SHOULD BE OPERATING AT 60 HERTZ.
WHEN YOU LOSE 2.8 GIGAWATTS OF GENERATION, YOU'RE GONNA SEE THE FREQUENCY DECLINE.
BUT, AND THEN THERE'S SOME KEY FACTORS ON THAT.
SO IF WE TAKE A LOOK AT THIS GRAPH RIGHT HERE, WHAT WE'VE DONE IS TAKE ALL THE INVERTER B UH, RESOURCES AND MADE THEM GRID FOLLOWING.
AND THAT GRID, UH, IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, THIS IS AROUND 73% OF THE TOTAL GENERATION IS INVERTER BASED RESOURCES.
AND YOU CAN SEE IN HERE THIS IS, UH, 60 HERTZ.
LET ME SEE IF I CAN, THIS WORKS.
NO, UM, YOU CAN SEE THAT 60 HERTZ, UH, FREQUENCY UP ON TOP UNTIL THAT CONTINGENCY EVENT HAPPENS.
AND THEN, YEAH, IT SHOULD BE WORK, RIGHT? OH, WELL, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.
WHEN WE HIT THAT SPOT, YOU SEE THAT BIG DIP IN FREQUENCY AND THEN THE FREQUENCY ACTUALLY COMES UP BECAUSE THE GENER, ALL THE GENERATORS ONLINE ARE TRYING TO RESPOND TO THAT FREQUENCY DIP IN STABILIZE THE, UM, FREQUENCY OF THE GRID.
IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, YOU CAN SEE IT REMAINS STABLE, BUT IT GOES BELOW THE UNDER FREQUENCY LOAD SHEDDING VALUE OF 59.5 HERTZ.
AND THE PROBLEM WITH THAT IS, ONCE YOU HIT THAT 59.5 HERTZ, THERE IS LOCALIZED BLACKOUTS THAT ARE OCCURRING.
SO THEY'RE SHEDDING LOAD TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY CAN KEEP THAT, UH, SYSTEM STABLE.
NOW, IF WE GO IN AND REPLACE THESE GRID FOLLOWING INVERTERS WITH GRID FORMING INVERTERS, YOU GET THIS TYPE OF RESPONSE.
SO YOU CAN SEE A VERY SHALLOW DECLINE IN SYSTEM WIDE FREQUENCY.
AGAIN, THIS IS A PRETTY SIMPLIFIED SYSTEM, BUT IT SHOWS YOU THE DIFFERENCE.
AND WE DON'T COME ANYWHERE CLOSE TO THAT UNDER FREQUENCY LOAD SHEDDING EVENT.
IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, USING GRID FORMING INVERTERS HELPS IMPROVE THE STABILITY OF THE GRID DRAMATICALLY.
SO THERE'S A VARIETY OF, UM, VALUE AROUND THIS GRID FORMING CAPABILITY.
UM, PROVIDING THIS ESSENTIAL RELIABILITY SERVICE, IMPROVING OVERARCHING STABILITY, UM, YOU COULD CAN KIND OF CONSIDER THIS A A, AN AN INERTIAL RESPONSE CHARACTERISTIC FROM THESE GRID FORMING INVERTERS.
THE REALITY IS THAT GRID FORMING INVERTERS HAVE THESE, UH, CONTROLS THAT PRE-PROGRAM, THAT ABILITY TO, TO SENSE THAT CHANGE IN SYSTEM-WIDE FREQUENCY AND VOLTAGE, WHEREAS GRID FOLLOWING INVERTERS, IT TAKES THEM A LITTLE BIT LONGER.
THEY ACTUALLY HAVE TO MAKE SOME MEASUREMENTS AND MAKE A DETERMINATION AND THEN MAKE A CHANGE INTO THE SYSTEM.
IN ADDITION, YOU CAN DO THINGS LIKE BLACKSTAR CAPABILITY.
SO GRID FORMING INVERTERS, IF DEPLOYED CORRECTLY, COULD BE PART OF A SYSTEM RESTORATION PLAN WHERE YOU COULD START TO RE UM, UH, REENERGIZE SYSTEMS USING THESE INVERTER BASED RESOURCES.
TO DATE, WE HAVE NOT DONE THIS EXTENSIVELY ON LARGE SCALE GRIDS, BUT WE HAVE DONE IT OBVIOUSLY ON SMALLER GRIDS THAT CAN FULLY START, UH, THEIR SYSTEMS. AND ANOTHER KEY FEATURE HERE THAT I'LL TALK ABOUT AT KIND OF, UH, ONE OF MY LATER SLIDES IS THIS ABILITY TO ACTUALLY ADD MORE WIND AND SOLAR INTO THE GRID BECAUSE WE'RE REDUCING THE CURTAILMENT BECAUSE OF THOSE STABILITY ISSUES.
SO BY IMPROVING STABILITY IN WEAK GRIDS, WE CAN ACTUALLY ADD MORE, UH, WIND AND SOLAR INTO THE SYSTEM AND REDUCE CURTAILMENTS.
OKAY, SO THERE'S A LOT OF STUFF GOING ON IN THIS.
I WILL, UM, TRY TO KIND OF AT A HIGH LEVEL SUMMARIZE WHAT'S HAPPENING.
SO PROBABLY FOR THE, THIS IS A, A TIMELINE OF, OF VARIOUS STANDARDS THAT IMPACT INVERTER BASED RESOURCES.
SO THINGS LIKE THE INITIAL, UH, IEEE 1547, WHICH DEALS WITH DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCES WAS DEVELOPED
[00:20:01]
OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS.AND THEN MOST RECENTLY, IEE 2,800, WHICH I THINK EVERYBODY IS PROBABLY FAMILIAR WITH, UH, WHICH, UH, DETAILS INVERTER BASED RESOURCES CONNECTED TO TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS THAT WAS PUBLISHED IN 2022.
SIMULTANEOUS TO THAT, WE HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THESE GRID FORMING INVERTER BASED RESOURCES AND THROUGH THIS THING CALLED THE UNIFY CONSORTIUM IN THE UNITED STATES, WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO PUT TOGETHER SPECIFICATIONS FOR GRID FORMING INVERTER TECHNOLOGIES IN SUCH A WAY THAT EVENTUALLY THAT COULD BECOME STANDARDIZED.
SO WE'VE BEEN WORKING WITH A VARIETY OF PARTNERS IN THIS, UH, SPACE.
YOU CAN SEE ALL OF THEM LISTED HERE, INCLUDING ERCOT AND SEVERAL OF THE SYSTEM OPERATORS AROUND THE UNITED STATES, CAL ISO MISO, OTHER PLACES WHERE, UH, LARGE AMOUNTS OF, OF RENEWABLES ARE BEING DEPLOYED AS WELL AS THE VENDORS OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES.
SO TRYING TO COME TOGETHER AND CREATE A STANDARDIZATION OF SPECIFICATIONS AROUND GRID FORMING INVERTER TECHNOLOGIES.
WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON HOW TO ACTUALLY MODEL THESE TYPES OF SYSTEMS. SO WE'VE BEEN DEV DEVELOPING MODELS THAT GO INTO THE SIMULATION PACKAGES THAT WE USE TO DO INTERCONNECTION STUDIES AND PLANNING, UH, TO ADD GRID FORMING MODELS THAT REPLICATE THE INVERTERS THAT ARE BEING PRODUCED IN THE FIELD.
AND WE'VE BEEN DOING SOME REALLY NICE REPORTS, BOTH ERCOT A EP, UH, WEC HAVE BEEN DOING, UM, SOME NICE ANALYSIS OF HOW LARGE DEPLOYMENTS OF, UH, GRID FORMING INVERTERS WOULD HELP THEIR SYSTEM.
I'LL ALSO POINT OUT SOME WORK THAT WE'VE BEEN DOING IN HAWAII WHERE WE'VE ACTUALLY BEEN DOING FIELD DEMONSTRATIONS OF UTILITY SCALE INVERTERS.
AND THIS IS A, UH, EXAMPLE OF A 20 MEGAWATT FIELD DEMO.
NOW THIS IS A RELATIVELY SMALL SYSTEM, RIGHT? 80 MEGAWATT PEAK SAY COMPARED TO THE 80 GIGAWATT PEAK THAT WE HAVE HERE IN ERCOT.
BUT THE QUICK, UH, SHOW HERE IS THAT IF YOU COULD TAKE A LOOK AT THAT GRAPH THERE, THIS IS WHEN WE HAD THE SYSTEM OPERATING WITH ONE GRID FORMING INVERTER OPERATING.
AND THAT INVERTER REALLY WASN'T SUPPLYING VERY MUCH OVER OVERALL POWER.
AND WE STARTED TO SEE THAT BLUE LINE THAT IS ALL FUZZY.
THAT'S, UH, SYSTEM-WIDE OSCILLATIONS FROM NOT HAVING ENOUGH GRID FORMING RESOURCES ON THE SYSTEM.
WE DID A, UH, ANALYSIS OF THIS SYSTEM CHANGED ANOTHER INVERTER TO GRID FORMING.
SO WE HAD TWO GRID FORMING INVERTERS, AND YOU GET THAT RED LINE THAT'S IN THAT LITTLE GRAPH AND YOU CAN SEE A MUCH MORE STABLE RESPONSE TO A BIG DISTURBANCE.
SO IN GENERAL, WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT HERE IS THE AMOUNT OF THESE GRID FORMING RESOURCES THAT CAN HELP STABILIZE THE GRID.
AND IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, YOU KNOW, A FULLY OPERATIONAL, UH, LARGE SCALE POWER GRID THAT'S RUNNING AT 90% INVERTER BASED RESOURCES.
BUT AGAIN, THE KEY TO THIS GRID FORMING INVERTERS AND ENERGY STORAGE TO MAKE THIS A REALITY.
OKAY, SO LET'S TALK REAL QUICK, UM, ABOUT THE CURRENT SITUATION IN ERCOT RIGHT NOW.
IF YOU TAKE A LOOK AT THE INSTALL GENERATING CAPACITY, 43% OF THE INSTALL GENERATING CAPACITY IN ERCOT IS INVERTER BASED RESOURCES.
AND LIKE I MENTIONED BEFORE, JUST EARLIER THIS YEAR, YOU HIT A NEW RECORD OF 75% INSTANTANEOUS LEVELS.
SO THOSE ARE REALLY HIGH NUMBERS FOR A POWER SYSTEM THIS BIG.
UM, AND IT'S IMPRESSIVE TO SHOW THAT WE CAN KEEP, UH, STABILITY HERE.
BUT IF YOU WANT TO GO FURTHER AND, AND I'LL SHOW YOU WHY YOU WANT TO GO FURTHER, THIS IS WHERE THIS, UH, GRID FORMING TECHNOLOGY IS KEY.
SO IF WE TAKE A QUICK LOOK AT A SUNNY WINDY DAY IN FEBRUARY, I JUST PICKED A, UH, A RANDOM DAY THAT WOULD LOOK LIKE A NICE SUNNY AND WINDY DAY.
YOU CAN SEE, UH, THE GRAPH ON THE UPPER RIGHT, 63% OF THE ENERGY WAS BASICALLY BEING PROVIDED BY WIND AND SOLAR ON THAT.
BUT IF YOU LOOK DOWN BELOW IT, YOU CAN SEE SOME SHADED, UH, LIGHT BLUE AREAS IN THERE.
THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE SEEING SYSTEM-WIDE CURTAILMENT OF WIND AND SOLAR.
SO THE CURTAILMENT THAT'S HAPPENING IS RIGHT NOW, ONE OF THE CONTRIBUTORS INTO THAT IS BECAUSE THESE WIND AND SOLAR PLANTS ARE ON THE WEAKEST PARTS OF THE SYSTEM WAY UP IN THE FARTHER PARTS OF TEXAS AND, UM, UH, BECAUSE OF STABILITY ISSUES, THEY'RE ACTUALLY HAVING TO CURTAIL THOSE WEAK PARTS OF THE GRID AND NOT LET THAT SOLAR AND WIND INTO THE LARGER SYSTEM.
SO THIS IS WHERE REALLY WHERE GRID FORMING INVERTERS CAN BE A KEY CONTRIBUTOR TO START TO REDUCE SOME OF THAT CURTAILMENT IS BY ADDING THESE KIND OF CAPABILITIES IN AS WELL AS INCREASING AMOUNTS OF ENERGY STORAGE CAN HELP REALLY LOWER OR, UH, LET MORE OF THOSE LOW COST RESOURCES INTO THE SYSTEM.
I'VE, UH, PUT SOME GRAPHS OVER HERE AND THE LOWER LEFT THAT JUST SHOW THE INCREASING AMOUNTS OF CURTAILMENT THAT, UH, EIA IS PROJECTING FOR ERCOT MOVING FROM SOMEWHERE AROUND, UH, SIX 7% ALL THE WAY UP TO 15 TO 20%, UH, INTO THE FUTURE.
OKAY, SO MOVING FORWARD, REALLY SOME KEY ITEMS TO THINK ABOUT FIRST IS TO SUCCESSFULLY
[00:25:01]
INTEGRATE MORE INVERTER BASED RESOURCES INTO POWER GRIDS.WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT THE GRID FOLLOWING ASSETS THAT ARE OUT THERE RIGHT NOW ACTUALLY NEED TO BE RESPONSIVE TO VOLTAGE AND FREQUENCY CHANGES.
AND THIS IS WHERE, UM, I WAS TALKING ABOUT BEING THAT SORT OF RANGE OF CAPABILITIES FROM GRID FOLLOWING THAT DOESN'T PROVIDE ANY SERVICE TO GRID FOLLOWING THAT PROVIDES A LITTLE BIT OF SERVICE LIKE, UH, FASTER FREQUENCY AND VOLTAGE RESPONSE, THEN MOVING TOWARD GRID FORMING CAPABILITY AND THEN TO GRID FORMING WITH BLACKSTAR.
UM, THIS AND ADDING THAT, UH, GRID FORMING CAPABILITY, ESPECIALLY ON NEW BATTERY SYSTEMS. ERCOT IS PUTTING IN A LOT OF NEW LARGE SCALE BATTERY SYSTEMS. IT'S SOMETHING THAT YOU REALLY SHOULD CONSIDER MAKING SURE IS BUILT INTO THE INVERTERS, WHETHER OR NOT THEY ACTUALLY USE IT.
RIGHT NOW, YOU CAN BUY COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE UNITS WHERE YOU CAN TOGGLE A SWITCH BASICALLY ON LARGE SCALE BATTERIES AND THEY COULD BE GRID FOLLOWING OR GRID FORMING, UH, VERY QUICKLY.
BUT THAT GRID FORMING CAPABILITY IS GOING TO BECOME MUCH MORE NEEDED AS THIS, UH, PROGRESSES INTO THE FUTURE.
AND THEN AGAIN, STORAGE, MORE STORAGE IS GONNA BE NEEDED.
IF YOU EVER THINK ABOUT, UH, PULLING DOWN THE CONVENTIONAL GENERATION PLANTS FROM WHERE THEY ARE TODAY AND START TO RUN MORE AND MORE INVERTER BASED RESOURCES, YOU'RE GONNA NEED ENERGY STORAGE TO START BACK FILLING THAT.
AND AGAIN, IT'S IMPORTANT TO ACT PRETTY SOON ON THIS, I WOULD SAY IN THE UNITED STATES, ON CONTINENTAL US, ERCOT IS IN THE, UM, REALLY AT THE, UM, POINT ON THE DEPLOYMENT OF LARGE SCALE WIND AND SOLAR AND BATTERIES.
YOU GOTTA THINK ABOUT THIS QUICKLY BECAUSE IF YOU GET TOO FAR DOWN THE PATH, YOU DON'T WANT TO END UP IN A SPOT WHERE FIVE YEARS FROM NOW YOU'RE RETROFITTING THINGS.
IT'S A, IT'S A PROBLEM THAT HAPPENED IN EUROPE ABOUT 10 OR 15 YEARS AGO.
THEY CALL IT THE 50.2 HERTZ PROBLEM WHERE THEY HAD TO RETROFIT ALL THE PV INVERTERS TO NOT TRIP OFF AT THE SAME TIME.
THAT COST THEM MANY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO GO BACK IN AND RETROFIT THAT TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY COULD HAVE OPERATIONAL STABILITY ON THE GRID.
SO AGAIN, KEY THING TO THINK ABOUT VERY QUICKLY IS HOW YOU ADDRESS THIS HERE INSIDE ERCOT.
OKAY, WITH THAT, I'LL WRAP UP AND SAY THANK YOU.
THANK YOU BEN, AND SOME QUESTIONS, CARLOS.
WELL FIRST OF ALL, THANK YOU SO MUCH.
THIS IS REALLY, REALLY INTERESTING.
UM, QUESTION IS, YOU, YOU MENTIONED STORAGE AND MORE STORAGE.
UH, COULD YOU GIVE US A A SENSE OF MAGNITUDE, IN OTHER WORDS, TO, TO HAVE STABILITY IN A SYSTEM BLACK START CAPABILITY JUST ON INVERT BASED SYSTEMS? WHAT PERCENTAGE OF STORAGE BACK DO YOU NEED? YEAH, I MEAN, IT'S, IT'S HARD TO GIVE YOU AN EXACT NUMBER, BUT YOU NEED A LOT MORE THAN YOU PROBABLY HAVE TODAY BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THE STORAGE, NOT JUST IN CAPACITY NUMBERS, WHICH YOU CAN, UH, YOU KNOW, GET OFF, GET A NICE NUMBER OFF THE WEBSITE AND SEE HOW MUCH CAPACITY THERE, BUT ALSO HOW MUCH THE DURATION OF THAT STORAGE IS GONNA BE.
AND YOU'RE BASICALLY ENDING UP REPLACING A WIND.
YOU'RE MAKING A WIND SOLAR PLUS STORAGE SYSTEM TO REPLACE THE GAS GENERATION.
UM, AND SO THE GAS GENERATION IS PROVIDING A, AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF LONGER TERM ENERGY VALUE BECAUSE IT CAN RUN FOR LONGER TERMS. UM, SO YOU'D HAVE TO KIND OF RUN THE NUMBERS.
I'M, I'M SURE WE'VE LOOKED AT HOW MUCH ENERGY STORAGE YOU WOULD NEED TO GET CERTAIN AMOUNTS OF RENEWABLES ONTO THE GRID.
UM, I DON'T HAVE THOSE NUMBERS OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, BUT IT IS CONSIDERABLE, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.
WE'VE DONE STUDIES TO LOOK AT HOW MUCH, UH, ENERGY STORAGE YOU NEED IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES AND, AND IT'S UPWARDS OF 10 TIMES WHAT WE HAVE AVAILABLE TODAY.
SO IS, IS THERE, IS THERE A RULE OF THUMB AROUND KIND OF STORAGE IN RELATION TO THE SOLAR AND WIND RESOURCES YOU HAVE? SO AS AN EXAMPLE, ILLUSTRATIVELY, IF YOU HAD 60, UH, GIGAWATTS OF SOLAR AND WIND RESOURCES ON A SYSTEM, WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE 30, LIKE 50% OF THAT IN BATTERIES OF GOOD FORMING OR A HUNDRED PERCENT 60 IN BATTERIES? IS THERE, IS THERE ANY RULE OF THUMB AROUND THAT IN TERMS OF THE PROPORTION BETWEEN THEM TO HELP STABILIZE? WELL, THE, THE KEY THING ON THE, UM, GRID FORMING PIECE IS GONNA BE THAT CAPACITY NUMBER.
SO YOU'RE GONNA NEED, AGAIN, LET'S JUST SAY 30% OF YOUR RESOURCES AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME NEED TO BE GRID FORMING.
NOW THAT DOESN'T NECESSARILY TRANSLATE TO HOW MUCH ENERGY STORAGE YOU NEED BECAUSE I'M TALKING CAPACITY AND ENERGY.
IF YOU TAKE A LOOK AT LIKE, THE BIG BATTERIES THAT ARE OUT THERE NOW YOU'RE TALKING BATTERIES THAT MAY BE, UM, A HUNDRED MEGAWATTS, BUT THAT'S FOR ONE HOUR.
SO IF, AS YOU WILL EVENTUALLY WANNA SEE THE ENERGY PIECE MIGRATE HIGHER AND HIGHER, AND YOU'RE STILL NOT AT THIS, AT THE LEVEL
[00:30:01]
OF CAPACITY YOU NEED EITHER AND, AND NONE OF THEM ARE GRID FORMINGUH, WELL THAT'S, THAT'S A GREAT ANSWER.
THE, THE QUESTION THAT FOLLOWS I GUESS IS IF YOU HAVE BATTERY STORAGE, I, I SEE DIFFERENT ISOS GRAPPLING WITH HOW MANY HOURS MM-HMM,
AND BASED ON WHAT RESOURCES, SO ALSO DEPENDS ON SIGHTING, RIGHT? UM, BECAUSE IF YOU CITE THEM, UH, UH, BATTERIES CLOSER TO SAY THE WIND AND SOLAR RESOURCE, MAYBE YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUILD AS MUCH TRANSMISSION TO MOVE THAT AROUND.
IT'S, THAT'S WHY IT'S A COMPLICATED PROBLEM.
IT'S HARD FOR ME TO JUST GIVE YOU AN EASY NUMBER, UM, FOR, FOR WHAT SIZE IS THE RIGHT SIZE THAT YOU WOULD EVENTUALLY NEED.
YOU COULD SIT DOWN AND MODEL THE SYSTEM AND, AND COME UP WITH SOME BETTER VALUES THAT WOULD GIVE YOU BALLPARKS OF HOW MUCH YOU NEED THE BATTERY, THE BATTERY SYSTEMS THAT ARE AVAILABLE TODAY WITH GRID FORMING TECHNOLOGY IN THEM, IS THE GRID FORMING TECHNOLOGY AN ADDED COST FEATURE OR IS IT A STANDARD OPTION OF, OF THE BATTERY SYSTEMS THEMSELVES?
THE, THE PLACE WHERE IT WOULD BE A DEFINITE COST ADDER IS IF YOU'RE RELYING ON THAT NEW BATTERY TO NOT JUST BE GRID FORMING AND RESPOND QUICKLY, BUT TO BLACKSTAR BLACKSTAR, IF YOU'RE DOING BLACKSTAR, YOU NEED TO PAY MUCH MORE ATTENTION TO BEING ABLE TO RE-ENERGIZE TRANSFORMERS AND, AND UH, TRANSMISSION LINES.
AND SO THAT CAN BE AN ADDED COST INTO THE SYSTEM FOR SURE.
SO THAT'S WHY WE USUALLY TRY TO KEEP THAT AS, YOU KNOW, GRID FORMING PLUS CAPABILITY WHEN YOU START TALKING BLACKSTAR.
JULIE, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRESENTATION.
I THINK THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT TOPIC FOR ER COD AND OUR COMMITTEE IN PARTICULAR.
YOU JUST MENTIONED, UH, MAYBE A RULE OF THUMB PROPORTION OF 30% GRID FORMING INVERTERS.
SO LOOKING AT ENTERPRISE RISK ON MARCH 29TH, 24, WHEN WE WERE AT 75.67% IBR, WERE WE AT RISK IF THERE HAD BEEN A DISRUPTION ON THE GRID THAT DAY? I MEAN, I DON'T THINK SO BECAUSE WE'VE SEEN SYSTEMS THAT ARE FAIRLY LARGE RUN AT, UM, 25%, WHICH IS WHERE, SO 75% INVERTERS AND THEN 25% CONVENTIONAL RESOURCES.
NOW, UH, IS THERE SOME POSSIBILITY OF THAT HAPPENING POTENTIALLY? I MEAN THAT'S, THAT'S KIND OF THE, AND IT'S ALSO, IT'S ALSO SYSTEM DEPENDENT.
BUT IN OUR STUDIES, AND I THREW SOME SLIDES AWAY AT THE END HERE, THAT'S WHERE THINGS CAN START HAPPENING.
IT'S DEFINITELY NOT WHERE EVERYTHING STARTS HAPPENING, BUT YOU CAN GET CORNER CASES AT THOSE NUMBERS WHERE YOU MIGHT, UH, HAVE SOME ISSUES WITH STABILITY.
WELL, I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO, IF YOU COULD ADD MORE COLOR TO HOW WE MIGHT IMPLEMENT POLICIES GOING FORWARD.
LIKE SHOULD WE BE LOOKING AT, OF COURSE WE WOULD LOOK AT SYSTEM-WIDE, UH, BALANCE, SO TO SPEAK.
BUT SHOULD WE BE FOCUSING MORE LIKE YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT THE WEST TEXAS REGION, REGION BY REGION AND LOOKING AT NODES OR, YEAH.
UH, SO, SO CLEARLY IN, IN THE ANALYSIS THAT WE'VE DONE TO DATE, IF YOU CAN IDENTIFY, WELL, I WOULD CALL WEAKER PARTS OF THE GRID AND YOU PUT GRID FORMING BATTERIES IN THOSE LOCATIONS, YOU WILL MUCH MORE IMPROVE THE, THE STABILITY OVERALL OF THE SYSTEM.
AND FOR EACH OF THOSE, LET'S CALL 'EM WEAK AREAS, DO WE NEED A CERTAIN PROPORTION OF INERTIA BASED RESOURCES? UM, I THINK YOU, WELL, USUALLY I THINK YOU COULD LOOK AT IT FROM AN ENTIRE SYSTEM LEVEL.
SO I DON'T, LIKE IF YOU STUCK A LOT OF GRID FORMING ON ONE NODE, IT WOULD HELP THE WHOLE SYSTEM OUT TO SOME EXTENT.
YOU DON'T HAVE, IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE NODE BY NODE, I MEAN, RIGHT NOW, RIGHT? YOU DO LOCATIONAL MARGINAL PRICING, RIGHT? TO PUT PRICES FOR ENERGY OUT THERE.
YOU COULD COME UP WITH SOMETHING THAT LOOKS LIKE LOCATIONAL MARGINAL STABILITY, SOMETHING
WE COULD START LOOKING AT IT THAT WAY.
RIGHT? AND THEN I'VE BEEN ASKED THE QUESTION, WHICH OF COURSE I DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER TO, BUT CAN THE, ESPECIALLY IN A BLACK START SITUATION, CAN ALL THE GENERATOR SYNCHRONIZE TO A CLOCK OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM LIKE THE GPS CLOCK? OR DOES IT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE SOMETHING WITHIN THE SYSTEM? YOU COULD SYNCHRONIZE TO SOMETHING OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM, BUT IN GENERAL, IF YOU'RE,
[00:35:01]
IF YOU'RE BLACK STARTING IN GENERAL, YOU'RE JUST START, YOU'RE STARTING, NOTHING HAS ANY FREQUENCY AND, AND WHATEVER YOU START FIRST ESTABLISH, THAT'S WHAT'S GONNA START IT.I MEAN, USUALLY WHAT HAPPENS IS YOU START A DIESEL GENERATOR THAT STARTS, RIGHT, ENOUGH POWER TO BRING ON A BIG POWER PLANT AND THAT BECOMES THE SIGNAL FOR EVERYTHING ELSE TO SYNCHRONIZE TOO.
BUT IT COULD BE OUTSIDE OF THE SYSTEM.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FOR BEN? BEN'S GONNA COME BACK IN EXECUTIVE SESSION AS WELL, SO YEAH, I GOT ONE, ONE QUESTION.
SO YOU TALKED A LOT ABOUT GENERATORS TRIPPING AS WE INCORPORATE MORE LARGE LOADS, HOW DO, UH, GRID FORMING INVERTERS HELP US ON, UH, LOAD TRIPS? IS IT, UH, HAS THAT RESEARCH BEEN DONE OR IS IT THE SAME EFFECT? IT'S THE, IT'S BASICALLY THE SAME EFFECT I SHOWED YOU A GENERATOR TRIP.
YOU CAN IMAGINE A LOAD TRIP WHERE THE FREQUENCY WOULD GO UP, UM, AS OPPOSED TO DOWN.
UM, BUT UM, IT'S, THAT'S ALL BASIC, UH, POWER SYSTEM STABILITY.
DOESN'T MATTER WHICH WAY YOU GO ON THAT.
I WILL SAY THAT YOU, YOU ARE PUTTING IN LOTS AND LOTS OF VERY BIG SINGULAR LOADS IN THE, IN THIS SYSTEM.
AND THAT WOULD BE A CONCERN IF I WAS A SYSTEM PLANNER THAT, UH, YOU MIGHT HAVE SOME REALLY BIG LOAD TRIPS FOR, FOR SOME REASON THAT YOU WEREN'T, YOU WOULDN'T NECESSARILY HAVE HAD BEFORE.
THAT'S WHY HE ASKED THE QUESTION.
OKAY, BEN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
WE'LL, WE'LL, WE'LL SEE YOU BACK IN AN HOUR OR SO, HALF AN HOUR.
JP IS GONNA RESUME WITH ITEMS 4.1 AND 4.2, WHICH, UH, 4.1 IS THE, UH, PROJECT AND TECHNOLOGY UPDATE.
AND 4.2 IS REAL-TIME CO OPTIMIZATION.
[4.1 Projects and Technology Update]
I'M GOING TO DO OUR STANDARD PROJECTS AND, UH, TECHNOLOGY UPDATE.UM, SO THIS ARE HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE KEY HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WHOLE SLIDES.
SO WE WENT LIVE IN MAY WITH THE MMS, OUR MARKET SYSTEM MIGRATION TO A NEW OPERATING SYSTEM ON LENNOX.
AND I REPORTED PREVIOUSLY THAT WE ARE SEEING ABOUT 40% IMPROVEMENT IN PERFORMANCE.
SO I'M REALLY GLAD TO SEE THAT GO LIVE.
UM, AND IT'S ALSO A KEY DEPENDENCY TO RTC.
WE ALSO MITIGATED THE ISSUE RELATED TO THE CONGESTION REVENUE RIGHTS CRR THAT I REPORTED LAST TIME THAT I WAS HERE AND HAVE A SLIDE THAT TALKED MORE DETAILS ABOUT THAT.
UH, WE ALSO HAD A SUCCESSFUL INAUGURAL
AND THE RECORDING AND SLIDES ARE AVAILABLE ON OUR AIRCO WEBPAGE.
UM, LASTLY, OUR PROJECTS ARE GENERALLY ON TRACK.
AND I'LL GO THROUGH THE NEXT FEW SLIDES TO TALK ABOUT THAT IN SOME MORE DETAILS.
SO NOW THIS IS THE THIRD TIME YOU ARE SEEING THESE SLIDES.
SO NOW THERE ARE A SET OF DATA AND YOU CAN BEGIN TO SEE SOME OF THE DYNAMICS ON THIS.
UM, SO IF YOU NOTICE, OKAY, UM, IF YOU NOTICE THE NUMBER OF PROJECTS ARE, UM, KIND OF CONSTANT, RIGHT? WE HAVE, WE MOVED UP FROM 58 TO 59, OKAY? BUT BEHIND THOSE NUMBERS, RIGHT, THE DYNAMICS IS THAT WE STARTED 10 NEW PROJECTS, OKAY? WE INITIATED 10 NEW PROJECTS, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, WE WERE ABLE TO DELIVER AND CLOSE NINE PROJECTS.
AND IT IS BECAUSE WE ARE ABLE TO CLOSE PROJECTS THAT WE'RE ABLE TO START NEW PROJECTS, RIGHT? AND, AND THEY, AND THIS ONE SEE THE DYNAMICS THAT, OKAY, YOU MIGHT SEE THAT THE NUMBER OF PROJECTS ARE CONSTANT, BUT THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS THAT HAPPEN BEHIND IT.
AND, AND IF YOU LOOK AT IT, UM, AND THIS, THIS LAST ROW IS THE TOTAL BUDGET THAT ALL THESE, YOU KNOW, 59 PROJECTS ARE CARRYING.
SO YOU SEE THAT YES, THE BUDGET WENT UP 14 MILLION ABOUT, UM, AND MOST OF THAT CAME FROM INCREASE IN, UH, HARDWARE, RIGHT? SO, SO IT MEANS THAT THERE WAS, UM, UM, HARDWARE PROJECT, UH, AND, AND, AND YOU GUYS KNOW IT'S
[00:40:01]
A SECOND EYE TEST PROJECT THAT, UH, THAT'S CARRYING THE BULK OF THE BUDGET.NOW, UM, I ALSO WANNA TALK ABOUT THE INTERNAL LABOR FORECAST, AND I WILL TALK ABOUT THESE IN, UH, IN THE NEXT FEW SLIDES.
OOPS, DILIGENT DECIDED TO REBOOT.
OKAY, THERE, IT'S, SO, UM, THIS IS ALSO THE THIRD TIME I'M SHOWING THIS SLIDE.
SO I, I KEPT SOME OF THE FORECASTS WE HAD FROM OUR PREVIOUS SLIDES THERE, SO YOU CAN SEE SOME OF THOSE DELTA, OKAY? BUT AGAIN, JUST LIKE WE DID PREVIOUSLY, UH, TO THE LEFT OF THIS RED LINE, ARE THE ACTUALS.
SOMETHING DID HAPPEN, DIDN'T YOU? SO TO THE LEFT OF THIS ARE THE ACTUALS, AND TO THE RIGHT OF THE RED LINE ARE THE FORECAST.
OKAY? AND, AND THIS BLACK LINE IS THE FORECAST THAT, OR THE EDGE OF THE FORECAST I HAD LAST TIME THAT I WAS HERE, OKAY? AND YOU CAN SEE, UH, THIS SHADED REGION ARE THE NEW, UM, LABOR FORECAST THAT YOU'RE ADDING AS A RESULT OF THE PROJECTS THAT WE'RE STARTING, RIGHT? AND, AND WHAT WE ARE DOING HERE IS THAT THROUGH OUR PROJECT PRIORITIZATION PROCESS, WE TRY TO MAXIMIZE THE AVAILABLE CAPACITY THAT'S AVAILABLE TO START NEW PROJECTS.
AND, AND I'LL TALK ABOUT IN THE NEXT FEW SLIDES AS WELL.
OKAY? BUT BASICALLY THE 10 NEW PROJECTS THAT WE'RE ADDING IS WHAT IS SHOWING THAT INCREASE IN THAT, UH, UH, FORECAST.
JP, SHOULD WE BE WORRIED AT ALL ABOUT THE INTERNAL ABILITY TO, YOU KNOW, BASICALLY ADD MORE, ADD MORE PROJECTS? AT WHAT POINT DO YOU SORT OF RUN OUTTA RESOURCE AND HAVE TO START DEPRIORITIZING THINGS? AND, AND I'LL GET TO THAT IF I, LET ME GO THROUGH THE NEXT TWO SLIDES AND I THINK YOU'LL KIND OF START ANSWERING THAT AND I'LL GET TO YOUR ANSWER IN MORE DETAIL BECAUSE I'LL NEED TO REFERENCE SOME OF THAT MATERIAL, OKAY? OKAY.
SO CAN I JUST ASK ONE QUESTION ABOUT LABOR HOURS? 'CAUSE I'VE FORGOTTEN WHAT YOU'VE SAID BEFORE.
IS OVERTIME IN HERE? OH, WE, NO, NO.
GOT, WE DON'T DO OVERTIME, BUT WE DO RECORD.
THIS IS YOUR CUMULATIVE AVAILABLE HOURS, RIGHT? IS WHAT YOU'RE, YES.
SO WE RECORD THE, UH, EFFORT THAT IS NEEDED AND IN, IN GENERAL, WHEN PEOPLE CHARGE ACTUALS, THEY, THEY SHOULD CHARGE WHAT THEY SPENT ON IT, INCLUDING MAYBE THEY SPENT TWO HOURS IN A DAY ON THAT.
THAT'S WHAT THEY SHOULD CHARGE.
SO JUST GOING OFF THAT WORD, I'M NOT, THEY'RE NOT EXEMPT.
WE DO RECORD ACTUAL AS ACTUAL IF POSSIBLE.
UM, BUT EXAMPLE, I JUST WANNA DEVIATE FROM THAT OVERTIME DISCUSSION.
OKAY? UM, WHEN WE DO FORECAST, WE DON'T ASSUME THAT PEOPLE ARE WORKING, UH, MORE THAN EIGHT HOURS, BUT IN ACTUAL ACTUALITY THAT MAY BE THE CASE.
OKAY? UM, SO THIS PIE CHART, SO THIS IS OUR AIRCRAFT STAFF, OKAY? UH, WHAT WE DID WITH THIS PIE CHART IS TO SPLIT INTO THREE CATEGORIES, OKAY? THE MAJORITY OF ERCOT HAVE VERY MINIMAL INVOLVEMENT IN PROJECTS, OKAY? AND THIS IS, AND, AND, AND THIS IS 58% OF OUR STAFF.
AND AND EXAMPLES OF THAT IS LIKE HR AND LEGAL PHYSICAL SECURITY.
UM, THE EXECUTIVE TEAM FOR EXAMPLE, RIGHT? NO PROJECT IS HELD UP BECAUSE I'M BUSY.
THERE'S, THERE IS NO, ALTHOUGH I MAY BE INVOLVED WITH PROJECTS, I'M NOT CRITICAL ENOUGH FOR IT TO START A STOP.
SO THAT'S AN EXAMPLE OF THAT, 58%.
SO THE NEXT SET, THIS ORANGE PIE, THAT'S ABOUT 22% OF OUR STAFF.
AND THIS GETS INVOLVED IN PROJECTS ON AN AS NEEDED BASIS.
SO A GOOD EXAMPLE IS LIKE OUR IT NETWORK TEAM.
SO NOT EVERY PROJECT REQUIRES IT NETWORK RECONFIGURATION, RIGHT? BUT THERE ARE PROJECTS THAT DO NEED IT.
SO THAT'S WHY I'M SAYING ONCE A WHILE IT COMES IN, UH, SIMILARLY WITH NETWORK MODELING.
UH, NOT EVERY PROJECT REQUIRES THAT, BUT ONCE A WHILE WE DO.
SO THAT'S THE OCCASIONAL PIECE.
NOW, THE LAST PIE IS THE SET OF THE RESOURCES THAT REALLY DRIVE WHAT PROJECTS CAN WE TAKE ON? AND, AND A MAJORITY OF THOSE NUMBERS, OKAY? UM, AND THIS REPRESENTS 20% OF OUR STAFF SPREAD OVER 26 DEPARTMENTS.
AND NOW, UH, 24 OF THIS 26 ARE FROM, FROM IT, WHICH IS NOT SURPRISING GIVEN THAT WE HAVE DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS RESPONSIBILITIES, OKAY? UM, BUT THERE ARE A COUPLE OF DEPARTMENTS UNDER, UH, WOODY THAT ARE CRITICAL.
UM, AND I'LL, LET ME DRIVE A LITTLE MORE DEEPER ON THESE, ON THIS, UM, GRAY SLIDE.
[00:45:01]
OKAY? SO THIS IS THAT SAME PIE SECTION NOW OVER TIME, OKAY? AND YOU CAN SEE THAT, UM, UH, THESE 20% OF THE, OF THE STAFF THAT ARE CRITICAL, THEY'RE NOT FULL-TIME ON PROJECTS EITHER.OKAY? UM, AND, AND YOU CAN SEE THAT, UM, SEE, YOU CAN SEE THIS BOX BELOW.
THAT IS A TIME THAT'S ALLOCATED TO PROJECTS.
AND, AND WE FORECAST WHAT ELE WHAT PERCENTAGES AVAILABLE FOR THESE RESOURCES TO BE AVAILABLE FOR PROJECTS.
AND THE REST OF THE TIME THEY HAVE ONM WORK, RIGHT? AND THAT'S A BOX ABOVE.
UM, SO IN THE LAST COMMITTEE MEETING WHEN I TALKED ABOUT EFFICIENCIES, I'M GETTING THROUGH, UH, SITE FAILS THAT, YOU KNOW, GO DOWN FROM FOUR DAYS TO ONE DAY.
SO, SO THOSE ARE, YOU CAN SEE WHY THOSE ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE, BECAUSE THOSE ARE EFFICIENCIES ON THE O AND M SIDE THAT I COULD LEVERAGE ON PROJECTS, RIGHT? THAT'S, THAT'S LIKE HEADCOUNT THAT I'M ADDING.
BUT WITH ALL THOSE EFFICIENCIES, UH, SIMILARLY EFFORTS WITH, UH, TEST AUTOMATION, RIGHT? LIKE A LOT OF MANUAL TESTS THAT WE DO WITH EVERY BATCH TESTING OR PROJECT RELEASES, THE MORE AUTOMATION I CAN BRING ON THOSE KIND OF, UH, AREAS, THOSE TIME THAT I GAIN FROM RESOURCES ARE EFFORT OR RESOURCES THAT I CAN USE FOR PROJECTS.
OKAY? NOW, UH, ANOTHER ASPECT OF THIS IS WHY ARE, WHY DON'T WE HAVE PEOPLE FULL-TIME ON PROJECTS? OKAY? AND FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT PEOPLE ARE CONNECTED TO THEIR SYSTEMS. THAT MEANS THEY ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE ONGOING ISSUES OF THE SYSTEM AND, AND THEY'RE ALSO DOING PROJECTS, RIGHT? WHEREAS PROJECT IS NOT THEIR FIRST THING, IT IS ACTUALLY KEEPING OUR SYSTEM ONLINE, UM, MAKING SURE THEY'RE RUNNING, UH, THOSE KIND OF THINGS.
OKAY? UM, YEAH, I WOULD, I WOULD JUST ADD TO THAT, THAT YOU WANT THE PEOPLE WHO BUILT THE SYSTEM TO ACTUALLY BE MAINTAINING IT, UH, AND BE RE AND KNOW THEY'RE GONNA BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING IT, IT LEADS TO A HIGHER QUALITY PRODUCT AMONGST OTHER THINGS.
AND WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS WE DON'T HAVE A TEAM THAT DEVELOPS IT AND WASHES THE HANDS OFF, RIGHT? THEY ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING IT, WHICH MEANS IT'S IN THEIR INCENTIVE, THERE'S AN INCENTIVE FOR THEM TO DELIVER HIGH QUALITY ON THOSE SYSTEMS. IT MEANS LESS SUNDAY NIGHT CALL OUTS.
SO WE WOULD GET THERE, I MEAN NOW THERE ARE HANDOVER BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT AND OPS, BUT IN GENERAL, OPS CAN CALL THOSE DEVELOPERS TOO BACK IN AS NEEDED, RIGHT? SO, SO, UH, BUT IT GIVES YOU AN, UH, INSIGHT INTO SOME OF THOSE DYNAMICS, OKAY? AND, AND LASTLY, TO REALLY ANSWER THE QUESTION AS TO WHY, YOU KNOW, PREVIOUSLY I'M SAYING I DON'T HAVE A RESOURCE PROBLEM FOR THE PROJECTS THAT ARE RUNNING.
OKAY? SO THE FIRST THING IS THAT WE ACTUALLY START PROJECTS BASED ON RESOURCE AVAILABILITY, RIGHT? SO, WHICH MEANS YOU ARE KIND OF ALREADY SOLVED THAT PROBLEM UPFRONT BECAUSE YOU'RE KIND OF LOOKING AHEAD OF THAT OTHER PROBLEM AND SAYING, ARE YOU ABLE TO FINISH THAT PROJECT IF YOU STARTED? OKAY.
SO, WHICH MEANS THAT, UM, I MEAN WE DO THIS QUARTERLY ROAD MAPPING AND MONTHLY PRIORITIZATION.
SO A LOT OF THAT IS ABOUT ENSURING THAT THIS IS SUCCESSFUL.
OKAY? AND, UM, UM, TROY ANDERSON, I'M TO CALL THAT OUT BECAUSE IF YOU THINK, YEAH, I FIGURED THIS OUT.
I THINK I WOULD REC COGNIZE BRIAN ANDERSON FOR SOME OF THE WORK THAT HIM AND HIS TEAM DOES IN SOME OF THIS PRIORITIZATION.
UM, AND I THINK THAT'S A CRITICAL PIECE WHY SOME, YOU SEE A LOT OF SUCCESSES IN OUR PROJECTS BECAUSE WE HAVE KIND OF LOOKED AHEAD AND FIGURED OUT THAT YEAH, NOW WE HAVE A DECENT CHANCE OF SUCCESS, OKAY? NOW WHERE IT DOESN'T WORK IS WHEN WE HAVE GREENFIELD PROJECTS OR SOME THINGS THEY HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE, RIGHT? AND THERE, YES, WE HAVE A CHANCE THAT SINCE WE HAVE NEVER DONE IT BEFORE, WE MAY NOT HAVE THE SKILLS.
SO WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE DON'T KNOW.
AND, AND THAT'S WHERE SOME OF OUR CHALLENGES CAN BE.
BUT EVEN THERE, WHAT WE TEND TO DO IS BEFORE WE START THE PROJECTS, WE TRY TO DO A PILOT OR WE TRY TO DO A PROOF OF CONCEPT SO THAT WE'VE IRONED OUT AS MUCH OF THAT UNCERTAINTY AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, AND THEN WE START A PROJECT.
THE OTHER POINT IS THAT IT'S ALSO IMPORTANT THAT PROJECTS ARE NOT DELIVER, UH, DELAYED SIGNIFICANTLY.
AND WHAT THAT MEANS IS, FOR EXAMPLE, RTC, THAT'S THE MOST VISIBLE PROJECT.
OKAY? IF THAT PROJECT GETS DELAYED, I BET YOU EVERYTHING GETS DELAYED CASCADED, BECAUSE I HAVE TO PULL IN RESOURCES, MOVE OTHER THINGS TO MAKE SURE THAT RTC IS DELIVERED, RIGHT? BUT SO, SO, YOU KNOW, SO IN GENERAL, YEAH, MAYBE I HAVE SOME DELAYS HERE AND THERE.
I'M NOT SAYING IT'S PERFECT, RIGHT? AND, UM, BASED ON ONE OF THE FEEDBACK FROM LAST TIME, YOU KNOW, I SENT JOHN A WEEKLY UPDATE OF WHERE WE ARE ON PROJECTS AND HE SEES THE UPS AND DOWN ALL THE TIME, OKAY? AND THOSE ARE REGULAR PROJECT
[00:50:01]
UM, PROBLEMS, RIGHT? BUT I DON'T NEED TO ESCALATE IT TO THE BOARD, BUT I DO WITH RTC IF I HAVE ANYTHING LIKE THAT.UM, UH, SO, BUT ANYWAY, MY BIGGER POINT IS THAT IN GENERAL BECAUSE PROJECTS ARE DELIVERED ON TIME, YOU DON'T SEE THE CASCADED PROBLEM BECAUSE THEN I HAVE TO MOVE RESOURCES AROUND.
AND, AND, AND LASTLY, YOU KNOW, GOING BACK TO THAT O AND M SLIDE, RIGHT? IF I HAVE AN ISSUE, LET'S SAY, UM, I HAVE A PRICE CORRECTION AND I HAVE TO GO BACK AND STUDY IT, WELL, WHERE ARE THOSE RESOURCES COMING FROM? I HAD TO DO LESS PROJECT AND THEN DO UNPLANNED O AND M WORK NOW, RIGHT? OR IF I HAVE A SYSTEM STABILITY ISSUE, I MEAN, WE DON'T AT THAT POINT SAY, BUT RTC IS MY HIGHEST PRIORITY.
UM, YOU KNOW, YOU NEED TO FIGURE IT OUT.
AND WE DO SAY, WELL, SORRY, WE HAVE TO FIGURE TO, YOU KNOW, WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO TO KEEP OUR SYSTEM UP? SO, SO AGAIN, IN THIS SLIDE, I'M TRYING TO SAY THAT IT'S NOT LIKE PROJECTS ARE HIGHER PRIORITY OVER O AND M, THOUGH SOME OF THIS OM WORK IS IMPORTANT, WHETHER IT'S PATCHING OR, UM, YOU KNOW, SYSTEM ISSUES OR PRICING STUDIES, THINGS LIKE THAT.
UM, I'LL PAUSE HERE TO SEE IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.
AND I DON'T KNOW, JOHN, IF I ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION 'CAUSE I THINK I'VE FORGOTTEN YOUR QUESTION.
UM, THE NEXT SLIDES ARE, ARE I RESUME ON TECHNOLOGY, BUT I THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE A GOOD PLACE TO PAUSE IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ON PROJECTS, ANY QUESTIONS? I I HAVE ONE QUESTION.
SO WHAT YOU DESCRIBED WAS KIND OF A WORKFLOW.
SO WHERE DOES THE WORKFLOW PROCESS RESIDE? IS THERE A MANAGEMENT SYSTEM? DO YOU HAVE LIKE KEY DELIVERABLES ALONG THE WAY THAT YOU'RE TRACKING AND KIND OF UTILIZING THIS TO KIND OF MANAGE THE WORKFLOW AND ALLOCATE RESOURCES SO THAT, YOU KNOW, A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM SO EVERYONE CAN KIND OF SEE WHERE WE ARE ON THINGS AS YOU MOVE FORWARD AND WHERE THINGS NEED TO BE? SO, SO WHAT I WOULD SAY IS THAT, SO FIRST IS FROM A WORKFLOW PERSPECTIVE, UM, THE WHOLE WORKFLOW OF WHAT PROJECT TO START, RIGHT? THAT IS OUR ENTERPRISE ROADMAP, OKAY? I'M JUST GONNA START WITH THAT AND I HAVE A SLIDE AT THE END TO, UH, LEMME JUST GO THERE.
UM, WHERE WE, YOU KNOW, WE DON'T JUST ARBITRARILY START THE PROJECT, THE LAST THREE BOXES ARE REALLY WHERE THE PROJECTS ARE, BUT ALL THAT WORK BEFORE IS THE WORKFLOW THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN BEFORE PROJECTS ARE STARTED, RIGHT? SO THAT IS ONE ASPECT OF YOUR QUESTION, RIGHT? AND THERE'S A WHOLE PROCESS THERE WHERE WE DO QUARTERLY GO THROUGH EVERY DEPARTMENT, FIND OUT WHAT'S THE WORK THAT'S OUTSTANDING, AND EVERY MONTH ALL OF THE EXECUTIVES GET TOGETHER AND TRY TO PRIORITIZE WHAT IS IMPORTANT, WHAT NPRR IS NEEDED.
FOR EXAMPLE, UM, DAN MIGHT SAY I MIGHT NEED THIS NPRR BY SUMMER, RIGHT? AND THAT'S A DRIVER FOR SOME OF THE WORK.
UM, SO THAT'S, THAT'S ONE ONE PART OF YOUR QUESTION.
THE OTHER PART IS BETWEEN THESE PROJECTS, WE ARE AT AN ANNUAL BASIS TRYING TO SAY WHAT ARE OUR IMPORTANT PROJECTS, THE OKR PROJECTS, AND THEN THERE ARE MILESTONES FOR THAT WHICH ARE VISIBLE ACROSS THE COMPANY, RIGHT? LIKE, AND RTC IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THAT, RIGHT? I MEAN, SO FOR RTC WE HAVE, UM, FOR EXAMPLE, ONE OF THE KEY RESULT, UM, I THINK THAT'S FOR MAY WAS TO GET ALL REQUIREMENTS COMPLETE, RIGHT? UM, THE NEXT UPCOMING UH, KEY RESULT IS TO PUBLISH THE EXTERNAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR MARKET PARTICIPANTS.
SO THOSE ARE KEY RESULTS FROM THE PROJECT THAT WE TAKE OUT OF THE PROJECT AND WE MAKE IT VISIBLE TO THE COMPANY SO THAT EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THESE ARE KEY THINGS THAT AFFECTS THE COMPANY AND WE ALL SHOULD WORK TOWARDS IT.
BUT WE DON'T DO THAT FOR EVERY, EACH OF THOSE 59 PROJECTS THAT WE HAVE.
BUT SOME OF THE PROJECTS THAT WE SAY ARE IMPACTFUL TO ERCOT AND ARE, AND AS A TEAM WE HAVE DECIDED THAT IT'S IMPORTANT THEY DO HAVE IT, RIGHT? I MEAN, OTHER EXAMPLES WOULD BE D-R-R-S-P-C-M AS THEY GET DEFINED WHAT WE HAVE DEFINED FOR THE YEAR.
SO IS THERE A MANAGEMENT SYSTEM? IS THERE A DASHBOARD THAT YOU CAN GO IN AND KIND OF AT ANY POINT IN TIME MANAGEMENT CAN SEE? WE DO THAT ON OUR WEBPAGE.
WE DON'T HAVE A SYSTEM, BUT YOU KNOW, UH, WE TRACK THOSE OKRS AND, AND ANYBODY IN THE COMPANY CAN GO THROUGH THE SHAREPOINT WEBPAGE AND SEE, UH, WHAT ARE THE UPCOMING KEY RESULTS AND WHETHER YOU MET THEM OR NOT MET THEM AND WHAT IS THAT DELTA? BUT A SIMPLE SYSTEM'S MORE LIKE AN EXCEL SHEET KIND OF A THING.
IF I, IF I COULD INTERJECT REAL QUICK.
I THINK BY THE TERM YOU'RE MEANING COMMISSIONER AS A SYSTEM, IT'S NOT NECESSARILY THE TECHNOLOGY YOU'RE FOCUSED ON, BUT AN OVERALL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND PROCESS RELATED TO THE PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND THE FLOW.
[00:55:01]
HAVE THAT DEFINED, WE'VE GOT A CODIFIED PROGRAM MANAGEMENT FUNCTION IN THE PMO THAT IS PART OF J'S ORGANIZATION AND THEY DO HAVE DASHBOARDS THAT TRACK THE FLOW FROM, YOU KNOW, CONCEPT THROUGH EXECUTION OF ALL OF THE PROJECTS THAT ARE BEING TRACKED THROUGH THE PROGRAM MANAGEMENT OFFICE.SO WE DO HAVE A ROBUST MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AROUND THAT.
UH, IT'S NOT A APPLICATION TECHNOLOGY, BUT IT IS A ROBUST SYSTEM OF PROCESSES THAT INCLUDES EXCEL SHEETS, DASHBOARD VIEWS LIKE THAT, THAT THE PMO OFFICE USES IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE BUSINESS AS THEY EXECUTE THESE PROJECTS.
I WAS GOING WITH SYSTEMS. HEY JP, YOU MIGHT WANNA ALSO TELL HER ABOUT THE PPM TOOL AND HOW WE'VE LEVERAGED THAT TO MANAGE AND, AND COMMUNICATE INTERNALLY.
YEAH, SO, UM, LIKE A POPULAR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL PROJECT.
NOW I'M, I'M I'M TALKING ABOUT JUST PROJECTS, RIGHT? IS PROJECT ONLINE, RIGHT? THAT'S A TOOL WE USE AND WE HAVE AN ONLINE VERSION, SO IT'S CALLED PROJECT ONLINE.
AND THAT IS WHERE A CENTRAL REPOSITORY WHERE ALL PROJECTS ARE MANAGED.
NOW, AGAIN, TO MY POINT IS WHEN I, WHEN I TALK ABOUT PROJECTS, THEY ARE IN THIS AREA, RIGHT? THESE THREE BOXES WHERE WHEN A PROJECT IS INITIATED, THEY'RE IN THAT SYSTEM, BUT EVERYTHING TO THE LEFT OF IT IS NOT IN THAT SYSTEM BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT A PROJECT YET.
BUT THERE IS A WHOLE WORKFLOW PROCESS THAT GETS YOU TO THAT PROJECT.
OKAY? BUT, BUT ONCE A PROJECT IS STARTED, YES, WE HAVE PROJECT ONLINE AS A SYSTEM THAT WE CAN LOOK AT, UM, LIKE REGULAR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TO TRACK, UH, SCHEDULE AND ACTUALS AND ALL THAT.
AND, AND I WOULD JUST ADD THAT JP REFERRED TO THIS, HE SHARES WITH ME ON A WEEKLY BASIS THE STATUS OF THOSE 59 PROJECTS BY RED, GREEN, YELLOW, AND, AND, AND SO I, I CAN, I CAN LOOK AND AT LEAST SEE FROM A BOARD'S PERSPECTIVE HOW ARE WE TRACKING AND, AND, AND FRANKLY, IT, IT'S A VERY NORMAL SCATTERED DIAGRAM OF SOME THINGS.
MOST THINGS ARE GREEN, A FEW THINGS ARE RED AND THERE'S SOME YELLOW SPRINKLED IN AND OH, I JUST TRY AND WATCH WHERE, WHERE, MAKE SURE THE, THE YELLOWS TURN GREEN OVER TIME AND MAKE SURE THE REDS TURN TO YELLOW
SO LET'S ME GET TO THE REGULAR TECHNOLOGY UPDATES.
SO NOW THESE ARE THE PROJECTS THAT ARE GOING LIVE, UH, IN THIS CYCLE.
I THINK ONE OF THE PROJECTS 1, 180 6 THAT YOU GUYS ARE PROBABLY FAMILIAR WITH, UM, AND IT HAS AN IMPACT ON RTC.
SO I'M GLAD TO SEE THAT ONE HAPPEN.
UM, NEXT CYCLE COMPARED TO THIS CYCLE, IT LOOKS LIKE A SMALLER SET AND WE TEND TO MINIMIZE CHANGES GOING INTO SUMMER.
SO THERE IS THAT ASPECT AS WELL.
UH, THE LAST ONE AGAIN IS AN RTC IMPACTING PROJECT.
UM, AND UM, I, I'LL MENTION THAT AGAIN WHEN I'M TALKING ABOUT RTC JP, I'VE GOT A QUESTION LIKE, LET'S TAKE THE WEATHERIZATION AND INSPECTION SERVICE MANAGEMENT EXAMPLE.
DO YOU, IN THAT DIAGRAM FLOW DIAGRAM, WHEN YOU'RE CONCEPTUALIZING THE PROJECT, IS THERE A BUY VERSUS MAKE BOX IN THERE? YES, THERE IS.
SO SOMETIMES YOU WOULD JUST GO PROCURE A PACKAGE TO OH YEAH, ABSOLUTELY.
TRACK HOW MANY, YOU KNOW, THINGS GOT INSPECTED.
YEAH, I MEAN THAT, THAT'S AN IMPORTANT THING, RIGHT? BECAUSE FOR EXAMPLE, UM, I MAY NOT HAVE THE SKILLSET TO BUILD SOMETHING, RIGHT? AND, AND, AND MANY TIMES IT'S, UM, EASIER TO BUY SOMETHING AND DELIVER SOMETHING FASTER THAN TO BUILD SOMETHING.
AND, AND ALSO, YOU KNOW, I I GUESS FROM A TECHNOLOGY PERSPECTIVE IS MORE FUN TO BUILD, BUT YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU BUILD IT.
WHO'S GOING TO MAINTAIN IT, WHAT'S THE HEADCOUNT THAT YOU NEED FOR THAT VERSUS, BECAUSE YOU'RE HEADCOUNT CONSTRAINT, YOU MIGHT BE BETTER OFF BUYING IT AND MAYBE YOU CAN RELY ON A VENDOR FOR MAINTENANCE AND ALL THAT KIND OF OPTIONS.
BUT ABSOLUTELY THAT'S THE THING THAT COMES UP ALL THE TIME.
UM, AND I WANT TO GIVE A QUICK UPDATE ON CRR 'CAUSE WE DID TALK ABOUT IT LAST TIME.
UH, WE DID MAKE A LOT OF PROGRESS ON THIS.
UM, AND WITH THE, UH, SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE CHANGES THAT WE HAVE MADE, YOU CAN SEE THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, WHAT IS TAKING 362 HOURS ARE NOW TAKING 97 HOURS, OR SAME THING WITH THE JANUARY AUCTION THAT TOOK 1 43 HOURS AND NOW IT'S 79 HOURS.
OKAY? SO, SO AT THIS POINT NOW, THE CRR IS NOT A HIGH PRIORITY ISSUE, THAT IT WAS LIKE THE LAST TIME I WAS HERE, BUT I DID MAKE A COMMITMENT TO THE BOARD TO LOOK AT OTHER VENDORS IN THIS SPACE AND DO A SURVEY WITH AN RFI AND COME BACK.
[01:00:01]
LATER THIS YEAR AND REPORT TO THE BOARD WHEN, UM, I HAVE SOME INFORMATION COLLECTED.BUT THE KEY THING IS, AT LEAST IT'S NOT A CRISIS POINT LIKE IT WAS BEFORE.
JP, WOULD IT BE FAIR TO SAY THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE BENEFIT HERE WAS IN THE SOFTWARE CHANGES? YES.
SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE, BUT THE MAJORITY IS SOFTWARE.
THE WAY WE ARE PROCESSING THOSE VIOLATIONS, UM, HAS A CHANGE.
I SEE THERE'S A BIG REDUCTION, BUT WHAT IS THAT 12 DAYS? I MEAN, YEAH.
I MEAN, SO, SO THE REDUCTION IS, YOU KNOW, THE WAY WE RUN IT, I MEAN, YOU CAN SAY IT'S A BIT OF HEURISTICS, BUT THE KEY THING IS AT THE END OF THE DAY, WHEN YOU COMPARE THE RESULTS THAT YOU'RE COMING OUT OF IT WITH, UM, UM, WHAT WAS BEFORE WITH THIS LONG RUN, THEIR RESULTS ARE THE SAME.
OKAY? SO I MEAN, SO, SO THERE ARE HEURISTICS NOW THAT ARE IN PLACE TO MAKE THESE HOURS, BUT, UM, AND, AND THAT'S WHERE JOHN IS POINTING TO THE SOFTWARE PART OF IT MORE THAN THE HARDWARE.
WE DIDN'T JUST THROW HARDWARE AT IT.
UM, BUT, BUT YES, THE RESULTS LOOK, UH, SIMILAR.
I GUESS MAYBE ANOTHER QUESTION ALONG THAT LINE IS WHAT, WHAT SHOULD WE CONSIDER TO BE GOOD PERFORMANCE FROM THIS? I MEAN, IS FOUR, YOU KNOW, IS FOUR DAYS GOOD PERFORMANCE OR SHOULD WE BE LOOKING FOR CUTTING THAT BY ANOTHER 50%? YEAH, I MEAN, IN THIS SPACE WE JUST HAVE ONE VENDOR AS A MONOPOLY, RIGHT? SO WE DON'T HAVE REALLY A BENCHMARK OF WHAT SHOULD BE VERSUS A DESIRE, RIGHT? SO WE WANT TO GET TO, UM, SO LONG AS I, I GUESS OUR CURRENT APPROACH IS SO LONG AS YOU'RE WELL WITHIN OUR PROTOCOL DEFINED TIMELINES OR SCHEDULE THAT YOU HAVE PUBLISHED, ALL IS GOOD, RIGHT? WHICH IS WHY WE SUDDENLY CAUGHT UNAWARES BECAUSE IT'S NOT LIKE WE HAD AN NFR, NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENT THAT SAID THIS SHOULD BE THE PERFORMANCE OF IT CORRESPONDING TO THIS GROWTH IN THE SYSTEM, RIGHT? WITH OR THIS GROWTH IN THE BID.
AND, AND THAT'S ONE OF THE THING THAT WE WANT TO DO AS WE PUT OUT AN RFI, BECAUSE PART OF THE RFI WILL PUT OUT, UH, SOME, AS A VENDOR, YOU MIGHT ASK, OKAY, WHAT PERFORMANCE ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? RIGHT? AND, AND WE DON'T HAVE THAT DEFINITION FOR THAT.
WHAT DOES THE PROTOCOL SAY THOUGH? WHAT, WHAT, WHAT ARE WE OBLIGATED TO PROVIDE TO MARKET PARTICIPANTS? UM, I'LL LET MATT ANSWER THAT PART ON THE, YEAH, GOOD MORNING, MATT.
UH, DIRECTOR AND OPERATIONS, WE HAVE THE CR AUCTION IN OUR GROUP.
UM, BY PROTOCOLS WE HAVE A CALENDAR AND THAT CALENDAR DEFINES THESE LONG-TERM OXYGEN SEQUENCE, WHICH ARE THESE HEAVY LIFTS.
UH, WE USUALLY PUBLISH FROM BEGINNING TO END IS AROUND TWO WEEKS.
SO WE'D LIKE TO HAVE IT THE FOUR DAY MARK.
THAT 96 HOUR IS KIND OF THAT SWEET SPOT TO SAY THAT'S ABOUT HOW MUCH TIME WE WANT THAT WE GET FOUR DAYS.
IF IT FAILS, WE GET ANOTHER FOUR DAYS AND ANOTHER FOUR DAYS.
SO IT'S KIND OF THAT TRIPLICATE.
SO WHEN WE HAD THESE LONG RUN TIMES, WE LOST ALL FLEXIBILITY ON A QUALITY TYPE ISSUE THAT WOULD COME OUT.
SO AGAIN, FORTUNATELY THE QUALITY SOLUTION HAS NEVER BEEN IN QUESTION.
IT'S ALWAYS JUST BEEN THE RUNTIME.
UM, SO THAT'S KIND OF OUR SLA IS THAT TWO WEEKS, BUT WE'D LIKE TO HAVE THAT RUN IN FOUR DAYS.
AND PART OF THAT, MATT, IS ALSO LIMITING MARKET INPUT AS WELL, RIGHT? TO GET TO THAT.
SO IF, IF, IF IT WERE TWO DAYS, WOULD THAT PROVIDE A BENEFIT IN TERMS OF THE MARKET PERFORMANCE OR, I MEAN, YEAH, THERE IS ALWAYS THE BENEFIT OF WHEN WE COMPLETE AND PUBLISH AN AUCTION, IT RELEASES THE CREDIT FASTER.
SO IF THERE'S A POSTING OF A MILLION DOLLARS TO A COMPANY AND WE GET IT DONE IN TWO DAYS, INSTEAD OF TWO WEEKS, IT'S A RELEASE.
AND THAT IS MY LAST SLIDE ON THIS.
[4.2 Real-Time Co-Optimization Implementation Update]
NEXT TOPIC IS RTC.ALRIGHT, SO I'LL GO THROUGH THE RTC SLIDES.
UM, UM, AND AS I'VE DONE BEFORE, THESE OTHER REQUIREMENTS FOR RTC WAITING FOR ONE MORE NPRR AROUND THE ROCK, UH, CAPACITY SHORT CALCULATION, BUT WE ARE NOT ANTICIPATING ANY BIG IMPACT TO IT.
BUT FROM A REQUIREMENTS PERSPECTIVE, THAT'S ONLY DELTA THAT'S MISSING.
UM, NOW I HAD THE SLIDES BEFORE I MADE ONE CHANGE TO IT.
UM, I'VE ADDED THIS PIECE HERE, AND THAT WAS TO ANSWER I THINK A QUESTION FROM JULIE LAST TIME AS TO HOW MANY MARKET PARTICIPANTS AND VENDORS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT.
SO, UM, CONNECTED TO A REAL TIME ICCP SYSTEM, WE HAVE 42, UH, QSCS, UM, THAT ARE DIRECTLY CONNECTED THROUGH A, A COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL CALLED ICCP TO OUR REAL TIME EMS SYSTEMS. AND THESE 42
[01:05:01]
QSCS HAVE 10 VENDORS.OKAY? SO THESE ARE THE VENDORS THAT WE ARE TO WORK WITH TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY ARE READY FOR RTC, UH, FOR AS PART OUR REAL TIME SYSTEM.
NOW, ONE SINGLE VENDOR ACCOUNTS FOR HALF OF THE QSCS.
SO, SO, SO I THINK THAT'S A GOOD THING TO HAVE.
'CAUSE THEN WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT VENDOR IS, UM, YOU KNOW, ABLE TO DELIVER TO THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS.
SO NOW THE REMAINING, UM, AT THIS POINT, I THINK 207 QC, SO, SO, SO THIS IS ABOUT 42, AND THESE SUB QCS ARE 207.
SO THEY DON'T DIRECTLY CONNECT TO US TO ICCP, BUT THEY ARE CONNECTED TO THESE MAIN QCS.
OKAY? UM, NOW THESE MAIN QCS ALSO CONNECT TO US THROUGH THIS, UM, UM, API, UM, CONNECTION, BUT THAT'S MORE SIMPLER THAN THE, UM, E-M-S-G-M-S SYSTEM THAT WE ARE CONNECTED TO.
UM, AND IN THIS SPACE TOO, THERE ARE ABOUT A DOZEN VENDORS THAT ARE, UH, PROVIDING SERVICES TO THESE QSCS.
SO, YOU KNOW, SO YOU GET A IDEA OF THAT VOLUME OF WHAT YOU'RE, WHAT IS LOOKING AT WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT JP.
JUST ON THAT, ON THAT VENDOR QUESTION, IS IT FAIR TO SAY THAT ALL THOSE VENDORS HAVE DELIVERED RTC TO OTHER ISOS PREVIOUSLY? OR IS THIS THE FIRST INSTANCE OF THAT THEM DELIVERING A AN RTC SOLUTION TO, UH, QSE? SO IN TERMS OF RTC AS AN OPTIMIZATION THING, THAT'S US, RIGHT? BUT WE ARE JUST TELLING THEM WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO FOLLOW AND THINGS LIKE THAT, RIGHT? SO SOME OF THAT MAY BE UNIQUE TO OUR AIRCRAFT MARKET, BUT STILL IN SOME SENSE IT'S SIMPLER.
I'M MORE THINKING ABOUT THE PROTOCOLS, THE YEAH.
THE CORE LOGIC THAT THEY NEED TO FOLLOW.
SO, SO, SO FOR EXAMPLE, THE SAME VENDOR MAY HAVE CUSTOMERS IN CAL ISO WHERE IT IS AN RTC BASED SYSTEM, RIGHT? SO, SO IN THAT SENSE, YES, THEY HAVE DELIVERED BEFORE TO MARKETS WHERE THE RTC IS ONLINE.
SO, SO THAT CONCEPT IS NOT, UH, NEW TO THEM, RIGHT? WHAT IS NEW TO THEM IS PROBABLY THE AIRCO SPECIFIC PROTOCOL IMPLEMENTATION.
OKAY? AND, AND I'LL TALK MORE IN MY SLIDES ABOUT HOW WE ARE WORKING WITH THESE VENDORS AND MARKET PARTICIPANTS.
SO, SO NEXT SLIDE, UM, JUST HIGH LEVEL ON, YOU KNOW, WHERE WE ARE ON SPEND.
UM, SO I, I'D ALSO POINT OUT THAT, UH, IT'S A GOOD POINT, GOOD PORTION OF THESE DOLLARS THAT ARE SITTING THERE THAT ARE SYSTEMS THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY BUILDING, BUT WE HAVEN'T DELIVERED TO THE PROJECT YET.
SO IT DOESN'T SHOW UP ON THE PROJECT, UH, DOLLARS YET, BUT IT HAS BEEN BUILT IN IT, SO, SO JUST A, UM, HEADS UP ON AT LEAST THAT NUMBER.
BUT, BUT AS A, UH, FROM A PROJECT STATUS PERSPECTIVE, UM, WE ARE ON SCHEDULE AND, AND NO BUDGET HIT OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT.
OKAY? SO I'VE TALKED ABOUT THE SCHEDULE EVERY TIME.
NOW I, I DID THE LITTLE BIT OF CLEANUP I REMOVED.
UM, SO, SO THIS TOP PORTION ARE PROJECTS THAT HAVE SHOW OUR IMPACTING TO RTC, RIGHT? AND THAT'S WHERE I MENTIONED 1, 1 8 6, WHICH ARE DELIVERING END OF THIS MONTH.
SO I'LL TAKE THAT OUT BY NEXT TIME.
AND ESR THIS, UM, UH, PROJECT THAT WE ARE GOING TO DELIVER NEXT MONTH.
SO HOPEFULLY NEXT TIME WHEN WE COME HERE, ALL THOSE DEPENDENCIES ARE CLEANED OUT.
AND THEN, YOU KNOW, THERE'S NO, UM, PROJECT THAT'S SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTING RTC, UM, ALONG THOSE LINES, ALREADY TOOK OUT THE PROJECT FOR, UM, MARKET SYSTEM MIGRATION TO LINUX, WHICH WAS FROM, FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, A BIG RISK.
IF IT HAD NOT GONE SUCCESSFUL, THEN I HAD TO FOCUS ON THAT.
I REMOVED IT, THAT'S WHY I TOOK OUT THE BOX.
UM, PREVIOUSLY, I ALSO HIGHLIGHTED THAT THIS REQUIREMENTS BOX IN A DIFFERENT COLOR BECAUSE I WANTED TO SHOW WITHIN THE RTC UH, WINDOW WHAT ARE AREAS THAT ARE HIGH RISK.
OKAY? AND SINCE YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY PAST THAT, I MEAN, I'M TAKING THEM, TAKING 'EM OUT.
AND AT THIS POINT, MY BIGGEST RISK IS STILL ABOUT THE MARKET PARTICIPANT SYSTEM UPDATE, RIGHT? MAKING SURE THAT WHILE WE ARE READY, OUR MARKET PARTICIPANTS NEED TO BE READY AS WELL.
OKAY? AND I'LL TALK SOME MORE ABOUT THAT, WHAT WE ARE DOING.
SO JP, YOU KNOW, THERE'S TONS OF TIME PRESSURE ON THE SCHEDULE OUTSIDE OF
AND ACTUALLY MATT IS TRACKING THAT, AND I LET MATT ANSWER THAT QUESTION.
YEAH, WE'LL TALK ABOUT IT MORE IN THE R AND M UH, MEETING TODAY.
[01:10:01]
BUT GENERALLY SPEAKING, ONE OF THE FIRST PIECES OF READINESS WE'RE GONNA PUT INTO PLAY NEXT MONTH IS A, UM, AN ATTESTATION FROM EVERY QUEASY WITH RESOURCES THAT SAYS, WE ARE AWARE THAT YOU HAVE PUBLISHED THE SPECIFICATIONS, ERCOT, WE ARE AWARE OF YOUR TARGET TIMELINES FOR MARKET TRIALS, AND HERE'S OUR ACCOUNTABLE EXECUTIVE, AND WE WILL BE WORKING TO GET READY.SO IT'S NOT ASSURANCE THEY'LL BE READY, BUT IT IS A CLOSED LOOP BACK THAT SAYS, WE KNOW WHO'S ACCOUNTABLE AT COMPANY X, THEY'RE AWARE OF THE TIMELINE, AND NOW WE CAN START TO TRACK 'EM.
SO WE'LL TRACK THE ATTESTATIONS AND HAVE A SCOREBOARD FOR THE BOARD THAT SAYS THESE COMPANIES HAVE RESPONDED, THEY WILL BE READY.
AND THEN IT'LL GET QUIET UNTIL WE GET CLOSER TO MARKET TRIALS AS TO HOW THEY START TO PREP AND PROVE OUT THEIR NEW TELEMETRY POINTS.
THEY'RE TESTING THE EVOLUTION.
BUT THAT'LL BE THE FIRST TOUCHSTONE, IF THAT HELPS.
AND WE WILL BRING THOSE NUMBERS HERE BECAUSE THERE MAY BE AREAS WHERE YOU MIGHT NEED YOUR HELP.
OKAY, GOING TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
SO NOW THESE ARE THE MILESTONES I SHOWED IN MY LAST MEETING, RIGHT? AND WHAT I WANT TO DO IS EVERY TIME I WANT TO SHOW, YOU KNOW, WHAT AM I PROJECTING TO ACHIEVE, AND AT THE NEXT MEETING I'LL SHOW WHAT WE ACHIEVE, RIGHT? AND AS YOU CAN SEE, UH, MOST OF THESE ARE COMPLETE.
OKAY? UH, THE ONE THAT IS, UM, NOT COMPLETE IS AS A DATE END OF JUNE.
SO AT INSTANT PROGRESS, AND I'M SHOWING SOME OF THOSE DAYS THAT ARE, YOU KNOW, MAYBE A LITTLE OFF, STILL TRYING TO BRING IT IN.
IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, I WAS NOT ABLE TO BRING IT IN, BUT AT LEAST IT'S STILL ON TRACK.
OKAY? AND ALONG THE SAME LINES, THESE ARE THE KEY MILESTONES FOR OUR NEXT MEETING, AND I'LL TALK ABOUT THEM IN THE NEXT MEETING, BUT AT LEAST YOU CAN SEE WHAT IS COMING.
OKAY? NOW, THERE IS ONE DATE THAT WHEN I DID THE SLIDES, I DIDN'T HAVE A DATE.
UM, AND THE TENTATIVE DATE FOR THAT IS END OF JUNE, BUT DEFINITELY WE PLAN TO FINISH THEM BEFORE OUR AUGUST MEETING.
UM, AND, AND ALL THIS, YOU KNOW, SHOWING THE KEY MILESTONES AND, UM, REPORTING ON THE STATUS HELPS WITH THE PROJECT AND, YOU KNOW, SO, AND I CONTINUE TO DO THAT.
UM, SO A COUPLE OF SLIDES ON THE KEY RESULTS THAT WE DID ACHIEVE.
UM, SO ONE OF THE STRETCH GOAL WAS TO COMPLETE THE REQUIREMENTS BY FOUR 30.
OKAY? AND OUR TARGET WAS 5 31.
WE DID MANAGE TO ACHIEVE THAT BY FOUR 17.
OKAY? UM, AND ONE OF THE REASON WHY WE ARE ABLE TO ACHIEVE IT IS PRIORITY ONE PROJECT.
OKAY? THERE IS NO CONFLICT THAT I WISH I COULD SAY THAT EVERY PROJECT, BUT THEN THAT DEFEATS THE PURPOSE, RIGHT? BECAUSE IT'S A PRIORITY ONE PROJECT, I DON'T HAVE CONFLICTS, RIGHT? AND THE OTHER PART IS ALSO WHAT I WAS TRYING TO POINT OUT WITH THE O AND M PIECE, RIGHT? IF I HAVE INCIDENTS OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT WHERE I HAVE TO TAKE PEOPLE AWAY FROM PROJECTS AND DO THAT, THAT WOULD BE AN IMPACT.
BUT FORTUNATELY WE DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING THAT IS SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTING.
SO THOSE ARE REASONS WHY, UM, WE ARE ABLE TO, UM, MEET AND ACTUALLY EXCEED EVEN OUR STRETCH GOALS.
OKAY? UM, SIMILARLY, WE HAVE, UH, KEY RESULT TO, UH, PUBLISH THE EXTERNAL SPECIFICATION TO OUR MARKET PARTICIPANTS.
UM, AND THE STRETCH GOAL IS 6 28 TO DO THAT.
AND, AND NOW HERE, UM, TO AVOID THE RISK THAT, YOU KNOW, WE PUT SOMETHING OUT AND THEN WE GET FEEDBACK FROM MARKET PARTICIPANTS SAYING, WHAT IS THIS? OR, YOU KNOW, OR BEING SURPRISED BY THAT.
WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING IS HAVING AN ENGAGEMENT WITH MARKET PARTICIPANT DIRECTLY AND GOING THROUGH EACH OF THOSE CHANGES, EACH OF THE SPECIFICATIONS, AND HELPING THEM WALK THROUGH IT SO THAT WHEN WE RELEASE IT, THEY'RE NOT SURPRISED BY IT, LIKE THEY WOULD'VE GONE THROUGH IT.
AND WE HAVE HAD MANY SESSIONS, UM, SO FAR, UH, FOUR SESSIONS AT LEAST IN ADDITION TO WHAT MATT RUNS IN THE, UH, RTC B'S TASK FORCE AND ALL THAT.
SO THERE ARE MANY FORUMS FOR THESE PEOPLE TO COME, BUT THIS PARTICULAR ONE IS VERY TECHNOLOGY FOCUSED, ASKING THE VENDORS TO COME IN SO THAT WE CAN ANSWER IT AT A TECHNICAL LEVEL.
AND WE HAVE HAD GOOD LUCK WITH THAT AND WE, WE THINK AT THIS POINT THAT WE WILL, UH, ACHIEVE THIS, UH, STRETCH GOAL AS WELL.
UM, ARE THESE FOR THE QSCS OR THE VENDORS OR BOTH? BOTH.
AND WHAT PERCENTAGE OF BOTH PARTIES ARE ACTUALLY HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN IN THE SESSIONS? I THINK WE HAVE HAD, UM, VERY LARGE NUMBERS A HUNDRED PLUS.
AND I THINK MATT, YOU MAY KNOW PERCENTAGE WISE, YEAH, I WAS GONNA SAY 150 REGULARLY RUNNING.
WE DON'T DO A UNIQUE COUNT ON THE COMPANIES OR VENDORS THAT ARE INVOLVED, BUT THAT'S A GOOD INDICATE 150 IS A VERY ROBUST RESPONSE TO THESE GROUPS.
YEAH, I THINK, I THINK YOU NEED TO GIVE US JUST A SENSE OF, YOU KNOW, WHAT COVERAGE DO WE HAVE OF
[01:15:01]
THE MARKET, THE MARKETPLACE BY BOTH VENDOR AND, AND BY THE USER OF THE TECHNOLOGY.AND, AND AS WE GET TO THAT ATTESTATION, I THINK SOME OF THOSE NUMBERS WILL COME BE MORE CLEAR AS WELL.
AND IN ADDITION TO THAT, WE ARE ALSO DOING ONE-ON-ONE WITH THE VENDORS, YOU KNOW, REACH OUT TO THEM AND SAY, HEY, MAYBE YOU'RE SHY TO TALK ABOUT IN PUBLIC, BUT TALK TO US ONE-ON-ONE, AND WE CAN EXPLAIN THAT AS WELL.
SO I, I DIDN'T LIST THAT, BUT WE ARE ALSO DOING THAT OUTREACH.
UM, AND THE REASON FOR ALL THAT IS AGAIN, WE ARE SAYING THAT OUR BIGGEST RISK IS MAKING SURE MARKET PARTICIPANTS ARE READY.
I THINK I'M CONFIDENT THAT WE WILL BE READY.
UM, NOW THE LAST QR IS ABOUT OUR GATE TO EXECUTION.
SO I DON'T THINK I CAN SAY YET THAT WE ARE EXCEEDING STRETCH TARGETS THERE, BUT WE ARE AT LEAST AT THIS POINT ON TRACK.
UM, THIS IS SLIDE THAT MATT IS SHARING WITH THE MPS ON WHAT THE MARKET READINESS AND MARKET TRIALS WOULD LOOK LIKE.
I DON'T INTEND TO GO THROUGH IT HERE, BUT THIS SLIDE FOR ME IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE ARE SHOWING A 2025 GO LIVE.
AND WHAT IT'S SAYING IS, I'M NOT SAYING THAT IT'LL BE THE GO LIVE, WE WILL TALK ABOUT THE GO LIVE WHEN WE HIT THE GATE TO EXECUTION, THAT'S WHEN WE FORMALLY HAVE IT, BUT AT LEAST IT'S SHOWING CONFIDENCE ON OUR END THAT, HEY, THERE IS A CHANCE WE WILL GO 25 OKAY.
DON'T THINK IT'S A 26TH THING AND WE WANT MARKET PARTICIPANTS TO BE READY FOR IT.
UM, SO WHEN THEY GET INTO, FOR EXAMPLE, THE SUBMISSION TESTING, WE THINK WE'LL START IN MAY.
SO DON'T START THINKING ABOUT IT IN MAY.
START THINKING ABOUT IT EARLIER BECAUSE WE WILL OPEN UP OUR SYSTEMS IN THAT TIMELINE.
SO, SO, UM, SO IF I GO BACK, AND THAT WAS MY LAST SLIDE, BUT I JUST WANT TO GO BACK THAT AT THIS POINT, OUR OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS HAS BEEN THAT RTC GO LIVE IS 26, AND THAT WAS THE WINDOW WE HAD.
AND ALL THIS TIME IN MY BOARD MEETINGS, I'VE SAID THAT WE WILL TRY TO MOVE LEFT, RIGHT, AND, AND KEEP THE PRESSURE ON MOVING LEFT.
AND SOME OF THESE THINGS THAT YOU'RE SEEING WHEN, UH, KEY RESULTS ARE BEING ACHIEVED EARLIER, I MEAN, THEY'RE ALL PORTRAYING THAT THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THAT OUR GOAL LIVE WILL SHIFT LEFT, RIGHT? AND, AND JUST A DIRECT OUTCOME OF THAT.
SO I DO HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT TIMING.
IT'S, YOU KNOW, BIGGER THAN THE OTHER ANCILLARY SERVICES WE'VE INTRODUCED LATELY.
GIVEN SUMMERTIME, WINTERTIME STRESS, UM, YOU KNOW, TAKING EQUIPMENT OFFLINE FOR REPAIRS, IS THERE AN OPTIMUM MONTH YOU WOULD PREFER TO DO THIS WHERE THE SYSTEM IS STABLE, THE WEATHER'S NOT TOO STRENUOUS AND THERE'S NOT TOO MUCH OFFLINE? YEAH, THAT, THAT'S A REALLY GOOD QUESTION.
AND, AND WE, WE'VE BEEN ACTUALLY ADJUSTING AND COORDINATING KIND OF OUR PROCESSES AROUND ROUTINE.
UH, IT UPDATES, MAINTENANCE, THINGS OF THAT NATURE DURING PERIODS OF TIME WHEN THERE COULD BE STRESSES IN THE SYSTEM.
AND THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A SIGNIFICANT CUTOVER THAT'S GONNA TAKE PLACE, UM, WITH MANY SYSTEMS IMPACTED.
SO YES, WE WILL, WE WILL COORDINATE THAT VERY CLOSELY WITH WOODY AND DAN AND THEIR TEAM TO MAKE SURE THAT AS WE GET TO THOSE GO LIVE DATES, THAT THOSE ARE NOT PERIODS OF TIME THAT WE WOULD EXPECT HIGH STRESS ON THE OPERATIONS TEAM, POTENTIAL FOR FAILOVERS, THINGS LIKE THAT, THAT COULD GET IN THE WAY OF A CUTOVER COULD BE VERY SIGNIFICANT.
AND WE'RE ALREADY COORDINATING THESE TYPES OF CHANGES ON THE TECHNOLOGY SIDE TODAY, AND IT'D BE JUST MORE, EVEN MORE IMPORTANT FOR SOMETHING THIS SIZE.
BUT I, I'LL OFFER WOODY OR JP OR, OR DAN IF YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON THAT.
I WILL SAY FROM A PROJECT PERSPECTIVE IS THAT WE DO WORK WITH OPERATIONS ON HERE'S THE RELEASE DATE AND HERE'S THE BACKUP RELEASE DATE.
SO REALLY FROM ONE WEEK TO ANOTHER CAN BE A BIG CHANGE, ESPECIALLY IN THE WINTERTIME FOR WHAT THAT WINDOW MAY LOOK LIKE.
IT FEELS LIKE NOVEMBER IS BETTER THAN FEBRUARY.
AND IF YOU RECALL THE EMS UPGRADE OR SIMILAR, AT LEAST FOR US, IT'S NOT SO MARKET IMPACTING, BUT FOR US IT IS A BIG DEAL.
IT'S LIKE A HEART TRANSPLANT, RIGHT? UM, AND WE DID THAT IN NOVEMBER, IF YOU REMEMBER.
UM, AND WE HAD MULTIPLE DATES THERE TOO WHERE WE DON'T, WE CAN'T PREDICT, UM, YOU KNOW, WE MAY ALL BE READY FOR A DAY, BUT THERE MAY BE AN OUTAGE OR SOMETHING HAPPENING ON THAT DAY.
SO WE WILL CHECK WITH THE CONTROL ROOM TO SAY, IS THIS THE GO OR DO WE PICK ANOTHER DATE? BUT WE ALWAYS HAVE BACKUP DATES.
I HAVE ONE OTHER QUESTION ABOUT THE ACTUAL FLIPPING OF THE SWITCH.
UH, YOU HAVE TWO INSTANCES OF EMS, RIGHT? WOULD, WOULD, ONE, ONE WILL STAY AS IS AND ONE WILL BE RMS, I MEAN RTC, EXCUSE ME, FOR AND HOW DO YOU PLAN TO TRANSITION BOTH FAILOVER
[01:20:01]
CAPABILITY FAILOVERS? YEAH, I MEAN, MATT, WE ARE WORKING ON THE FAILOVER METHODOLOGY, RIGHT? WE HAVEN'T PUBLISHED IT, BUT, UM, BUT THE IDEA IS THE SAME, WHAT YOU SAID.WE WILL HAVE A SYSTEM THAT IS RTC BUILT, RIGHT? BUT THEN THERE ARE OTHER SYSTEMS THAT MAY CONNECT TO IT.
SO THERE MAY BE FAILOVERS FOR SOME SYSTEMS, BUT GENERALLY THE BULK SYSTEM IS THE RTC SYSTEM THAT MARKET PARTICIPANTS ALSO CONNECT TO THAT AND HAVE TESTED IT DURING THE MARKET TRIALS.
BUT MATT, I DON'T KNOW WHERE WE ARE.
I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'RE READY TO TALK IN PUBLIC ABOUT THE READINESS, BUT FEEL FREE, JUST GENERALLY SPEAKING, THERE WILL BE TWO PLANES FLYING IN PARALLEL WITH PRODUCTION LIKE DATA IN THEM.
SO WE WILL HAVE THE CURRENT PRODUCTION AND RTC WILL BE ALIGNED WITH THE SAME TELEMETRY SET AND THE NEW POINTS, AND THEN IT'S THAT RED BOX IN THE MIDDLE.
AND AGAIN, WE'LL GET DEEPER AS WE GO OVER TIME.
WE'LL GET DEEPER INTO EACH OF THESE, BUT WE WILL HAVE TWO TO THREE TIMES WHERE OUR CONTROL ROOM AND THE OTHER CONTROL ROOMS ACTUALLY SWITCH TO AND RUN FOR TWO TO FOUR HOURS AND THEN SWITCH BACK.
SO WE HAVEN'T DONE THAT SINCE 2010 WHEN WE DID THAT IN PREPARATION FOR THE NODAL SYSTEM, BUT, UH, SO IT'S SOMETHING THAT'S RARE AND IT'S A LARGE AND A, UH, AN IMPORTANT THING TO CHOREOGRAPH, BUT IT'S BEEN DONE BEFORE, SO THAT'S HOW IT LOOKS.
SO THE TRANSITION TO GO LIVE, IT'S ACTUALLY A LOT OF THE RISK IS GONNA BE DRIVEN OUT BY THE TWO MONTHS BEFOREHAND, BUT I THINK IT'S FAIR TO SAY THAT THE CONNECTION TO THE QSC, THERE'S ONLY GONNA BE ONE SET OF TELEMETRY DATA COMING IN.
SO THAT HAS TO GET TESTED VERY THOROUGHLY.
IT'LL, THAT WAS MY LAST SLIDE.
YOU'RE, YOU'RE UP FOR THE NEXT
[5. Future Agenda Items]
ONE, TWO JP.AND THAT'S FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS. UM, NOW USUALLY AT THIS SLIDE IT'S MORE OF A COMMITTEE DISCUSSION, BUT UM, I THINK THIS IS WHERE I THINK LAST TIME WE HAD A DISCUSSION ON BRINGING AN EXPERT IN GFM, UM, AND IF YOU LIKE THIS KIND OF A FORMAT, MAYBE THERE ARE MORE TOPICS THAT WE CAN BRING HERE AS WELL.
UM, AND I DON'T KNOW IF THE, IF THE COMMITTEE HAS A PARTICULAR TOPIC IN MIND OR, UH, WE CAN WORK OFFLINE AS WELL.
UM, AND, UM, UM, WELL, I, I WOULD LIKE AN UPDATE ON THE SMALL MODULAR NUCLEAR WORK THAT'S GOING ON IN TEXAS.
I THINK THAT WOULD BE AN AREA THAT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO THE COMMITTEE.
I'M SURE COMMITTEE MEMBERS HAVE THEIR OWN THOUGHTS ON THAT, BUT UM, THAT WOULD BE CERTAINLY SOMETHING ON MY LIST THAT I'D LIKE TO GET SOME MORE INFORMATION ABOUT.
UM, THE OTHER THING I'VE BEEN TALKING TO WOODY ABOUT IS JUST SORT OF TRANSMISSION TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENTS THAT APPEAR TO BE HAPPENING FAIRLY QUICKLY AND THAT THERE'S A WHOLE SET OF THINGS THAT MAY MAYBE COULD HAVE A SMART WIRE TO COME IN ON TECH TRANSMISSION TECHNOLOGY, SMART WIRES.
THERE'S A BROAD, THERE'S A BROAD CATEGORY.
GETZ IS KIND OF WHAT IT'S CALLED TODAY, GRID ENHANCING TECHNOLOGIES.
AND, UM, AND THAT INCLUDES SMART WIRES, IT INCLUDES FAX SYSTEMS, IT INCLUDES, UH, UH, A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF TECHNOLOGIES THAT ARE AVAILABLE TODAY.
YEAH, AND I'D LIKE, I'D LIKE TO LIKE UNDERSTAND METRICS THAT GO WITH THE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM A LITTLE BIT BETTER.
LIKE WE JUST TALKED ABOUT CURTAILMENT WITH DR.
WE'LL PUT THAT ON THE, OKAY, WE'LL PRIORITIZE AND TALK THROUGH THE SEQUENCE FOR THESE, UH, TOPICS.
THOSE ARE AT LEAST TWO IDEAS AND YEAH.
[Convene Executive Session]
WE ARE NOW AT THE TRANSITION TO EXECUTIVE SESSION.UM, SO THIS TIME THE COMMITTEE IS GONNA ADJOURN GENERAL SESSION AND RECONVENE AN EXECUTIVE SESSION.
THERE ARE NO VOTING ITEMS ANTICIPATED DURING EXECUTIVE SESSION, SO GENERAL SESSION WILL NOT RECONVENE, UM, AT THE CONCLUSION.
GENERAL SESSION IS NOW ADJOURNED.
SO LET'S SEE WHEN WE'RE SUPPOSED TO RECONVENE HERE.