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[1. Call General Session to Order]
MORNING.MEMBERS OF THE ERCOT BOARD OF DIRECTORS, AND TO OUR GUESTS THAT ARE HERE TODAY.
WELCOME TO THE OCTOBER 10TH, 2024 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING.
I HAVE CONFIRMED THAT A QUORUM IS PRESENT PERSON AND HEREBY CALL THIS MEETING TO ORDER BOARD MEMBER CARLOS AGUILAR IS ATTENDING, UH, VIRTUALLY, UH, AND WILL BE ON IN A FEW MOMENTS.
I WILL ALSO NOTE THAT NOTE THAT THE BOARD IS WITHOUT TWO VOTING MEMBERS TODAY, THE VACANCY OF OPEC UNTIL THE DESIGNATION IS MADE BY THE GOVERNOR AND THE VACANCY CREATED BY PAUL FOSTER'S RESIGNATION IN JUNE.
THIS MEETING IS BEING WEBCAST LIVE TO THE PUBLIC ON ERCOT WEBSITE.
AT THIS TIME, I WOULD LIKE TO ASK, UH, IF PUC CHAIR THOMAS GLEASON WOULD LIKE TO CALL AN OPEN MEETING OF THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS? I WOULD THANK YOU, MR. CHAIRMAN.
THIS MEETING OF THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS WILL COME TO ORDER TO CONSIDER MATTERS THAT HAVE BEEN DULY POSTED WITH THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR OCTOBER 10TH, 2024.
MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHO MAY BE PARTICIPATING TODAY VIA TELECAST MAY NOT ALREADY BE AWARE THAT THE ERCOT BOARD SELECTION COMMITTEE APPOINTED ME AS BOARD CHAIR AND PEGGY HIGG AS BOARD VICE CHAIR EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2024.
PEGGY AND I WILL COMPLETE OUR FIRST THREE YEAR TERMS AS ERCOT BOARD MEMBERS ON NOVEMBER THE FIRST AND DECEMBER THE 31ST RESPECTIVELY, AND BEGIN OUR SECOND THREE YEAR TERMS THE FOLLOWING DAY, WHICH WAS ALSO CONFIRMED BY THE BOARD SELECTION COMMITTEE.
I'D LIKE TO THANK THE BOARD SELECTION COMMITTEE FOR THE REEMPLOYMENT OF THE SECOND TERM AND THE SELECTION AS BOARD CHAIR AND TO PICKING, UH, PEGGY AS VICE CHAIR.
FURTHERMORE, I'M ALSO HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE BOARD SELECTION COMMITTEE, UH, SELECTED DIRECTORS AGUILAR, POINTON, AND ENGLAND TO COMPLETE SECOND THREE YEAR TERMS AND THE DETAILS OF THEIR SECOND TERM EFFECTIVE DATES ARE CONTAINED IN THE BOARD SELECTION COMMITTEE LETTER IN ERCOT PRESS RELEASE THAT WAS RELEASED A FEW DAYS AGO.
IT IS GREAT THAT THE BOARD SELECTION COMMITTEE HAS RECOGNIZED ALL OF OUR COMMITMENTS AND QUALIFICATIONS TO CONTINUE TO SERVE THIS BOARD AND TO SERVE THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS.
PEGGY, WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD ANYTHING? YES, BILL.
I TOO WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE SELECTION COMMITTEE, UH, AND WANT TO LET E EVERYONE KNOW THAT IT'S MY HONOR TO SERVE AS THE VICE CHAIR OF THE ERCOT BOARD.
I LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH THE PUC, UH, THE ERCOT STAFF AND THE STAKEHOLDERS TO IMPROVE THE RELIABILITY AND RESILIENCY OF THE ERCOT.
SO, I'D LIKE TO CONGRATULATE ALL THE MEMBERS WHO HAVE BEEN REAPPOINTED AND WE ALL LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING TOGETHER WITH OUR STAKEHOLDERS AND WITH OUR, OUR MEMBERS ON BEHALF OF THE, OF THE, UH, PEOPLE OF TEXAS.
UH, I WANT TO TURN IT OVER TO BOB FLEXON FOR AN ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HE HAS, UH, REGARDING HIS FUTURE.
SO, I'D LIKE TO INFORM THE BOARD AND THE PUBLIC THAT I DO NOT INTEND TO SEEK A SECOND TERM AS I PLAN TO PURSUE NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN WHICH I WOULD NO LONGER TO BE ELIGIBLE TO BE ON A DIRECTOR, TO BE A DIRECTOR GOING FORWARD.
SO TODAY WILL LIKELY BE MY LAST MEETING AS A 2024 AS A BOARD OF DIRECTOR.
I APPRECIATE THE SELECTION BY THE BOARD SELECTION COMMITTEE IN 2021 TO JOIN THIS BOARD AND THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY AND EXPERIENCE IN HAVING SERVED AT SUCH A CRITICAL TIME.
SO THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR THAT.
UH, I WILL SAY FROM A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE, IT'S, UH, HAVING YOU LEAVE US IS GOING TO BE, UH, IS GONNA LEAVE A HUGE GAP TO FILL AND WE APPRECIATE YOUR SERVICE TO THE BOARD, TO, UH, THE STATE OF TEXAS AND, UH, PARTICULARLY YOUR LEADERSHIP ON THE R AND M COMMITTEE.
WE, UH, WE REALLY APPRECIATE THAT.
UM, HIS BOB'S TERM IS SET TO EXPIRE DECEMBER THE FIRST 2024.
UH, BOB JOINED THE BOARD ON DECEMBER THE SECOND 2021, AND THIS WILL CONCLUDE HIS THREE YEAR TERM.
BOB HAS SERVED AS RELIABILITY AND MARKETS COMMITTEE CHAIR, AS I SAID EARLIER.
HE IS DONE A GREAT JOB IN THAT.
UM, AFTER HIS TERM EXPIRES, UH, HE, WE ARE HOPING THAT THE BOARD SELECTION COMMITTEE WILL HAVE ANOTHER, UH, UH, PERSON SELECTED AND READY TO GO TO, UH, BEGIN SERVICE, UH, SOON.
UM, WITH THOSE ANNOUNCEMENTS OUT OF THE WAY, AND BEFORE WE GET GOING INTO THE AGENDA, I'D LIKE TO HIGHLIGHT THAT THE ANTI ANTITRUST ADMONITION AND SECURITY MAP ARE INCLUDED WITH THE POSTED MEETING MATERIALS.
THE FIRST ITEM OF BUSINESS TODAY ON TODAY'S AGENDA IS ITEM TWO.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC COMMENT, IF ANY.
TODAY'S MEETING AGENDA WAS POSTED PUBLICLY ON OCTOBER THE THIRD, 2024, AND IT PROVIDED INSTRUCTIONS TO THE PUBLIC FOR COMMENTING IN PERSON TO DATE THAT I'M AWARE OF.
NOBODY HAS EXPRESSED AN INTEREST IN COMMENTING.
IS THAT STILL CORRECT, JUDGE? THAT IS CORRECT FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.
I WILL NOTE FOR PLANNING PURPOSES, WHEN WE GET TO ITEM SIX, WHICH IS AN UPDATE ON THE CPS ENERGY, RMR AND MRA PROCESS THAT I'LL ASK, UH, A REPRESENTATIVE FOR CPS ENERGY TO COME UP AND, UH, PROVIDE THEIR PERSPECTIVE ON WHERE THEY'RE AT WITH THE WRONG RESOURCES AS WELL.
OKAY? WE'LL LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING, UH, THAT COMMENTARY.
[3. Consent Agenda]
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ITEM THREE, THE CONSENT AGENDA.I WILL TURN IT OVER TO CHAD TO PROVIDE THE BUDGET IMPACTS OF THE REVISION REQUEST.
THERE ARE 11 REVISION REQUESTS ON THE CONSENT AGENDA.
NONE OF THE REVISION REQUESTS HAVE AN ERCOT STAFF IMPACT.
TWO OF THE REVISION REQUESTS HAVE AN ERCOT BUDGET IMPACT.
SO NPR 1244 HAS A BUDGET IMPACT BETWEEN 70,000 TO A HUNDRED THOUSAND.
AND NPR 1188 HAS A BUDGET IMPACT BETWEEN 1.8 MILLION AND 2.5 MILLION.
THIS NPR IS ABOUT CHANGING THE DISPATCH AND PRICING OF CONTROLLABLE LOAD RESOURCES TO SETTLE THEM AT THE NODAL PRICE.
THIS WAS AN INITIATIVE THAT INITIALLY STARTED AT THE, AT THE COMMISSION AS PART OF THEIR BLUEPRINT, AND IT'S NOW IN FRONT OF THE, THE BOARD ON THE CONSENT AGENDA.
UH, WITH THAT, DOES ANY BOARD MEMBER, UH, HAVE ANY COMMENTS OR WISH TO REMOVE ANY ITEM FROM THE CONSENT AGENDA? IF THERE'S NO FURTHER DISCUSSION, I'LL ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS IT WAS PRESENTED.
ANY OPPOSED? ANY ABSTENTIONS? THE CONSENT AGENDA IS APPROVED.
[4. August 20, 2024 General Session Meeting Minutes]
IS ITEM FOUR, THE AUGUST 20TH, 2024.GENERAL SESSION MEETING MINUTES.
THERE'S A DRAFT IN THE MEETING MATERIALS.
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY COMMENTS OR WISH TO MAKE A MOTION? I MOVE TO APPROVE.
ANY OPPOSED? ANY ABSTENTIONS? THE MINUTES ARE APPROVED AS WRITTEN.
[5. CEO Update]
NOW INVITE, UH, ERCOT, CEO, PABLO VEGAS TO PRESENT.AGENDA ITEM FIVE, THE CEO'S UPDATE.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY.
UH, I WANNA THANK EVERYBODY HERE, UH, FOR BEING HERE TODAY AND FOR YOUR ENGAGEMENT AND THE THE IMPORTANT WORK THAT WE DO HERE AT ERCOT.
IN TODAY'S UPDATE, UH, I'M GONNA WANT TO COVER A FEW, UH, KEY OPERATIONAL TOPICS.
I'M GONNA TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE RTC PLUS B PROJECT, WHERE WE ARE.
WITH THAT, WE'VE MADE SOME SIGNIFICANT ANNOUNCEMENTS WITH REGARDS TO ITS PLANNED IMPLEMENTATION.
IT'S AN IMPORTANT STEP IN THE FUTURE OF THE OPERATIONS OF ERCOT AND EXCITED ABOUT WHERE WE'RE HEADED WITH THIS PROJECT AND, UH, AND HOW IT IS PROGRESSING.
I ALSO WANNA GIVE A BRIEF UPDATE ON THE PROGRESS OF THE PERMIAN BASIN RELIABILITY PLAN THAT'S BEEN FILED WITH THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION AND IS IN ITS, UH, NEXT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT.
UM, WE ALSO, UH, HAVE LAUNCHED RECENTLY A NEW APPLICATION, A NEW, UH, UH, MOBILE APPLICATION FOR ERCOT.
I'M GONNA TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT THAT BRINGS TO THE TABLE.
IT'S GOT SOME GREAT NEW FUNCTIONALITY AND I THINK IS GONNA HELP WITH COMMUNICATING SOME OF THE KEY INFORMATION THAT IS HELPFUL TO CONSUMERS AND TO MARKET PARTICIPANTS.
AND I'M ALSO GONNA TOUCH BRIEFLY ON THE, UH, SOUTHERN SPIRIT, UH, HVDC PROJECT THAT'S, UH, RECENTLY BEEN IN THE NEWS AS THERE'S BEEN A DOE ANNOUNCEMENT RELATED TO IT, UH, REGARDING FUNDING.
AND I WANNA PROVIDE A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND ON THAT PROJECT AND, UH, WHERE THAT PROJECT FITS INTO THE, UH, ERCOT, UH, ERCOT MARKET.
SO WITH THE, UM, REAL-TIME IZATION AND BATTERY PROJECT, UM, WE HAVE ANNOUNCED A TARGETED GO LIVE DATE OF DECEMBER 5TH, 2025, WHICH IS EARLIER THAN THE ORIGINALLY PROJECTED, UH, GO LIVE DATE, WHICH WAS SOMETIME IN THE MIDDLE OF 2026.
UM, SINCE THIS INITIAL RTC MARKET DESIGN PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS HAVE BEEN ENHANCED TO INCLUDE FUNCTIONALITY CHANGES THAT ACCOUNT FOR NOW BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE RESOURCES, AND BE ABLE TO CO TO PROJECT THE REALTIME CO-OP OPTIMIZATION WITH THE CO-OP OPTIMIZATION OF BATTERIES AS WELL.
THIS IS A SIGNIFICANT ENHANCEMENT AND SOMETHING THAT'S GONNA BE SOMEWHAT UNIQUE IN THE ERCOT MARKET.
THE RTC PLUS B PROGRAM HAS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED EACH OF THE MILESTONES FOR THE BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS AND FOR THE INTERFACE SPECIFICATIONS, AND IT'S NOW POSITIONED TO BEGIN SYSTEM TESTING IN EARLY 2025.
MARKET TRIALS FOR THE PROJECT ARE GONNA BEGIN IN MAY AND ARE GONNA RUN THROUGH NOVEMBER OF 2025.
AND THE CUTOVER IS PLANNED FOR DECEMBER 5TH.
ERCOT IS GONNA CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE ADDITIONAL MILESTONES IN THE COMING MONTHS AND ENSURE THAT THE OR BOTH ERCOT AND THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS ARE GONNA BE READY FOR THAT GO LIVE.
AND TO CONFIRM THAT DECEMBER 5TH GO LIVE.
A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT ON THE PROJECT.
UH, IN 2017, THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION DIRECTED ERCOT AND THE IMM TO ASSESS THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF REALTIME CO-OP OPTIMIZATION.
REALTIME CO-OP OPTIMIZATION IS THE PROCESS OF DISPATCHING ENERGY AND ANCILLARY SERVICES INTERCHANGEABLY IN THE REALTIME MARKET.
UNDER THE CURRENT MARKET DESIGN, ERCOT PROCURES OUR ANCILLARY SERVICES IN THE DAY AHEAD MARKET
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AND TYPICALLY DOES NOT MOVE ANCILLARY SERVICES BETWEEN RESOURCES IN THE REALTIME MARKET.THE REMAINING CAPACITY THAT IS NOT PROCURED FOR ANCILLARY SERVICES IS THEN USED IN THE REAL TIME MARKET TO MEET CUSTOMER DEMAND.
THE RTC PLUS B DESIGN CHANGE IS A KEY ELEMENT IN THE STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE CURRENT ERCOT MARKET TO PROVIDE MORE FLEXIBILITY IN REAL TIME FOR ERCOT TO EFFICIENTLY PROCURE AND DEPLOY ANCILLARY SERVICES.
AND IN ADDITION, THE NEW FUNCTION FUNCTIONALITY WILL INCLUDE IMPROVEMENTS TO THE MODELING AND THE CONSIDERATION OF BATTERIES AND THEIR STATE OF CHARGE THAT THEY'RE GONNA HAVE AVAILABLE TO BE ABLE TO PROVIDE ANCILLARY SERVICES.
SOME OF THE OPERATIONAL BENEFITS THAT ERCOT HAS ADDED TO THE ORIGINAL BUSINESS CASE STUDY INCLUDE A MORE TIMELY PROCUREMENT OF ANCILLARY SERVICES WHEN ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS ARE REQUIRED, OR WHEN EXISTING RESOURCES ARE NOT ABLE TO PROVIDE THOSE SERVICES.
IT OFFERS MORE EFFICIENT CONGESTION MANAGEMENT RESULTING FROM THE ABILITY TO USE A WIDER VARIETY OF RESOURCES TO SOLVE TRANSMISSION CONSTRAINTS.
IT OFFERS A REDUCTION IN THE MANUAL ACTIONS BY OPERATORS, WHICH INCLUDES THE DEPLOYMENT OF ANCILLARY SERVICES AND SWAPPING ANCILLARY SERVICE OBLIGATIONS BETWEEN RESOURCES.
IT'S GONNA BE ABLE TO MODEL A BATTERY AS A SINGLE DEVICE RATHER THAN BOTH A GENERATOR AND A LOAD TO MORE EFFICIENTLY DISPATCH IT WITHIN THE MARKET.
IT'S GONNA REDUCE THE NEED FOR OUT OF MARKET GENERATOR COMMITMENTS BY ERCOT, AND IT'S GONNA REPLACE AN INEFFICIENT SUPPLEMENTAL MARKET WITH A REAL TIME ANCILLARY SERVICES PROCUREMENT CAPABILITY.
SO WANT TO OFFER MY THANKS TO THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS AND TO THE ERCOT STAFF THAT HAVE ENABLED THE RAPID PROGRESS SINCE WE'VE GOT THE DIRECTION TO CONTINUE WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS RTC PROJECT.
IT'S REALLY MADE INCREDIBLE PROGRESS IN TIME, AND 2025 WILL BE A CRITICAL YEAR AS WE GET THROUGH THE TESTING AND GET READY FOR OUR GO LIVE.
I ALSO WANNA SPEND A LITTLE BIT OF TIME TALKING ABOUT THE CHANGES COMING UP WITH OUR ANCILLARY SERVICES METHODOLOGY.
WE HAVE A REQUIREMENT IN OUR PROTOCOLS TO REVIEW THE ANCILLARY SERVICES METHODOLOGY ANNUALLY, AND IN ADDITION, THOSE PROTOCOLS NOW REQUIRE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION APPROVAL ON ANY CHANGES TO THAT METHODOLOGY.
SO WE'RE PROPOSING SEVERAL CHANGES IN 2025 BASED ON OPERATIONAL EXPERIENCE BASED ON FORECASTED CHANGES IN THE RESOURCE MIX, AND TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION SOME OF THE INITIAL FINDINGS FROM THE WORK ON THE ANCILLARY SERVICES STUDY THAT HAS BEEN MANDATED BY THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION AT A HIGH LEVEL.
OVERALL, QUANTITIES OF ANCILLARY SERVICES ARE DECREASING FROM 2024 TO 2025.
AND I'LL REVIEW THOSE DETAILS A LITTLE BIT IN THIS NEXT SLIDE.
AND THIS IS GONNA BE A VOTING ITEM, UH, FOR THE ERCOT BOARD UNDER THE R AND M COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS.
SO WITH AN INCREASE IN THE INTERMITTENT RESOURCES THAT ARE CURRENTLY SERVING THE GRID, WE HAVE ABOUT 10,000 MEGAWATTS MORE WIND AND SOLAR SINCE THIS TIME LAST YEAR.
INTUITIVELY, WE WOULD EXPECT TO SEE AN INCREASE POTENTIALLY IN THE RESERVES TO MANAGE THAT INCREASE UNCERTAINTY FROM OPERATING MORE INTERMITTENT RESOURCES.
HOWEVER, WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FINE TUNE OUR RISK MANAGEMENT MODELS SINCE LAST YEAR TO ALLOW US TO BETTER MANAGE THE RISK IN EACH HOUR IN SUCH A WAY THAT DRIVES A MORE EFFICIENT RESERVE MANAGEMENT PROCESS AND AN OVERALL DECREASE.
ON AVERAGE, ABOUT 48 MEGAWATTS OF THE QUANTITIES REQUIRED IN 2025 AS COMPARED TO 2024.
ABSENT THESE METHODOLOGY CHANGES, THE AVERAGE HOURLY ANCILLARY SERVICE QUANTITIES WOULD HAVE INCREASED BECAUSE OF AN INCREASE IN THE NET LOAD FORECAST ERRORS THAT ARE DRIVEN BY AN INCREASE IN THE AMOUNT OF WIND AND SOLAR GENERATION.
THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE ANCILLARY SERVICES METHODOLOGY ARE DUE TO BETTER ACCOUNTING OF RISKS AND IMPROVEMENTS TO THE SECURITY, TO THE SECURITY CONSTRAINED ECONOMIC DISPATCH TOOL.
AND THESE CHANGES DO NOT DECREASE SYSTEM RELIABILITY.
SO LOOKING BRIEFLY AT THE FOUR CORE, UH, ANCILLARY SERVICE CHANGES IN THE REG UP AND IN THE REG DOWN SERVICE, WE'RE CHANGING THE METHODOLOGY TO USE A HISTORIC FIVE MINUTE NET LOAD FORECAST ERROR INSTEAD OF A FIVE MINUTE TOTAL VARIABILITY, BECAUSE OF IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SCED TOOL ALLOW US TO BETTER SEE AND MANAGE THE GENERATION RAMPING.
SO THE REGULATION NOW ONLY NEEDS TO COVER THE RISK OF FORECAST ERRORS.
INSTEAD OF COVERING ALL VARIABILITIES, THE REGULATION UP AVERAGE QUANTITIES ARE INCREASING 34 MEGAWATTS, BUT THAT WOULD'VE BEEN OTHERWISE 77 WITHOUT THIS METHODOLOGY CHANGE.
AND THE REG DOWN SERVICES ARE INCREASING BY 23 MEGAWATTS, BUT THAT WOULD'VE BEEN A 68 MEGAWATT CHANGE WITHOUT THE METHODOLOGY CHANGES.
THE RESPONSIVE RESERVE SERVICE, THOSE HOURLY QUANTITIES ARE INCREASING BY AROUND NINE MEGAWATTS.
SO IT'S RELATIVELY UNCHANGED COMPARED TO 2024.
THIS METHODOLOGY CHANGE IS LIMITED BECAUSE THERE'S A NERC REQUIREMENT THAT DICTATES HOW WE MEASURE RESPONSIVE RESERVE SERVICE AND HOW WE NEED TO ACQUIRE IT.
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TOO MUCH OF A CHANGE BASED ON THAT NERC RELIABILITY STANDARD WITH ECRS, WE ARE NOW COMPUTING THE CHANGES COMPUTING QUANTITIES AS EITHER THE HIGHER OF THE QUANTITY NEEDED TO RESTORE FREQUENCY FOLLOWING A LARGE GENERATOR TRIP, OR THE QUANTITY NEEDED TO RESPOND TO AN INTRA HOUR NET LOAD FORECAST ERROR PRIOR TO THIS METHODOLOGY CHANGE.WE SUMMED BOTH OF THOSE FACTORS TOGETHER IN ORDER TO COME UP WITH THE REQUIRED QUANTITIES.
BASED ON ANALYSIS WE'VE DONE SINCE WE IMPLEMENTED ECRS, WE SEE THAT IT'S UNLIKELY THAT BOTH RISK FACTORS WOULD OCCUR SIMULTANEOUSLY, AND IF THEY DID, THE CONTROL ROOM DOES HAVE MANUAL TOOLS THAT THEY CAN USE TO MAINTAIN RELIABILITY IN REAL TIME, SHOULD BOTH OF THEM OCCUR AT THE SAME TIME.
SO THE RESULT OF THAT IS THAT THE AVERAGE HOURLY QUANTITIES FOR ECRS ARE DECREASING BY ABOUT 271 MEGAWATTS, BUT THOSE WOULD HAVE OTHERWISE INCREASED 246 MEGAWATTS ABSENT EXCHANGES THAT WE'RE MAKING.
AND THEN FINALLY, FOR NONS SPEND, THE METHODOLOGY CHANGE THAT WE'RE PUTTING IN PLACE IS A CHANGE TO THE OVERNIGHT COMPUTE QUANTITIES, WHICH ARE THE HOURS BETWEEN 10:00 PM AND 6:00 AM AND WHAT WE ARE DOING IS WE ARE, UM, USING A HISTORIC FOUR HOUR AHEAD LOOK ON THE NET LOAD FORECAST INSTEAD OF A SIX HOUR AHEAD LOOK DURING THE DAYTIME HOURS ON HIGHER RISK DAYS, WE WOULD NEED TO RELY ON OFFLINE GENERATORS THAT HAVE A STARTUP TIME OF AROUND SIX HOURS.
HOWEVER, DURING THE NIGHTTIME, ERCOT CAN RELY ON OFFLINE GENERATORS THAT HAVE A STARTUP TIME OF FOUR HOURS OR LESS.
AND SO THE FORECAST ERROR RISK IS DIFFERENT AT NIGHT THAN WHAT WE SEE DURING THE DAY.
SO BASED ON THIS, THE AMOUNT OF NONS SPIND IS INCREASING 158 MEGAWATTS IN 2025, BUT THAT WOULD'VE BEEN OTHERWISE A 246 MEGAWATT INCREASE HAD WE NOT MADE THAT METHODOLOGY CHANGE.
SO OVERALL, THIS IS A OPPORTUNITY TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY ON THE LEVERAGING OF THE ANCILLARY SERVICES, CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN THE RELIABILITY AND CONTINUE TO REFINE OUR METHODOLOGY TO GET MORE RISK TUNED TO THE ACTUAL RISK IN EACH HOUR.
SO A GOOD CHANGE OVERALL FOR THE MARKET AND CONSUMERS.
A BRIEF UPDATE ON WHERE WE'RE WITH THE PERMIAN BASIN, UH, RELIABILITY PLAN.
WE PRODUCED THAT PLAN PER THE DIRECTION OF HOUSE BILL 50 66 TO IDENTIFY THE TR NEEDS OF THE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM FOR THE PERMIAN BASIN REGION AND THE TRANSMISSION UPGRADES THAT ARE NEEDED TO MEET THE FORECASTED DEMAND IN THAT AREA.
AT THE SEPTEMBER 26TH, THE OPEN MEETING WITH THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION, THE PUC APPROVED THE PLAN AND AUTHORIZED TRANSMISSION SERVICE PROVIDERS TO BEGIN PREPARING CERTIFICATES OF CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY FOR EIGHT IMPORT PATHS INTO THE PERMIAN REGION.
FIVE OF THOSE DEFINED AS 345 KV PATHS, AND THREE OF THOSE DEFINED AS 765 KV PATHS, THE TSPS CAN BEGIN SUBMITTING THE CCNS FOR THESE CRITICAL IMPORT PATHS AS OF MAY 1ST OF NEXT YEAR.
CONCURRENTLY, ERCOT HAS BEEN WORKING WITH THE 2024 REGIONAL TRANSMISSION PLAN ON THE REGIONAL TRANSMISSION PLAN, WHICH IS THE STATEWIDE PLAN THAT IS SCHEDULED TO BE RELEASED IN DECEMBER OF THIS YEAR.
BETWEEN NOW AND MAY 1ST, 2025, THERE'S GONNA BE CONTINUED STUDY AND ANALYSIS ON THE APPROPRIATE VOLTAGE LEVELS TO USE FOR THE IMPORT PATHS IN THE PERMIAN BASIN PLAN, AS WELL AS LOOKING AT WHAT IS THE OPTIMAL VOLTAGE SYSTEM FOR THE LARGER STATEWIDE REGIONAL TRANSMISSION PLAN.
AN EVOLVING GENERATION MIX HAS RESULTED IN INCREASED DISTANCE BETWEEN GENERATOR SITES AND DEMAND CENTERS.
AND IN ADDITION, WE'VE SEEN THAT WITH THE SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN FORECASTED LOAD, THAT IT JUSTIFIES THE CONSIDERATION OF USING EXTRA HIGH VOLTAGE TRANSMISSION INFRASTRUCTURE OPERATED AT A LEVEL LIKE 765 KV FOR IMPORT PATH OPTION OPTIONS.
AND FOR TRANSMISSION, EHV FACILITIES ARE GENERALLY KNOWN TO PROVIDE BENEFITS SUCH AS REDUCING LOSSES FOR LONG DISTANCE POWER TRANSPORTATION.
THEY INCREASE SHORT CIRCUIT STRENGTH, THEY REDUCE CONGESTION, THEY CAN INCREASE GRID RELIABILITY AND STABILITY, AND THEY CAN ADDRESS THE UNCERTAINTY OF FUTURE GENERATION CHANGES AND LOCATION AND IMPROVE VOLTAGE STABILITY COMPARED WITH A TRANSMISSION SYSTEM OPERATED AT A LOWER VOLTAGE.
SO THE FINAL 2024 RTP PLAN, WHICH WILL HAVE A STATEWIDE VIEW AND WILL ALSO PRESENT THE CONSIDERATIONS OF BOTH AN EXTRA HIGH VOLTAGE PLAN VERSUS AN EXISTING 3 45 KV SYSTEM, WILL BE COMPLETED NO LATER THAN DECEMBER OF THIS YEAR.
SO THERE'S BEEN IN THE LA LATE LAST WEEK AND INTO THE WEEKEND, THERE WERE SEVERAL ARTICLES PUBLISHED THAT FOLLOWED A RECENT DOE ANNOUNCEMENT, UH, REGARDING
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THE SOUTHERN SPIRIT DC THAI PROJECT THAT HAD BEEN AWARDED, UH, APPROXIMATELY $360 MILLION IN A CAPACITY PAYMENT, UH, FUNDING TO HELP CONTINUE SUPPORT THE FINANCING FOR THIS PROJECT.THE NEW STORIES MADE IT SOUND LIKE THERE HAD BEEN SOME SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE IN THE POLICY AROUND INTERCONNECTING THE ERCOT GRID TO OTHER, UM, OTHER GRIDS IN THE UNITED STATES, EFFECTIVELY, UH, MAKING A A, A POLICY DECISION AROUND INTERCONNECTING GRID, THE ERCOT GRID TO THE US GRIDS.
AND, AND THAT'S NOT THE CASE, THAT IS NOT WHAT HAS OCCURRED WITH THIS RECENT ANNOUNCEMENT, NOR WITH THE UNDERLYING DRIVERS FOR THIS PROJECT.
TODAY, ERCOT HAS FOUR ASYNCHRONOUS TIES THAT CONNECT THE ERCOT GRID TO OTHER GRIDS OUTSIDE OF ERCOT.
TWO OF THEM CONNECT US TO THE EASTERN INTERCONNECT.
THEY ADD UP TO 820 MEGAWATTS THAT DO SO.
AND WE ALSO HAVE TWO TIES THAT CONNECTS US TO THE MEXICAN, UH, ELECTRIC GRID SANAE.
THOSE ADD UP TO ABOUT 400 MEGAWATTS.
ONE OF THOSE IS A DC TIE, AND THE OTHER ONE IS A VARIABLE FREQUENCY TRANSFORMER THAT OPERATES LIKE A GENERATOR WITH A CONTROL SYSTEM, BUT IT, UH, IT IS NOT AN, IT IS NOT A SYNCHRONOUS TIE TO THAT GRID.
SO THE SOUTHERN SPIRIT TRANSMISSION LINE THAT WAS IN THE NEWS AND IN QUESTION WOULD BE A FIFTH TIE.
IT WOULD BE ANOTHER ONE TO THE EASTERN INTERCONNECT WHERE WE ALREADY HAVE TWO TODAY, AND IT IS BEING PROPOSED AT A LEVEL OF ABOUT 3000 MEGAWATTS.
WE HAVE HAD, UH, DC TIES INTERCONNECTING TO OTHER PARTS OF THE US GRID GOING BACK TO AS FAR AS 1984.
THE, UH, SOUTHERN SPIRIT PROJECT IS AN INDEPENDENTLY DEVELOPED PROJECT THAT IS GOING TO INITIATE IN TEXAS AND IS GONNA TRANSMIT THROUGH LOUISIANA AND TERMINATE IN MISSISSIPPI.
IT'S GONNA ALLOW FOR THE SCHEDULE EXCHANGE OF POWER FOR BOTH RELIABILITY AS WELL AS FOR ECONOMIC PURPOSES.
EVEN THOUGH THE SOUTHERN SPIRIT PROJECT IS PROPOSED AT UP TO 3000 MEGAWATTS OF TRANSMISSION CAPABILITY, IT'S CURRENTLY UNDERSTUDIED TO DETERMINE IF THE CURRENT SYSTEMS IMPORT AND EXPORT LIMITS WOULD ALLOW THAT LEVEL OF TRANSPORT ACROSS THE TIE UNDER THE CURRENT PLANNING RULES AND UNDER CURRENT SYSTEM CAPABILITIES, IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THAT FULL 3000 CAPABILITY WOULD BE ENABLED WITHOUT SOME SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENT TO ENABLE THAT.
THERE IS A POLICY DISCUSSION THAT IS UNDERWAY AT THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION NOW AS TO WHETHER THE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM AROUND THE INTERCONNECTION POINT SHOULD BE UPGRADED AND INVESTED IN, IN ORDER TO ALLOW FOR A HUNDRED PERCENT TRANSMISSIBILITY AT ALL TIMES OF THE POWER ACROSS A LINE LIKE THIS.
DC TIES THAT HAVE BEEN APPROVED BY FERC PURSUANT TO SECTIONS TWO 10 AND TWO 11 OF THE FEDERAL POWER ACT DO NOT POSE A RISK TO THE INDEPENDENT JURISDICTION THAT ERCOT HAS OVER ITS WHOLESALE POWER AND TRANSMISSION MARKETS.
IT IS HOW THE EXISTING DC TIES THAT EXIST IN ERCOT TODAY WERE DEVELOPED.
AND IT'S ALSO HOW THE SOUTHERN SPIRIT TRANSMISSION PROJECT WAS APPROVED BACK WHEN IT WAS APPROVED.
THIS PROJECT WAS APPROVED BACK, UM, IN LATE 20, I THINK, 2017, AND HAD SEVERAL CONDITIONS THAT NEEDED TO BE MET IN DIRECTIVES THAT WERE SET FORTH BY THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION.
ALL OF THOSE DIRECTIVES, EXCEPT FOR A COUPLE HAVE BEEN MET AT THIS POINT.
AND IN 2022, THAT WAS ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION AS HAVING MET THOSE DIRECTIVES.
AND THERE'S STILL TWO THAT ARE REMAINING TO BE DONE AS THE, UH, ENGINEERING AND THE DESIGN PROCESS FOR THE PROJECT CONTINUES.
THIS PROJECT IS STILL AWAITING APPROVAL IN OTHER STATES.
WE BELIEVE THAT, UH, WE UNDERSTAND THAT IT'S RECENTLY BEEN APPROVED IN, UH, BY THE LOUISIANA PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION, BUT THAT THERE IS STILL AN OPEN WINDOW AROUND APPEALS AVAILABLE THERE, AND IT'S STILL WAITING FOR APPROVAL IN, IN MISSISSIPPI.
AND ONE OF THE CONDITIONS, PART OF THE CONDITIONS FOR THE APPROVAL OF THIS PROJECT HERE IN ERCOT WAS THAT THE COST TO DEVELOP THE PROJECT, THE MAJORITY OF THE COSTS WERE GONNA BE BORNE BY THE DEVELOPERS, NOT BY ERCOT CONSUMERS.
SO I'LL PAUSE THERE BEFORE I, I, I WRAP UP ON OUR, UH, MOBILE APPLICATION, UH, LAUNCH.
IF THERE'S ANY QUESTIONS RELATED TO EITHER THIS PROJECT OR TO ANY OF THE UPDATES OPERATIONALLY THAT I'VE OFFERED EARLIER, CHAIR GLEASON PABLO, I JUST WANNA SAY THANK YOU FOR PROVIDING AN UPDATE ON THIS SLIDE.
I KNOW AFTER THIS STORY CAME OUT, YOU ALL RESPONDED TO, UM, INQUIRIES BY THE MEDIA AND THE, THE LEGISLATURE AS, AS DID THE PUC, AND IT NECESSITATED ME HAVING TO PUT OUT A STATEMENT ON THIS.
SO, UH, APPRECIATE THIS CLARIFICATION SO THAT EVERYONE FULLY UNDERSTANDS WHAT THE SOUTHERN SPIRIT LINE ACTUALLY MEANS FOR THE STATE.
UM, I, I WANT TO THANK THE ERCOT TEAM AGAIN FOR THEIR WORK ON THE PERMIAN BASIN RELIABILITY PLAN.
UM, CHRISTY HOBBS AND HER TEAM WORKED REALLY HARD ON GETTING US A PLAN IN A VERY SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME, AND, UM, WE WORKED TOGETHER
[00:25:01]
TILL THE LAST SECOND ON THIS THING.AND SO I'M VERY APPRECIATIVE OF ALL THE HARD WORK THAT'S GONE INTO IT.
AND, UM, THE, THE, UH, PROMISE OF THIS PLAN, UM, TO HELP THE WESTERN PART OF OUR, OUR STATE IN THE PERIAN BASIN, UM, IN THE FUTURE.
SO I WANTED TO SAY THAT AGAIN.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, COMMISSIONER.
AND, AND I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THE POTENTIAL THIS REPRESENTS AS WELL THAT THERE'S A TREMENDOUS GROWTH OPPORTUNITY ECONOMICALLY FOR THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE STATE.
AND, UH, THIS INVESTMENT THAT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IS GONNA BE ABLE TO SERVE CUSTOMERS AND CONSUMERS, UM, FOR DECADES TO COME AND APPRECIATE THE SUPPORT AND LEADERSHIP THAT YOU'VE PROVIDED TO THIS EFFORT AS WELL.
I'D JUST LIKE TO ADD ONE MORE COMMENT ON THE PERMIAN BASIN, AND THAT IS ONE OF THE BENEFITS OF 7 65 AS I UNDERSTAND IT, IS THAT IT JUST REQUIRES A SMALLER FOOTPRINT TO ACTUALLY IMPLEMENT FOR THE SAME AMOUNT OF TRANSMISSION CAPACITY.
AND I DON'T KNOW IF THAT WAS CLEAR TO PEOPLE FROM YOUR SLIDE, BUT YOU JUST DON'T HAVE TO BUILD AS MANY POWER LINES.
IT'S A, IT'S A SIGNIFICANT BENEFIT.
YOU'D, YOU KNOW, YOU WOULD INTUITIVELY THINK THAT, YOU KNOW, ROUGHLY DOUBLING OF THE VOLTAGE WOULD POTENTIALLY MEAN A DOUBLING OF THE CAPACITY, BUT IN REALITY, UM, A 7 65 LINE CAN CARRY, YOU KNOW, FOUR TO FIVE TIMES THE CAPACITY OF A EQUIVALENT 3 45 CIRCUIT.
AND SO IT'S A, IT'S A TREMENDOUS ASSET IN TERMS OF BEING ABLE TO MOVE POWER EFFICIENTLY AROUND THE STATE AND, AND DOES SO MUCH MORE EFFICIENTLY FROM A LAND UTILIZATION BECAUSE OF THAT FACT.
SO THANK YOU FOR CALLING THAT OUT.
UH, JOHN, ANY OTHER COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS FOR PABLO? ONE MORE COMMENT, AND YOU, YOU'VE GOT IT ON YOUR SLIDE, BUT I'D JUST LIKE TO EMPHASIZE THAT, YOU KNOW, THE, THE, THE FACT THAT THERE IS A POWER LINE, THE DC TIE DOESN'T ACTUALLY GUARANTEE THAT THERE'S ANY POWER.
UM, AND, AND SO THERE'S, THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF MAGICAL THINKING THAT GOES ON THAT'S, YOU KNOW, SAYING JUST BECAUSE WE RUN A POWER LINE FROM, YOU KNOW, EASTERN TEXAS TO SOMEWHERE IN MISSISSIPPI, THAT SOMEHOW THAT'S GONNA GUARANTEE THAT THERE'S 3000 MEGAWATTS OF POWER AVAILABLE.
AND, AND, AND I'VE, YOU KNOW, I'VE, I'VE ADDRESSED THE QUESTION AS TO THE STRATEGY OF FURTHER CONNECTING THE ERCOT GRID TO, UM, THE U THE OTHER US GRIDS AND THE BENEFITS THAT WOULD NEED TO BE REALLY FULLY EVALUATED.
YOU KNOW, THE, THE RELIABILITY ISSUE THAT YOU BRING UP IS A CRITICAL ONE BECAUSE DEPENDING ON WHERE, UH, A LINE WOULD TERMINATE THE, YOU KNOW, THE FURTHER AWAY THAT IT HAS THAT IT IS GEOGRAPHICALLY FROM THE ACOT SYSTEM, THE BETTER OPPORTUNITY THERE WOULD BE FOR RELIABILITY BENEFITS DURING PERIODS OF, UH, EXTREME WEATHER.
BUT THAT'S A SIGNIFICANT CONSIDERATION, UM, TO, UH, TO, TO, TO UNDERSTAND.
BUT THAT'S JUST ONE PIECE OF IT.
AND, AND AS I'VE NOTED BEFORE, THE ACTUAL COST TO CONSUMERS FOR THE INFRASTRUCTURE TO ENABLE THIS CAN BE VERY SIGNIFICANT.
THE, THE LINES IN AND OF THEMSELVES ARE VERY EXPENSIVE.
HVD DC LINES ARE EXPENSIVE, BUT THE UNDERLYING SUPPORT AROUND THE ERCOT SYSTEM TO ENABLE THE FIRST FULL IMPORT AND EXPORT CAN REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT TRANSMISSION UPGRADES.
SO THAT'S SOMETHING THAT HAS TO BE CONSIDERED IN THE COST PROFILE.
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BRINGING POWER IN FROM OTHER REGIONS AND MOVING POWER FROM ERCOT OUT TO OTHER REGIONS ALSO HAS TO BE CONSIDERED.
AND THAT'S SOMETHING THAT I THINK A LOT OF THE STUDIES HAVE NOT REALLY FULLY ADDRESSED WHAT IT WOULD MEAN TO THE MARKET HERE IN ERCOT AND TO THE IMPACT TO EXISTING TRANSMISSION OPERATORS AND GENERATORS AND TO, AND TO CONSUMERS, WHAT IT WOULD MEAN TO BE MOVING POWER IN AND OUT OF THE STATE AT POINTS IN TIME.
AND SO I THINK THAT NEEDS TO BE STUDIED FULLY.
AND SOMETHING THAT OFTEN DOESN'T GETS OVERLOOKED WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THIS IS THE FACT THAT THERE ARE, YOU KNOW, QUITE A FEW INTERCONNECTIONS ACTUALLY AVAILABLE THROUGH SWITCHABLE GENERATION UNITS THAT CAN SERVE BOTH THE ERCOT MARKET AS WELL AS ARE CONNECTED TO OTHER PORTIONS OF THE US GRID.
WE HAVE ABOUT 4,000 MEGAWATTS OF SWITCHABLE GENERATION THAT CAN SERVE BOTH ERCOT AND OTHER US GRIDS.
AND, AND THAT'S SOMETHING THAT IS AN INCREDIBLE ASSET TO US AND POTENTIALLY COULD BE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE MORE INVESTMENT IN THAT, WHICH IS BOTH SUPPLY AT THAT POINT, AS WELL AS FLEXIBILITY AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY.
SO THERE'S A LOT OF DIFFERENT WAYS, I THINK, TO SOLVE THE RELIABILITY CHALLENGE.
DC TIES COULD BE ONE OF THOSE, BUT I THINK THEY NEED TO BE FAIRLY EVALUATED FROM ALL OF THESE FACTORS TO REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT IS THE BEST INVESTMENT FOR THE ERCOT CONSUMERS WHEN IT COMES TO INVESTING IN RELIABILITY AND THE ECONOMIC POTENTIAL OF MORE INFRASTRUCTURE.
AND SO THAT, I THINK YOU BRING UP AN EXCELLENT POINT, AND WE NEED TO GO FURTHER INTO THIS ANALYSIS.
THE, UM, I'M REALLY PROUD TO TO, TO HIGHLIGHT THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY THAT, UH, THAT WE HAVE LAUNCHED OUR NEW APP, UH, THAT IS AVAILABLE ON BOTH THE, UH, THE APPLE PLATFORM, THE IOS PLATFORM, AS WELL AS ON THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE FOR, UH, FOR THE ANDROID PLATFORMS. UH, WE LAUNCHED THIS LAST MONTH.
UH, IT IS A NEW MOBILE APP THAT GIVES YOU A MORE TRANSPARENT, RELIABLE, REAL-TIME INFORMATION OF THE GRID.
IF YOU'VE ALREADY DOWNLOADED THIS
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APP ON YOUR DEVICE, PLEASE UPDATE IT.YOU'LL SEE THE NEW REFRESHED VERSION WHEN YOU DO SO.
AND IT WAS, IT WAS BUILT BASED ON A LOT OF INPUT FROM MARKET PARTICIPANT AND PUBLIC FEEDBACK, AS WELL AS A LOT OF TESTING BY BOTH.
AND SOME OF THE KEY CHANGES INCLUDE, IT HAS A FULLY REDESIGNED USER INTERFACE, WHICH INCLUDES DARK MODE.
UH, IT HAS ADDED AND EXPANDED INTERACTIVE DASHBOARDS WITH VIDEOS TO EXPLAIN FEATURES.
IT HAS PERSONALIZATION, SO YOU CAN NOW CUSTOMIZE WHICH DASHBOARDS APPEAR ON YOUR HOME SCREEN.
YOU CAN ENHANCE THE NOTIFICATIONS THAT YOU WANT TO RECEIVE IN ORDER TO GET ALERTS FROM ERCOT.
IT ALSO HAS A LOOK AHEAD TO EVENTS THAT ARE HAPPENING AND SPONSORED BY ERCOT.
SO IT'S GOT A WEEK AHEAD LOOK AHEAD, A WEEK AHEAD MEETING CALENDAR VIEW THAT YOU CAN USE.
AND IT ALSO HAS AN AVENUE FOR SUBMITTING FEEDBACK.
SO THAT IS AN EXCITING NEW CHANGE.
I HOPE WE CAN CONTINUE TO GET FEEDBACK, AND WE'RE GONNA CONTINUE TO BE FOCUSING ON REVISING THE COMMUNICATION CHANNELS THAT WE USE TO REACH OUT TO OUR STAKEHOLDERS AND CONSUMERS.
AND THEN IN ADDITION, I WANTED TO ALSO NOTE THAT WE ARE NOW ON INSTAGRAM.
SO, UH, ERCOT HAS BEEN EXPANDING ITS SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS AND ITS PRESENCE.
WE ARE NOW ON X, WHICH IS THE FORMER TWITTER PLATFORM.
WE ARE ON FACEBOOK, WE ARE ON LINKEDIN, AND NOW WE ARE ON INSTAGRAM AS WELL.
SO WE ARE AT ERCOT ISO, PLEASE COME AND FOLLOW US.
THAT'S HOW YOU KNOW YOU'RE COOL IF YOU'VE GOT A LOT OF FOLLOWERS, SO PLEASE FOLLOW US.
AND SO AS PART OF THIS, WE'RE ALSO LAUNCHING AN EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN USING A LOT OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT TO KIND OF LAUNCH, HERE'S WHO ERCOT IS, HERE'S WHAT WE DO, WHAT WE'RE ABOUT, THINGS WE'RE NOT, AND, UH, HELPING TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC AS WE SHOW UP ON THESE NEW PLATFORMS THAT, UH, WE CAN BE REACHED THROUGH AND ACCORDINGLY.
WITH THAT, AS I'D LIKE TO CONCLUDE, MY REMARKS ALWAYS, I'D LIKE TO CONCLUDE WITH THANK YOU AND APPRECIATION, AND I WANNA FOCUS THIS THANKS TO THE TEAMS THAT REALLY WORKED ON DEVELOPING THIS NEW MOBILE APPLICATION AND OUR NEW LAUNCH ON THE, ON OUR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS. WE HAD MORE THAN 40 EMPLOYEES, UH, THAT WORKED ON THIS PROJECT LAST YEAR.
BROUGHT IN A LOT OF USER RESEARCH INTO THIS.
THE MO MOBILE APP EXPERIENCE INCLUDED MANY, MANY STAKEHOLDER DISCUSSIONS AND MEETINGS, AND THE DESIGN WORK WAS ABOUT SIX MONTHS WORTH OF WORK PAIRED UP WITH OUR IT ORGANIZATION TO SET UP THE UNDERLYING APIS IN ORDER TO SUPPORT THE STATIC AND THE DYNAMIC CONTENT THAT YOU CAN SEE ON THE MOBILE APP.
SO I REALLY WANNA THANK THE TEAM FOR THE EXCELLENT WORK IN ACCOMPLISHING THIS IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME AND CONTINUING TO PROGRESS OUR BRAND AND OUR VISIBILITY TO THE STAKEHOLDERS IN TEXAS THAT LEAN ON GETTING INFORMATION THAT'S ACCURATE AND RELIABLE AND REAL TIME IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND WHAT ARCOT DOES.
SO THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOU WHO ARE A PART OF THAT.
AND WITH THAT, IF THERE'S NO MORE QUESTIONS, I'LL CONCLUDE MY REMARKS.
ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FOR PABLO? IF NOT PABLO.
I WANT, I WANT TO, UH, THANK YOU FOR THE UPDATE ON SOUTHERN SPIRIT TO PROVIDE THE FULSOME ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION REGARDING, UH, THAT PARTICULAR, UH, PROJECT.
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE CORRECT THE MISINFORMATION THAT WAS PUT OUT THERE BY THE MEDIA.
IT ALSO SEEMS LIKE YOU AND THE TEAM HAVE BEEN IN FULL AFTERBURNER MODE SINCE OUR AUGUST MEETING.
WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT THE ACCELERATION OF RTC PLUS B, THE ANCILLARY SERVICES STUDY, THE MOBILE APP, AND THE PERMIAN BASIN PLAN.
SO, UH, I WANT TO THANK ALL OF THEIR CUT TEAM FOR THE GREAT WORK, UH, THAT THEY'VE DONE THE LAST, UH, SEVERAL MONTHS.
[6. Update on CPS Energy Reliability Must-Run (RMR) and Must-Run Alternative (MRA) Process]
TO, UM, MOVE ON FOR AGENDA ITEM SIX.THE UPDATE ON THE CPS ENERGY RELIABILITY MUST RUN AND MUST RUN ALTERNATIVE PROCESS.
CHAD SEALEY AND WOODY RICKSON WILL JOIN PABLO AS CO-PRESENTERS.
IN ADDITION, WE'VE INVITED THE CPS REPRESENTATIVE TO EXPRESS THEIR, UH, COMMENTS ON THIS PARTICULAR ISSUE.
OKAY, I THINK I'LL START IT OFF.
AND THEN WOODY, AND I'LL KIND OF TAG TEAM THROUGH SOME OF THESE SLIDES AND, AND AT SOME POINT I'LL ASK THE CPS REPRESENTATIVE TO COME UP, BUT WE OBVIOUSLY HAD AN UPDATE AT THE AUGUST BOARD MEETING ON WHERE WE WERE IN THE R-M-R-M-R-A PROCESS, AND WE CONTINUE TO WORK VERY COLLABORATIVELY WITH CPS ENERGY ON NEGOTIATING THE TERMS OF A POTENTIAL RMR AGREEMENT FOR ALL THREE RESOURCES.
AND, YOU KNOW, A COUPLE OF THE KEY TAKEAWAYS REFLECTED HERE ON THE SLIDE IS THAT WE'RE, WE'RE POSITIONED OBVIOUSLY, TO COME TO THE BOARD IN DECEMBER FOR A FULL EVALUATION OF WHETHER THE BOARD WANTS TO SELECT ONE OR MORE OF THESE RMR UNITS.
IF YOU RECALL, IN, IN AUGUST, WE TALKED ABOUT THE MUST RUN ALTERNATIVE TIMELINE.
AND AT THAT TIME, ERCOT, UH, ON ITS OWN THROUGH THE RFP PROCESS, DECIDED TO EXTEND THE RESPONSE DEADLINE TO GIVE THE INDUSTRY MORE TIME TO LOOK AT THE QUALIFICATION CRITERIA WITHIN THE RFP AND HOPEFULLY HAVE AN INDUSTRY RESPONSE THAT THAT DEADLINE WAS THIS PAST MONDAY, OCTOBER 7TH, AND WE RECEIVED ONE MRA OFFER AS A RESULT OF EXTENDING THAT.
SO THAT'S A LITTLE DISAPPOINTING THAT WE WEREN'T
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ABLE TO GET MORE INTEREST FROM THE INDUSTRY TO RESPOND, BECAUSE ULTIMATELY THE CONSUMERS OF TEXAS WILL ULTIMATELY HAVE TO PAY FOR ANY TYPE OF SOLUTION THAT THE, THAT THE BOARD DEEMS IS APPROPRIATE.SO, WE'LL, WE'LL TALK ABOUT THAT MRA OFFER A LITTLE BIT LATER IN, IN THE SLIDE DECK.
ONE OF THE OTHER ISSUES THAT WE'D BEEN FOCUSED ON FOR SEVERAL MONTHS WITH CPS WAS A RECOGNITION BY CPS ENERGY THAT THE STATE OF THESE UNITS REQUIRED, UH, AT LEAST A 60 DAY INSPECTION FOR EACH OF THOSE UNITS.
AND SO THERE'D BEEN A LOT OF DISCUSSION WITH THE BOARD AND WITH THE COMMISSION ABOUT, WELL, WE MAY WANT TO TAKE ONE OF THESE UNITS OUTTA SERVICE SOONER AND DO WHAT WE WERE CHARACTERIZING AS A PRE RMR AGREEMENT, WHICH CAME WITH THIS CONCEPT THAT THE BOARD TALKED ABOUT IN, IN, IN AUGUST AROUND LOSS OPPORTUNITY COSTS, AND KIND OF SETTING UP A NEW POLICY PARADIGM AROUND THAT ISSUE.
AGAIN, CONTINUING TO WORK WITH CPS ENERGY COLLABORATIVELY, THEY, THEY ULTIMATELY DECIDED TO MOVE THE NOTICE OF SUSPENSION OF OPERATIONS DATE FROM MARCH 31ST UP TO MARCH 2ND, BECAUSE THE EARLIEST WE WERE REALLY GONNA BE ABLE TO TAKE THAT UNIT OUT WAS GONNA BE AFTER THE WINTER SEASON.
SO WE WERE TARGETING KIND OF MARCH 1ST, AND THEY WERE ABLE TO USE OUR EXISTING PROCESSES BY CHANGING THAT DATE.
SO GREATLY APPRECIATE CPS ENERGY AND, AND THEIR EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAM FOR LOOKING AT THAT ISSUE AND, AND ADDRESSING THAT KIND OF DIFFICULT POLICY ISSUE OF WHETHER LOSS OPPORTUNITY COST IS APPROPRIATE OR NOT UNDER OUR CURRENT REGULATORY REGIME.
UH, SO THAT, THAT'S ADDRESSED IN THE SECOND KEY TAKEAWAY.
AGAIN, THE DEADLINE FOR THE MR. MRIS WAS OCTOBER 2ND.
AND I THINK MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO TODAY IS JUST TO KIND OF SET UP THE BOARD FOR THE EXPECTATION OF WHAT'S COMING IN DECEMBER.
THERE'S A, A LOT OF ANALYSIS THAT ERCOT STAFF WILL BE DOING OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS NOW THAT WE HAVE THE MRA PIECE, UH, IN, IN HOUSE TO LOOK AT THAT ONE OFFER ALONG WITH THE COST THAT'S BEEN SUBMITTED BY CPS ENERGY FOR THOSE THREE UNITS, AND THEN THE OTHER KIND OF QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ISSUES THAT WE NEED TO DO AS A FULL ASSESSMENT TO BRING THAT INFORMATION BACK TO THE BOARD FOR CONSIDERATION.
WE HAD TARGETED DECEMBER TO MAKE SURE THAT THE BOARD HAD ENOUGH TIME TO LOOK AT THIS INFORMATION, AND IF SOMEHOW THE BOARD NEEDED MORE INFORMATION, THEN THERE'S STILL OPPORTUNITY TO USE THE FEBRUARY MEETING, WHICH IS PRETTY LATE IN THE CYCLE TO MAKE THIS DECISION OR POTENTIALLY HAVE A SPECIAL MEETING BETWEEN DECEMBER AND THE FEBRUARY BOARD MEETING, BECAUSE THIS IS A BIG DECISION FOR THE BOARD TO EVALUATE THE LOCAL RELIABILITY IMPACTS THAT WE HAVE IDENTIFIED AS A RESULT OF THESE RESOURCES GOING AWAY IN MARCH AND MAKING SURE THAT YOU HAVE A COMPLETE SET OF INFORMATION TO EVALUATE THE COST BENEFITS OF WHAT YOUR DECISION MAY BE.
SO ON THE NEXT SLIDE, THANKS PENNY FOR DRIVING THAT.
UH, THIS IS SOMEWHAT A FAMILIAR SLIDE.
IT JUST KIND OF GIVES YOU AN OVERVIEW OF THE THREE UNITS.
AGAIN, WE WERE ORIGINALLY TARGETING UNIT THREE, WHICH IS THAT 412 MEGAWATT UNIT TO DO AS A PRE RMR AGREEMENT, BUT THAT GOT RESOLVED, UH, LAST WEEK WHEN CPS ENERGY REVISED ITS NSO AND CHANGED THAT DATE TO MARCH 2ND.
SO AGAIN, THE ISSUE OF LOSS OPPORTUNITY COST IS NO LONGER AT PLAY.
AND WE CAN NOW KIND OF FOCUS ON OUR TRADITIONAL RMR REGULATORY PROCESS THAT'S IN THE PROTOCOLS.
I WANT TO TURN IT OVER TO WOODY JUST TO REMIND THE BOARD OF THE RELIABILITY ANALYSIS THAT WE CONDUCT WHEN WE RECEIVE, UH, AN NSO.
SO FIRST OF ALL, WE WANNA THANK CPS FOR GIVING US THE NOTICE OF SUSPENSION OF OPERATIONS A YEAR EARLY.
THAT WAS, THAT REALLY HELPS WITH, WITH THIS DIFFICULT ANALYSIS, UH, REMIND EVERYONE THAT THE RELIABILITY ANALYSIS LOOKS AT TRANSMISSION SYSTEM IMPACTS.
IT DOESN'T LOOK AT RESOURCE ADEQUACY.
SO IF THESE UNITS HAVE BEEN LOCATED IN WEST TEXAS OR SOMEPLACE ELSE, THEY PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE MET THE RELI, THE RMR CRITERIA AND THAT RMR CRITERIA IS LAID OUT IN THE PROTOCOLS.
YOU'LL SEE THOSE THREE BULLETS THERE THAT TALK ABOUT WHAT THOSE CRITERIA ARE.
SO RELIABILITY ANALYSIS WAS CONDUCTED, ALL THREE UNITS ARE NEEDED.
ON THE NEXT SLIDE, CONSISTENT WITH OUR PROCESS, WE WENT OUT WITH THE RFP AND WE'VE NOW COMPLETED THAT PROCESS WITH ONE POSSIBLE RESOURCE THAT CAN BE LEVERAGED AS PART OF OUR ANALYSIS.
SO AGAIN, JUST MAKING SURE THAT THE BOARD'S AWARE WE'RE FOLLOWING THE PROCESSES AND THE PROTOCOLS.
ONCE WE IDENTIFIED AN RMR, WE MUST GO OUT FOR AN RFP.
WE'VE LAID OUT THAT ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA THAT I'LL TALK ABOUT IN A FEW MINUTES, AND WE RECEIVED ONE, UH, MUST RUN ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL.
SO GETTING BACK TO KIND OF THE CORE RELIABILITY ISSUE WITH THE SOUTH TEXAS EXPORT, IRL, ALL THAT, WHAT DO YOU KIND OF SPEAK TO THAT? YEAH, SO A AN IRL IS AN INTERCONNECTION RELIABILITY OPERATING LIMIT.
THESE ARE ESPECIALLY CRITICAL LIMITS THAT YOU, UH, CAN'T AFFORD TO HAVE OVERLOAD BECAUSE THEY COULD POTENTIALLY, UH, CASCADE.
[00:40:01]
THAT, THAT, UH, IROL FROM SOUTH TEXAS, WHICH WAS ESTABLISHED, UH, EARLIER THIS YEAR, THAT IS THE, THE TRANSMISSION CRITERIA THAT MAKES THESE UNITS NEED TO BE RMR. SO, UH, THAT'S, THAT'S THE, WHAT'S DRIVING THIS.IT'S NOT A, UH, IT'S NOT A RESOURCE ADEQUACY ISSUE.
IT IS TO PROTECT THAT, UM, IROL.
UM, SO ANY MRA SERVICE THAT, THAT, THAT WE WOULD USE WOULD ALSO REDUCE THE LOADING.
SO THE RMR OR THE MRA, EITHER ONE WOULD, UH, REDUCE THE LOADING ON THOSE LINES THAT ARE IOLS.
AND IF YOU LOOK AT THE NEXT SLIDE, SLIDE SEVEN.
SO THIS IS A, UH, AN ILLUSTRATION THAT SHOWS THE IMPACT, UH, THE SHIFT, WHAT WE CALL A SHIFT FACTOR AND FROM DIFFERENT PLACES ACROSS THE STATE ON THAT LINE.
AND SO THAT LINE IS GONNA BE JUST SOUTH OF SAN ANTONIO, SO IT'S ON THE BORDER BETWEEN THE GREEN AND THE RED, UH, DOTS THAT YOU SEE THERE.
SO GREEN WOULD BE, UH, PLACES WHERE AN INJECTION OF POWER WOULD REDUCE THAT SOUTH TO NORTH LOADING.
AND RED WOULD BE A PLACE WHERE AN INJECTION OF POWER WOULD INCREASE THE LOADING.
SO WE WANT TO, THE BROING UNITS ARE JUST NORTH OF THAT INTERFACE, SO THEY HAVE A HIGH SHIFT FACTOR IN REDUCING THAT LOADING.
SO AT ANY MRA WE WOULD LOOK AT IF WE HAD GOTTEN ANY, WOULD HAVE ALSO BEEN A, A, SOMETHING THAT WOULD REDUCE THAT LOADING AS WELL.
AND SO YOU CAN, THERE'S SOME, SOME SCALES ON THERE.
YOU CAN KINDA SEE WHERE THE IMPACT, THE MOST IMPACTFUL PLACES ARE FOR, UH, FOR UNLOADING THAT LINE.
BUT THAT'S PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS, UH, RELIABILITY ANALYSIS, IS THAT EVERYTHING IS FOCUSED ON UNLOADING THAT PARTICULAR LINE.
AND THAT'S, THAT'S THE, THAT'S THE PROBLEM THAT WE'RE, THAT WE'RE, WE'RE DEALING WITH HERE IS THAT PARTICULAR LINE THAT IROL COMING SOUTH OUTTA SAN ANTONIO.
AND KEEP IN MIND THAT THE BOARD HAS APPROVED A COUPLE DIFFERENT PROJECTS THAT ARE BEING WORKED ON NOW THAT WILL, THAT WILL FIX THAT, BUT THERE IS A GAP BETWEEN THE TIME BRO RETIRES AND WHEN THOSE PROJECTS ARE GONNA BE IMPLEMENTED.
OKAY, ON THE NEXT SLIDE, JUST GETTING TO THE MRA REQUIREMENTS, YOU KNOW, WE, WE, WE TRIED TO SET UP THE RFP TO BE AS FLEXIBLE AS POSSIBLE BASED UPON THE RESOURCE ATTRIBUTES AND WHAT WE WERE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH AS FAR AS THE RELIABLE ANALYSIS.
AND SO IN THE RFP, WE WERE LOOKING FOR GENERATION RESOURCES, WHICH INCLUDED BATTERIES, SETTLEMENT ONLY GENERATORS, AND DISTRIBUTED GENERATION AND DEMAND RESPONSE.
AND WE'RE LOOKING ACROSS A TWO YEAR PERIOD HERE, AS WOODY INDICATED, THOSE CURRENT SOUTH TEXAS RELIABILITY PROJECTS AREN'T INTENDED TO COME INTO SERVICE UNTIL THE SUMMER OF 2027.
AND SO WE'RE LOOKING ACROSS A TWO YEAR HORIZON HERE, AND WE ALLOWED IT THAT FLEXIBILITY OF YOU COULD OFFER IN ONE YEAR, TWO YEAR, YOU KNOW, COMPLETE FLEXIBILITY TO TRY TO GET THE INDUSTRY TO REALLY LOOK AT WHAT ASSETS COULD BE AVAILABLE TO SOLVE SOME OF THE RELIABILITY ISSUES.
UH, AND YOU CAN SEE THAT NOTED HERE ON THE SLIDE, KIND OF THE FLEXIBILITY THAT WE'RE OFFERING AS FAR AS DURATION FOR DEPLOYMENT FOR DEMAND RESPONSE AND ESRS RECOGNIZING THEIR KIND OF LIMITATIONS AND, AND WHETHER A DEMAND RESPONSE PROVIDER WOULD REALLY WANT TO BE OUT LONGER THAN A CERTAIN PERIOD OF TIME.
SO THIS GIVES YOU AN OVERVIEW OF SOME OF THE FLEXIBILITY THAT WE TRIED TO ACCOMPLISH IN THE RFP.
IF, IF YOU RECALL BACK IN, IN AUGUST THAT CHAIRMAN GLEE AND I HAD A DISCUSSION ABOUT MAYBE THIS IS ONE OF THE ISSUES WE NEED TO BE TALKING ABOUT AFTER THE LESSONS LEARNED FROM THIS PARTICULAR R-M-R-M-R-A ANALYSIS IS MAYBE WE NEED TO GO FURTHER.
IF WE'RE GONNA CONTINUE TO SEE, UH, NOTICE OF SUSPENSIONS OF OPERATIONS AND WE WANNA LEVERAGE MUST RUN ALTERNATIVES AS A MORE COST EFFECTIVE OR RELIABLE SOLUTION, THEN WE MAY WANT TO START TO TALK ABOUT THIS POLICY ISSUE NEXT YEAR AFTER THE BOARD GETS THROUGH THIS SPECIFIC ISSUE.
ON THE NEXT SLIDE IS JUST A HIGH LEVEL SUMMARY BECAUSE WE CAN'T GO INTO A LOT OF SPECIFIC DETAILS RIGHT NOW, BUT AGAIN, WE RECEIVED ONE PROPOSAL, WHICH IS A ONE 200 MEGAWATT MULTI-HOUR STORAGE RESOURCE BY THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE THAT ACTUALLY CAME IN A COUPLE OF MINUTES BEFORE THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE.
BUT WHAT'S WHAT'S IMPORTANT HERE IS THAT THIS PROPOSAL IS FOR THE SUMMER OF 2026.
SO WE RECEIVED NO OFFERS FOR ANYTHING FOR THE RELIABILITY CONCERNS THAT WE'VE IDENTIFIED FOR 2025.
SO THIS, THIS BATTERY IS IN A LOCATION THAT IS HELPFUL FROM THE PREVIOUS SLIDE THAT WOODY IDENTIFIED AS A SHIFT FACTOR.
WE'RE NOT GONNA GET INTO ALL THOSE DETAILS HERE TODAY, BUT IT, IT DOES LOOK LIKE IT HAS A HELPING SHIFT FACTOR TO THAT CONSTRAINT.
AND OF COURSE, WE JUST RECEIVED THIS ON MONEY, SO WE NEED TO GO THROUGH OUR DUE DILIGENCE PROCESS AND MAKE SURE THAT IT'S REALLY ELIGIBLE AND QUALIFIED UNDER THE
[00:45:01]
RFP CRITERIA THAT WE LAID OUT IN, IN THE RFP.SO WE WILL ULTIMATELY, IF IT IS ELIGIBLE AND QUALIFIED, THIS WILL BE PART OF OUR OVERALL ANALYSIS LOOKING AT THAT 2026 HORIZON.
BUT FOR 2025 WITH NO MUST RUN ALTERNATIVES, WE'RE REALLY LOOKING AT THE CPS BRO RESOURCES VERSUS THE COST TO CONSUMERS AND THE UNSERVED ENERGY THAT COULD OCCUR IF WE HAVE TO SHED LOAD BECAUSE OF THE IRL CONSTRAINTS.
SO ON THE NEXT SLIDE, I'M NOT GONNA GO THROUGH ALL THIS, UM, BUT I, THIS IS THE POINT.
WHAT I'D LIKE TO ASK CPS ENERGY TO COME UP TO THE, TO THE, TO THE PODIUM, IF THEY DON'T MIND, BECAUSE I THINK IT'S A GOOD OPPORTUNITY FOR CPS TO GIVE THEIR PERSPECTIVE ON THE STATE OF THESE RESOURCES, WHAT THEY'VE BEEN DOING TO TRY TO POSTURE AT LEAST UNIT THREE, WHICH IS STILL, THERE'S NO CERTAINTY THAT THE BOARD WILL SELECT UNIT THREE.
UM, BUT THESE ARE OBVIOUSLY VERY OLD UNITS.
UM, THERE ARE SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES, AS WE'VE NOTED HERE ON THE LAST BULLET POINT ABOUT GETTING SOME OF THE PARTS THAT WOULD BE NECESSARY TO EXTEND THE LIFE BEYOND THE MARCH DEADLINE.
AND I THINK OBVIOUSLY CPS BEING THE OWNER AND OPERATOR OF THOSE ASSETS ARE IN THE BEST POSITION TO KIND OF GIVE THEIR PERSPECTIVE OF HOW THEY'RE MANAGING THAT ISSUE, UH, AS WE HEAD TOWARD A A DECEMBER DECISION.
SO IF THERE'S SOMEBODY FROM, YEAH, THANKS.
I'M VICE PRESIDENT OF GENERATION OPERATIONS.
I I WAS HERE LAST TIME, SO GOOD TO SEE EVERYBODY AGAIN.
SO CURRENTLY, UM, WE ARE WORKING THROUGH OUR PLANNING ACTIVITIES FOR A POTENTIAL, UH, BRO THREE, UH, OUTAGE.
UH, THIS OUTAGE WILL BE USED TO INSPECT, UH, THE SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT FOR THAT POWER PLANT TO ENSURE FIRST THAT, UH, THE, THE PLANT IS SAFE FOR CONTINUED OPERATION BECAUSE IT IS, UH, APPROACHING END OF LIFE.
AND OF COURSE, UH, UH, ALSO TO ENSURE THAT WE ARE, UM, DOING ANY, UH, RELIABILITY IMPROVEMENTS THAT WE CAN DO BEFORE AN RMR CONTRACT IS ESTABLISHED.
UH, WE HAVE A, AN OUTAGE PLANNING TEAM, UH, LIKE MOST, AND CURRENTLY THEY'RE IN THE THROES OF, UH, WORKING THROUGH THE OUTAGE PLAN, AND THAT INCLUDES, UH, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A, AN OUTAGE SCHEDULE.
UM, AS MR. SEALEY, UH, MENTIONED, WE HAVE IDENTIFIED SOME, UH, POTENTIAL ISSUES WITH PARTS LEAD, LEAD TIME FOR, UH, SOME OF, UH, THE MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THAT POWER PLANT.
UH, I'LL MENTION THREE SPECIFICALLY.
WE'RE STILL, LIKE I SAID, WORKING THROUGH THE OUTAGE PLAN.
UH, BUT CURRENTLY, UH, WE ARE SEEING EXTENDED LEAD TIMES FOR SOME OF OUR STEAM TURBINE PARTS.
UH, THAT INCLUDES SOME OF OUR STEAM TURBINE VALVES AND THEN OUR STEAM TURBINE GENERATOR.
UM, SO, YOU KNOW, UH, THE STEAM TURBINE GENERATOR SYSTEM IS, UH, CRITICAL IN, YOU KNOW, UNIT OPERATION, UH, ABOUT AN AVERAGE LEAD TIME.
IF WE LOOK AT OUR CURRENT LIST OF ABOUT 12 WEEKS, UH, THE, THE MAXIMUM LEAD TIME THAT WE'VE SEEN FOR ONE OF THOSE COMPONENTS IS 41 WEEKS.
UM, AND THERE'S, THERE'S, UM, UM, A, A VERY HIGH NUMBER OF THE 20 WEEK LEAD RA, UH, LEAD TIME RANGE.
UM, WE ARE WORKING WITH, UH, SEVERAL OF OUR VENDORS TO TRY TO MITIGATE THOSE LEAD TIMES OR IMPROVE THEM.
UM, AND I THINK WE, WE RECOGNIZE THAT THERE PROBABLY IS SOME OPPORTUNITY FOR SOME IMPROVEMENTS, BUT WE'RE STILL WORKING THROUGH THAT WITH OUR VENDORS.
UH, WE'LL CONTINUE TO DO SO THROUGH THE OUTAGE PLANNING PROCESS.
I MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY THAT THE LIST ISN'T COMPLETE YET.
AGAIN, WE'RE WORKING THROUGH THE LIST.
SO OUR PLAN IS TO CONTINUE TO UPDATE ERCOT WITH ANY FINDINGS OF INCREASED LEAD TIMES THAT COULD JEOPARDIZE, UH, THE OUTAGE SCHEDULE.
UM, AND WE'LL WORK THROUGH THOSE ISSUES AS, AS THEY COME UP.
CURRENTLY THE OUTAGE IS SCHEDULED FOR 60 DAYS.
UH, THAT'S AN ESTIMATE BASED ON, UH, OUR APPROACH OF AN OPEN INSPECTING CLOSE.
SO THAT SCHEDULE CAN CHANGE IF WE FIND ANY MAJOR, WHAT WE CALL DISCOVERY WORK IN WHICH SOME OF THAT, UH, EQUIPMENT OR SYSTEMS HAS TO HAVE EXTENSIVE REPAIRS.
IF WE INSPECT A PIPING SYSTEM THAT HAS, UH, LONGITUDINAL CRACKING, WHICH REQUIRES US TO REPLACE A SECTION OF PIPE, YOU KNOW, THAT COULD OBVIOUSLY ADD TIME TO THE OUTAGE WEEKS, UH, MONTHS.
IT JUST DEPENDS ON, YOU KNOW, WHAT TYPE OF FAILURE WE FIND.
WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS DOES ANYBODY HAVE? THANK YOU, RICK.
[00:50:01]
JOHN.IS, IS, IS YOUR INTENT TO DO THE INSPECTION AND PUT IT BACK INTO SERVICE AND THEN SCHEDULE THE REQUIRED UPGRADES TO KEEP IT IN SERVICE FOR WHATEVER PERIOD IS NECESSARY? IS IS THAT SORT OF THE PLAN OR IT DEPENDS ON WHAT WE FIND, RIGHT? SO OUR MAIN FOCUS IS SAFETY.
SO IF WE FIND SOMETHING RELATED TO SAFETY, THEN OF COURSE WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RESTART THE UNIT UNTIL THAT'S RESOLVED.
IF WE FIND OTHER ISSUES, UM, THAT CAN WAIT AND ARE TIED TO RELIABILITY AND FIT INSIDE OF THAT, WHAT WE'RE ASSUMING RIGHT NOW TO BE A TWO YEAR RMR WINDOW WILL THEN WE'LL HAVE TO HAVE THOSE DISCUSSIONS WITH ERCOT, DEVELOP A PLAN AND, YOU KNOW, MOVE FROM THERE.
AND IS THERE ANY OF THIS WORK THAT CAN BE DONE IN ADVANCE OF THE ACTUAL SHUTDOWN OR LIKE EXTERNAL INSPECTIONS AND STUFF LIKE THAT? RIGHT NOW WE HAVEN'T, UM, DISCUSSED ANY PRE-OUTAGE TYPE WORK.
RIGHT NOW OUR FOCUS IS ON PLANNING THE OUTAGE.
BUT IF ANY OF THOSE COME UP, WE, WE, WE CAN HAVE DISCUSSION WITH ERCOT ABOUT THAT SITUATION.
THESE UNIT JUST KEEP IN MIND THAT THE UNIT WILL BE AVAILABLE, YOU KNOW, BETWEEN NOW AND, YOU KNOW, THE START OF, OF THE OUTAGE.
SO WE'LL BE FOCUSED ON ENSURING THAT THE UNIT, YOU KNOW, MAINTAINS ITS AVAILABILITY DURING THAT TIMEFRAME.
RICK, HOW LONG DO YOU THINK IT'LL TAKE TO CONCLUDE YOUR PRE-OUTAGE STUDY THAT YOU'RE WORKING ON RIGHT NOW? YEAH, I THINK IT'S GONNA TAKE US PRETTY CLOSE TO THE START OF THE OUTAGE.
TYPICALLY, WE, IT'S, IT'S ABOUT A, A ONE YEAR EVOLUTION FROM, FROM START OF PLAN TO EXECUTION OF OUTAGE.
AND SO OF COURSE WE'RE COMPRESSING THAT RIGHT NOW.
SO, UH, WE'RE HOPEFUL TO HAVE THAT PLAN, UM, ACCELERATED AND AND DONE VERY SOON.
BUT, UH, I THINK THERE'S SOME RISK OF US, UH, YOU KNOW, BEING IN THE DECEMBER OR JANUARY TIMEFRAME TO, TO BE FINISHED.
UH, YOU KNOW, WE ARE ALSO EXECUTING OTHER OUTAGES RIGHT NOW IN OUR, IN OUR EXTENDED FLEET.
AND SO WE ALSO HAVE TO MAINTAIN, UH, MAINTAIN FOCUS ON THOSE PLANTS THAT ARE NOT GONNA BE RETIRED RIGHT.
AND MAINTAIN AVAILABILITY FROM NOW TO THE FUTURE.
HAVE, HAVE WE CONCLUDED THAT UNITS ONE AND TWO ARE NOT GONNA BE INSPECTED AT THIS POINT? UH, NO, I DON'T THINK THAT'S THE CASE.
WE'RE HAVING DISCUSSION WITH ERCOT ABOUT, ABOUT THOSE INSPECTIONS AS WELL.
I'D LIKE TO FOLLOW ON THAT QUESTION.
IF, IF YOU LOOK AT THE SLIDE OF NOTICE OF SUSPENSIONS OF OPERATIONS, THERE'S THREE UNITS LISTED AND MY CURRENT UNDERSTANDING IS ANY ONE OF THOSE THREE COULD COME BACK IN THE FINAL PROPOSAL FOR RMR, IS THAT CORRECT? YES.
WE WILL BRING BACK ANALYSIS TO SUPPORT ONE, TWO, OR THREE AND OR ALL OF THE ABOVE.
SO IT'S A, A MENU OF OPTIONS FOR THE BOARD TO CONSIDER BASED UPON THE COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS RELATIVE TO THE RELIABILITY RISK AND THE INSPECTION OUTCOME.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FOR LAUREN? NO.
OR COMMISSIONER COBO? SORRY, CHAIRMAN.
UM, YEAH, SO MY QUESTION IS, AND I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'RE GONNA HAVE THE ANSWER, BUT IT SEEMS TO BE AN EVOLVING SITUATION, RIGHT? UM, YOU DON'T KNOW.
AND I MEAN THE, THE LIKELIHOOD OF ANY OF THESE UNITS BEING AVAILABLE FOR THIS SUMMER OF 25, WE JUST DON'T HAVE A VERY CLEAR IDEA UNTIL THE ANALYSIS IS DONE AND, AND THE PLANT IS OPENED.
UM, AND SO I'M JUST KIND OF WONDERING IF, UM, YOU KNOW, THE, THE LIKELIHOOD OF EVEN GETTING ANY OF THESE PLANTS THIS SUMMER, BECAUSE THAT'S VERY UNCLEAR TO ME AND WE'RE KIND OF JUST SPINNING OUR WHEELS FOR THE SUMMER OVER AND OVER AND, UM, AND I UNDERSTAND WHY.
UM, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, ARE WE REALLY JUST TALKING ABOUT SUMMER 26 IN REALITY? BECAUSE IT SEEMS TO ME THAT, YOU KNOW, LIKE YOU'RE SAYING, IF THERE'S A PART THAT YOU NEED, YOU'RE NOT GONNA GET IT, UH, POTENTIALLY OR LIKELY FOR THIS SUMMER.
SO I'M JUST WONDERING, AS ERCOT LOOKS AT THE MENU OF OPTIONS TO PRESENT TO THE BOARD, UH, ONCE YOU GET MORE INFORMATION, MAYBE IT'S, IT'S REALLY, UM, AN OPTION OF, YOU KNOW, WAITING TILL THE SUMMER OF 26 IN REALITY WITH AN MRA INVOLVED, THAT THAT IS DEFINITELY A RISK WITH, UH, UNIT THREE OR ANY OF THE UNITS THAT THE BOARD ULTIMATELY SELECTS.
BUT EITHER WAY, IF THE RELIABLE ANALYSIS SHOWS THAT THEY'RE NEEDED AND THE BENEFITS ARE THERE, THE WORK HAS TO BE DONE.
AND SO THEN IT JUST BECOMES WHEN THEY'RE OPERATIONALLY AVAILABLE, BECAUSE WE HAVE IDENTIFIED A A TWO YEAR RISK AND IT'S NOT JUST A SUMMER ISSUE, IT IS A, A SEASONAL RISK ACROSS THOSE TWO YEARS.
SO YES, I THINK THERE IS A, A SIGNIFICANT RISK THAT UNIT THREE COULD NOT BE AVAILABLE
[00:55:01]
DURING PARTS OF THE SUMMER.AND IF SOME, AGAIN, DEPENDING ON WHAT THE BOARD DOES, EVEN SELECTING SOME OF THE OTHER UNITS MAY RESULT IN NOT HAVING THAT FULL CAPACITY, UH, AVAILABLE FOR THE SUMMER.
SO IT IS IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND IT'S A YEAR ROUND RISK WITH THE IRL.
SO EVEN IF IT'S NOT THERE THE FULL SUMMER, AS LONG AS YOU GET IT IN, IF YOU'RE ABLE TO GET IT IN, UM, THAT WILL HELP MITIGATE THAT IRL RISK FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS.
AND WHAT DO YOU WANNA ADD? ANYTHING.
I THINK IT ALSO LEADS TO THE POINT OF IF YOU DE-RISKING THIS PROBABLY REQUIRES THAT YOU LOOK AT MORE THAN ONE UNIT.
'CAUSE IT SOUNDS LIKE THERE'S A REASONABLE CHANCE THAT AT LEAST ONE OF THESE UNITS IS GONNA BE DOWN FOR SOME EXTENDED MAINTENANCE PERIOD, PERHAPS IN A PEAK LOAD PERIOD.
SO WE MAY, WE MAY IN FACT HAVE TO BRING MORE CAPACITY BACK THAN WE WOULD NORMALLY NEED TO TAKE A, TO JUST ACCOUNT FOR THAT.
IS THAT, IS THAT A FAIR STATEMENT? UH, COULD YOU REPEAT IT ONE MORE TIME? I, I CAUGHT THE END.
I'M JUST, I'M JUST MAKING THE POINT THAT GI GIVEN THE UNCERTAINTY SURROUNDING THE REPAIR OF A, A GIVEN UNIT, IT MAY WELL BE THAT WE HAVE TO OPT FOR MULTIPLE UNITS TO BE BROUGHT BACK ONLINE THROUGH THE RMR PROCESS TO, TO ENSURE THAT WE HAVE AT LEAST SOME CAPACITY AVAILABLE DURING THE PEAK PERIODS.
YEAH, I THINK THAT'S A, YOU KNOW, WE'RE, WE'RE WORKING WITH ERCOT.
I, I THINK THAT'S A MORE OF AN ERCOT QUESTION, BUT FROM, FROM OUR PERSPECTIVE, WE, WE DO BELIEVE THERE'S RISK WITH INSPECTING UNITS AND THE FINDINGS OF THE UNITS AND, AND CERTAINLY THESE OUTAGES COULD EXTEND OR WE COULD FIND SOMETHING THAT, UH, YOU KNOW, MIGHT LEAD TO US NOT BRINGING A UNIT BACK.
SO THAT'S WHAT I'M SORT OF ANTICIPATING.
YOU MIGHT, YOU MIGHT SAY, YES.
YEAH, WE NEED TO BE, AND I THINK IT WAS CARLOS MAYBE TRYING TO SAY SOMETHING.
CARLOS, DID YOU HAVE A QUESTION? YES, IF I MAY.
UH, JUST ONE QUESTION ABOUT, UH, WHAT WE CAN EXPECT, I MEAN, UH, OF COURSE YOU HAVE YOUR PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE AND MAINTENANCE RECORDS FOR THESE UNITS.
SO, YOU KNOW, WHAT KINDS OF ISSUES IS IT THAT YOU EXPECT TO FIND? YEAH, SO, UM, FOR BRO THREE, WE'RE REALLY, UH, WE REALLY NEED TO INSPECT THE STEAM TURBINE, UH, SPECIFICALLY THE HP, THE HIGH PRESSURE, ANY INTERMEDIATE PRESSURE, UH, STEAM TURBINE ROTOR, UH, THAT, THAT EQUIPMENT, UM, HAS, UM, SOME REPAIRS THAT REQUIRE US TO INSPECT IT BEFORE IT RUNS MORE.
AND WE ALSO HAVE, UM, SOME IMPORTANT INSPECTIONS TO DO ON THE LOW PRESSURE TURBINE ROTOR AS WELL.
UH, SOME OF THE LAST STAGE, UH, BLADES ON THAT ROTOR, UM, HAVE SOME INSPECTION INTERVALS COMING UP.
SO, UM, I THINK THERE'S SOME RISK WITH, UH, THAT SYSTEM SPECIFICALLY AS IT RELATES TO, UH, YOU KNOW, MEETING THE 60 DAY SCHEDULE OR, OR NOT.
AND SO IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT FOR US TO, UH, DO THOSE INSPECTIONS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE OUTAGE, WHICH IS, WHICH WILL BE THE PLAN.
UM, WE ALSO HAVE, YOU KNOW, OF COURSE, OUR, OUR BOILERS, UM, AGAIN, ARE, ARE, UH, APPROACHING END OF LIFE.
SO, UM, WE EXPECT TO FIND SOME, SOME BOILER, UH, STEAM CIRCUIT AND WATER CIRCUIT, UH, ISSUES THAT WILL, YOU KNOW, WE'LL HAVE TO EVALUATE HOW WE RESOLVE THOSE IF THEY CAN BE RESOLVED.
AND THEN ALSO WE HAVE, UM, OUR HIGH ENERGY PIPING SYSTEMS. SO THESE ARE OUR HIGH PRESSURE STEAM SYSTEMS. THIS, THIS PIPING HAS BEEN IN PLACE IN AN OPERATION FOR MANY DECADES.
AND ALTHOUGH WE'VE DONE, YOU KNOW, PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE OVER THE YEARS AND INSPECTIONS BECAUSE OF THE AGE OF THE EQUIPMENT, THERE'S POSSIBLE FINDINGS, UM, YOU KNOW, ASSOCIATED WITH THE METALLURGY OF THOSE SYSTEMS. YEAH.
UH, WHAT IT'S CHRONOLOGY AND THINGS OF THAT SORT.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FOR RICK? OKAY.
ARE THERE ANY KNOWN PROBLEMS WITH THOSE SYSTEMS THAT YOU'RE KEEPING AN EYE ON NOW, LIKE, YOU KNOW, SOME, SOME CRACK PIPE CRACKING OR THINGS LIKE THAT, THAT, UH, LEAD YOU TO BELIEVE THAT THERE MORE COULD BE MORE SERIOUS PROBLEMS? WE, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS, UH, IN USE, YOU KNOW, THAT ARE PAIRED WITH OUR CONTROL SYSTEMS THAT WE, UM, UH, THAT ALLOW US TO UNDERSTAND IF THE SYSTEMS ARE CHANGING IN REAL TIME.
AND SO, UM, WE'LL CONTINUE TO DO THAT UNTIL THE START OF THIS OUTAGE TO IDENTIFY ANYTHING THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, NEEDS TO BE, UH, YOU KNOW, THERE NEEDS TO BE A CHANGE IN OUR INSPECTION APPROACH FOR EX, FOR EXAMPLE.
SO, JEN, AS ASSUMING WE DON'T LIKE THE OUTCOME OF ALL OF WHAT WE JUST DISCUSSED, UM, WHAT ARE SOME ALTERNATIVE NEXT STEPS LIKE ISSUING MORE MRIS?
[01:00:03]
WE CAN DEFINITELY LOOK AT THAT AS, YOU KNOW, POSSIBLY DOING AN, AN ADDITIONAL MRA, UM, I'M NOT OPTIMISTIC RIGHT NOW WITHOUT GOING THROUGH A BROADER POLICY DISCUSSION ABOUT HOW WE WOULD CHANGE THE FRAMEWORK TO GET THE INDUSTRY TO RESPOND WITH OTHER ALTERNATIVES.BUT THAT WILL DEFINITELY, IF THE BOARD ULTIMATELY DECIDES NOT TO MOVE FORWARD WITH ANY OF THESE UNITS, THEN THERE IS THE RISK OF ROTATING OUTAGES BASED UPON EXCEEDING THE I LS.
UM, AND WE WILL HAVE TO CONTINUE TO WORK THROUGH THAT BECAUSE IT'S A TWO YEAR RISK THAT WE'RE TRYING TO MANAGE UNTIL THE SOUTH TEXAS PROJECTS START TO COME IN PLAY.
SO YES, WE WILL CONTINUE TO LOOK AT ALL AVAILABLE OPTIONS TO, UH, MINIMIZE THAT RISK OR POTENTIALLY ELIMINATE THAT RISK, BUT, UM, AND WE'RE, WE'RE CONTINUING TO THINK THROUGH OTHER OPTIONS AS WELL, EVEN RIGHT NOW, BUT THIS IS THE ONE THROUGH THE PROTOCOL PROCESS THAT REQUIRES US TO PRESENT THIS INFORMATION TO THE BOARD FOR THEIR CONSIDERATION.
YEAH, I THINK IT'S, IT'S IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER TOO THAT EVEN IF THE, UH, BARRON UNITS HAD NOT RETIRED, THAT THEY'D CONTINUED TO OPERATE, THE RISK OF THIS IS STILL THERE, THE RISK OF THIS IRL OVERLOADING IS STILL THERE.
SO THE BROING RMR IS NOT A COMPLETE REMEDY FOR THAT OVERLOAD.
AND SO IF YOU THINK ABOUT, UM, THINK ABOUT THE NUMBER OF HOURS, THE EXPECTED UNSERVED ENERGY THAT COULD OCCUR, UH, WITHOUT THE BROING UNITS, WITH THE BROING UNITS IN PLACE, THAT NUMBER, THAT THAT AMOUNT IS DECREASED QUITE A BIT, BUT IT STILL EXISTS AND IT WILL EXIST UNTIL THESE NEW TRANSMISSION PROJECTS ARE, ARE PUT IN PLACE.
AND SO WE SHOULDN'T THINK ABOUT THIS AS A COMPLETE FIX FOR THE IRL OVERLOAD.
THE IRL OVERLOAD IS GONNA BE WITH US UNTIL THE TRANSMISSION PROJECTS ARE COMPLETED.
AND YOU CAN LOOK AT YOUR SLIDE 14 AND SEE THOSE KIND OF A SUMMARY OF, OF THOSE PROJECTS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN ENDORSED BY THE BOARD AND THAT ARE IN THE PROCESS OF, OF, OF BEING WORKED ON NOW,
SO WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF THOSE BEING ACCELERATED? I THINK THERE'S A CHANCE OF, OF THEM BEING ACCELERATED, AND WE'RE WORKING WITH SOME OF THE, THE TSPS NOW TO, TO LOOK AT THAT.
UM, I CAN'T GIVE YOU A NUMBER THOUGH, BUT THE, THE POSSIBILITY IS BEING LOOKED AT.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ON THIS TOPIC? OKAY, RICK, THANK YOU FOR, UH, SHARING YOUR INSIGHT WITH US.
WE'VE GOT A COUPLE MORE SLIDES.
UM, SO PENNY WILL DRIVE AGAIN AND JUST THE, THE NEXT THREE SLIDES REALLY GET TO THE REQUIREMENTS AND THE PROTOCOLS AS FAR AS THE EVALUATION OF A POTENTIAL RMR OR MRA RESOURCE.
AND I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT, UM, FOR THE BOARD TO KIND OF SEE THAT THIS IS ALL THE DATA THAT WILL, ALL THE ATTRIBUTES THAT WE'LL CONSIDER AS FAR AS THE DATA.
UM, THERE MAY BE OTHER QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS THAT WE DO, BUT AT A MINIMUM WE HAVE TO DO, UH, WHAT'S REFLECTED HERE ON THE NEXT THREE SLIDES.
I THINK WHEN YOU LOOK AT SLIDE, THE, THE FIRST, SORRY, IF YOU GO BACK PENDING TO THAT KIND OF FIRST ONE, THE, UH, THIRD BULLET POINT JUST TO KIND OF HIGHLIGHT, WE WILL COME BACK WITH ANALYSIS ON UNSERVED ENERGY USING THE NEW VALUE OF LOST LOAD THAT THE COMMISSION DECIDED FOR PLANNING PURPOSES AT, AT 35,000 MEGAWATT HOUR OVER, OVER ONE IN TWO YEARS.
THAT'S A WAY FOR THE BOARD TO AT LEAST SEE WHAT THE COST IS FOR CUSTOMER OUTAGES VERSUS THE COST TO HAVE AN RMR OR MRA SOLUTION.
UM, BUT THAT'S JUST ONE PIECE OF THE DATA THAT WE'LL PRESENT.
UM, THERE WILL, THERE'LL BE LOTS OF DATA ATTRIBUTES THAT WE ULTIMATELY PRESENT TO THE BOARD, UH, AS WE START TO PUT TOGETHER THE REMAINING PIECES OF OUR ANALYSIS.
AND THAT'S REFLECTED ON THE NEXT SLIDE, ADDITIONAL FACTORS THAT WE HAVE TO CONSIDER.
AND, UH, AND THEN EVEN THE, THE FOLLOWING SLIDE AFTER THAT, GETTING MORE TO THE CUSTOMER DEMAND AFFECTED, NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS AFFECTED, ALL THOSE TYPE OF ATTRIBUTES WILL BE PART OF THIS DECISION BY THE BOARD IN, IN DECEMBER.
AND THEN WHAT, HE'S ALREADY KIND OF HIGHLIGHTED THE EXIT STRATEGY AS RIGHT NOW, WE, WE DO HAVE AN OBLIGATION IF THE BOARD ENTERS INTO AN R-M-R-M-R-A, UH, AGREEMENT TO COME BACK TO THE BOARD WITH, UH, UH, AN EVALUATION OF AN EXIT STRATEGY.
RIGHT NOW, THIS, THIS APPEARS THE MOST LIKELY EXIT STRATEGY, BUT THERE'S AN ADDITIONAL PRO PROTOCOL REQUIREMENT TO DO THAT IF THE BOARD MOVES FORWARD WITH AN R-M-R-M-R-A SOLUTION.
AND THEN THE LAST SLIDE IS JUST TO KIND OF REPRESENT THE, THE TIMELINE WHERE WE ARE TODAY.
UM, AND THEN OBVIOUSLY IT KIND OF REFLECTS THE TWO YEAR NEED HERE ON THE POTENTIAL FOR
[01:05:01]
RMR SERVICE.UH, AGAIN, OUR FOCUS HAS BEEN AROUND UNIT THREE BECAUSE WE THINK IT'S IN THE BEST CONDITION AND IT HIGH THE HIGHEST MEGAWATT VALUE.
UH, BUT OBVIOUSLY AS WHAT HE HAS INDICATED, ALL THREE UNITS FROM A CAPACITY STANDPOINT ARE NEEDED TO ADDRESS THE IRL, UH, FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS.
SO WITH THAT, UH, WOODY AND I ARE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY OTHER QUESTIONS, BUT AGAIN, THERE, THERE WILL BE A DECISION POINT HERE IN DECEMBER WHEN WE START TO PRESENT THIS INFORMATION TO THE RMM COMMITTEE AND THE BOARD.
IT LOOKS LIKE THE TRANSMISSION SOLUTIONS OF THE ULTIMATE EXIT STRATEGY, AS WE'VE TALKED ABOUT IN THIS PART OF THE DISCUSSION, ARE, ARE THERE ANY OTHER, YOU KNOW, RMR HAS A COST, AND, UH, IS THERE ANY, UM, WAY TO TAKE THE ECONOMICS OF THAT AND USE THAT TO INCENTIVIZE THE ACCELERATION OF THE TRANSMISSION PROJECTS? THAT IS SOMETHING THAT WOODY AND I HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT, AND, UH, WHEN HE RESPONDED TO COMMISSIONER JACKSON AROUND WORKING WITH THE TSPS, THAT'S, THAT'S ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT AS A, AS A SOLUTION.
SO WE'LL HAVE MORE INFORMATION AS WE MOVE FORWARD OVER THE NEXT MONTH, SIX WEEKS ON WHETHER THAT'S A VIABLE OPTION OR NOT.
I THINK WHEN WE COME TO THE BOARD IN DECEMBER, WE WANNA BE ABLE TO CHECK THE BOX THAT WE CONSIDERED THESE OTHER OPTIONS AS WELL, AND THEY'RE EITHER VIABLE OR NOT, AND EXPLAIN TO THE BOARD WHY, WHY THEY'RE EITHER IN FRONT OF YOU AS AN OPTION OR THEY'RE NOT VIABLE, SO THAT IF YOU, IF THEY'RE NOT VIABLE, YOU'RE ULTIMATELY BACK TO THIS.
ANYTHING ELSE? CHAD? PABLO, WOODY.
THANK YOU FOR THAT PRESENTATION.
UH, LOOKS LIKE WE'VE GOT A LOT OF HEAVY LIFTING TO DO BETWEEN NOW AND DECEMBER, AND THEN WE'VE GOT A BIG DECISION TO MAKE AT THAT POINT IN TIME.
[7. Summer 2024 Operational and Market Review]
ITEM SEVEN, THE SUMMER 2024 OPERATIONAL REVIEW.DAN WOODFIN AND KEITH COLLINS ARE GOING TO, UH, MAKE THIS PRESENTATION.
SO I'LL START OUT AND KINDA LOOK AT THINGS THAT HAVE GONE ON THIS SUMMER FROM AN OPERATIONAL PERSPECTIVE, AND THEN I'LL TURN IT OVER TO KEITH, AND KEITH WILL GO OVER KIND OF THE MARKET IMPLICATIONS AND OUTCOMES OF, OF WHAT WENT ON THIS SUMMER.
ALTHOUGH IF YOU'VE BEEN OUTSIDE ON AN AFTERNOON FOR THE LAST SEVERAL DAYS, AND AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON, UH, IT DOESN'T FEEL LIKE SUMMER HAS ACTUALLY ENDED.
UM, ALTHOUGH I DO UNDERSTAND FALL, LIKE TEMPERATURES ARE COMING MAYBE NEXT WEEK.
UM, BUT THIS, THIS REVIEW REALLY GOES OVER THE CALENDAR, UH, MONTHS OF JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST, THE TRADITIONAL SUMMER, UH, CALENDAR.
SO SUMMER WEATHER, UH, FROM, FROM FOR JUNE, JUNE THROUGH AUGUST WAS, WAS ACTUALLY THE SIXTH HOTTEST ON RECORD FOR TEXAS, UM, ON, IN TERMS OF AVERAGE TEMPERATURES.
AND THE REASON I WILL SHOW MORE IN A FEW MINUTES, BUT THE, THE, THE, THE PEAK TEMPERATURES DIDN'T SEEM TO BE AS HOT, BUT IT WAS REALLY THE, THE MINIMUM TEMPERATURES EACH DAY THAT INCREASED THE, UH, OVERALL AVERAGE TEMPERATURES.
UM, NOW IT WAS STILL HOT EVEN DURING PEAK PERIODS IN THE AFTERNOON, BUT THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, AS I MENTIONED YESTERDAY, WERE THE THIRD HOTTEST ON RECORD, THE SECOND HOTTEST ON RECORD.
AND THIS YEAR BEING THE, THE SIXTH HOTTEST ON RECORD WOUND UP MAKING IT, BECAUSE WE HAVE THAT RECENT EXPERIENCE MADE IT SEEM HOTTER.
UH, YOU CAN SEE HERE THAT ACROSS THE, THE STATE WE HAD MANY FEWER A HUNDRED DEGREE HUNDRED PLUS DEGREE DAYS THIS YEAR COMPARED TO LAST YEAR.
OUR, UH, THE LINE CHARTS ON THE TOP HERE, PURPLE IS THIS YEAR, UH, BLACK, I GUESS IT IS, IS WAS LAST YEAR.
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT ON MOST OF THE, FOR MOST OF THE SUMMER, THE PEAK TEMPERATURES ON EACH DAY WERE GENERALLY LOWER THAN, THAN WHAT WE SAW LAST YEAR BY A LITTLE BIT.
BUT THE BAR CHART SHOWS THE COMPARISON OF, OF THE PEAK DEMAND EACH DAY FROM, UH, LAST YEAR COMPARED TO THIS YEAR WITH, UH, TURQUOISE BEING THIS YEAR AND GRAY BEING LAST YEAR.
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT IN GENERAL, NOW, YOU KNOW, THERE'S WEATHER PATTERNS AND WEEKENDS IN THERE THAT MAY MAKE A LITTLE DIFFERENCE, BUT IN GENERAL, THE LOAD WAS A PEAK DEMANDS EACH DAY WERE ABOUT THE SAME AS WHAT THEY WERE LAST YEAR WITH AN OBVIOUS, UH, THIS YEAR BEING LOWER DUE TO TROPICAL STORM BARREL.
AND THE, UH, THEN THE, UM, UH, RAIN PERIOD THAT OCCURRED DURING JULY.
UM, IN TERMS OF DEMAND ON THE SYSTEM, WE, UH, HAD MANY IN THE LITTLE BOX AT THE TOP HERE, YOU SEE THAT WE HAD MANY FEWER 80,000 MEGAWATT LOAD
[01:10:01]
DAYS, UH, THIS YEAR COMPARED TO LAST YEAR.UM, YOU COULD, THE LINE CHARTS SHOW THE, UM, THE MAXIMUM DEMAND EACH DAY AND THE MINIMUM DEMAND.
AND ONE INTERESTING THING TO NOTE THERE IS THAT THE MINIMUM DEMANDS THAT WE'VE SEEN THE LAST, THIS YEAR AND LAST YEAR WERE, WERE VERY SIMILAR EV AND IF YOU LOOK BACK, SOME OF THE MINIMUM DEMANDS WE'VE BEEN SEEING THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS WERE AS HIGH AS THE PEAK DEMANDS WERE JUST FIVE YEARS AGO.
AND SO THAT SHOWS THE, THE, THE SIGNIFICANT LOAD GROWTH THAT HAS GONE ON.
THE OTHER THING, AND WE, WE HIGHLIGHTED THIS LAST YEAR, BUT I WANTED TO EMPHASIZE IT AGAIN THIS YEAR, IS THAT PEAK DEMAND IS NOT THE CRITICAL TIME IN TERMS OF HOW TIGHT THE SYSTEM IS.
UM, AND IT ANYMORE, THAT, THAT HAPPENS LATER IN THE DAY WHEN THE SOLAR GENERATION GOES AWAY.
AND SO THIS, THIS SHOWS THE NET LOAD, SO THAT'S DEMAND ON THE SYSTEM MINUS WIND GENERATION, MINUS SOLAR GENERATION.
AND SO IT'S REALLY, THAT'S THE AMOUNT OF, OF LOAD THAT DISPATCHABLE GENERATION AND BATTERIES HAS TO SERVE.
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT, UM, GOING FOR BOTH IN JUNE, JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST, THE HOURS OF THE DAY FOR 20 24, 20 22, AND 22, YOU CAN SEE THAT IN 2023.
YOU CAN SEE THROUGH THAT TIME PERIOD THAT GREEN BAR HAS CONSIDERED CONTINUED TO GROW.
AND THAT'S THE, THAT'S THE HOUR ENDING 21 EACH DAY.
SO THAT'S AFTER THE SUN'S GONE DOWN, THE DEMAND ON THE SYSTEM'S STILL HIGH.
AND SO WE SEE THAT THAT'S, THAT'S REALLY THE TIME THAT THAT DISPATCHABLE CAPACITY AND PLUS THE BATTERIES ARE THE TIGHTEST.
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT BAR CONTINUES TO, TO BE MUCH HIGHER THAN YOUR TRADITIONAL PEAK DEMAND HOUR, WHICH IS OUR ENDING 17.
I, THIS IS, I THINK THE, THE KIND OF THE MOST TELLING, UH, CHART OF THE, THE SET, UM, IF YOU LOOK AT THIS IS THE, THE CAPACITY FROM OFFLINE RESOURCES.
AND SO WHEN THE, WHEN THIS GRAPH BUMPS AGAINST THE ZERO LINE, THAT MEANS ALL THE GENERATION, UH, FROM, UH, RESOURCES WERE ONLINE.
AND YOU CAN SEE IN THE GRAY THAT THERE WERE QUITE A FEW, UH, TIMES LAST YEAR, QUITE A FEW DAYS IN WHICH ALL GENERATION WAS ONLINE, WAS BEING USED TO SERVE LOAD AND NEEDED TO SERVE LOAD.
WHEREAS THIS YEAR YOU REALLY ONLY SEE, UH, THE AUGUST 20TH WAS REALLY THE ONLY DAY IN WHICH ALL THE GENERATION WAS ONLINE.
AND SO THAT'S, UH, KIND OF THE MOST TELLING STORY OF HOW MUCH TIGHTER THIS YEAR WASN'T COMPARED TO LAST YEAR.
WE HAD MANY DAYS IN WHICH IT WAS TIED.
UH, I'LL, I'LL ALSO, BECAUSE IT'LL BE RELEVANT HERE IN A MINUTE.
IF YOU LOOK AT THE 8 25 AS A PARTICULAR DAY LAST YEAR, ALL THE GENERATION WAS ON THAT DAY.
AND SO IN THE NEXT SLIDE, I'M GONNA COMPARE EIGHT 20 THIS YEAR TO 8 25 LAST YEAR, BASICALLY SAYING ALL THE GENERATION WAS ONLINE BOTH THOSE DAYS.
SO LET'S LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED ON THOSE DAYS.
AND SO 8 25 IS LIKE THE SECOND, UH, FROM THE LEFT ROW OF, FROM LAST YEAR IS THE SECOND, UH, ROW OF BARS THERE.
UH, THE EIGHT 20 FROM THIS YEAR IS THE LAST, UH, SET ON THIS SLIDE.
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT THAT SOLAR WAS NOT COMPLETELY DOWN AT THIS TIGHTEST TIME, BUT IT WAS FAIRLY LOW.
WE ACTUALLY HAD A LITTLE MORE WIND GENERATION ON THIS YEAR AS COMPARED TO THAT SAME HOUR, THAT SAME POINT IN TIME LAST YEAR.
BUT KIND OF THE COUPLE OF INTERESTING THINGS I WANTED TO POINT OUT IS OUR PHYSICAL RESPONSIVE CAPABILITY.
THE NUMBERS AT THE TOP ON THE, IN THE LITTLE BOXES, THAT'S OUR KIND OF OUR FREQUENCY RESPONSIVE RESERVES THAT WERE ONLINE.
THAT'S THE NUMBER THAT WE USE TO DECIDE WHEN WE NEED TO DECLARE AN EEA.
UM, THE NUMBERS THIS YEAR ARE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN WHAT THEY WERE ON THOSE TIGHTEST DAYS LAST YEAR, AND YOU CAN SEE THAT THOSE PRC NUMBERS ARE, ARE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER.
WE NEVER DROPPED ANYWHERE IN THE RANGE OF 3000 MEGAWATTS THIS YEAR AS COMPARED TO LAST YEAR.
THE OTHER THING I WANTED TO POINT OUT IS THAT IT, UM, ON THOSE TWO DAYS, IF YOU SUM UP THE PURPLE BARS, THE DISPATCHABLE CAPACITY AND THE GRAY BARS, WHICH ARE THE NON IRR OUTAGES, SO BASICALLY IT'S THE DISPATCHABLE CAPACITY PLUS THE BATTERIES.
[01:15:01]
3000 MORE MEGAWATTS OF THAT DISPATCHABLE CAPACITY PLUS BATTERIES THIS YEAR ONCE ALL THE GENERATION WAS ONLINE COMPARED TO THAT SAME TIME WHEN, WHEN EVERYTHING WAS ONLINE LAST YEAR.AND SO THAT'S KIND OF AN INDICATION OF WE, WE, UH, HOW, HOW WHY WE WERE ONE OF THE REASONS AT LEAST THAT WE WERE TIGHTER BECAUSE WIND AND SOLAR IS ONLY PART OF THE EXPLANATION THERE.
UM, SPEAKING OF BATTERIES, ENERGY STORAGE RESOURCES, ESRS, UM, YOU CAN SEE THAT ON, UH, SEVERAL.
WE LOOKED AT THE, ACROSS THE COURSE OF A DAY ON SEVERAL DAYS, UM, THIS PAST SUMMER, THOSE TIGHTER DAYS.
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT THESE WHERE, WHERE THE GRAY LINE GOES VERY HIGH, THAT'S WHEN THEY WERE DISCHARGING.
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT ON THAT DAY, AUGUST 20TH, THERE WAS ALMOST 4,000 MEGAWATTS DISCHARGING DURING THE TIMEFRAME WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN IN THE EVENING.
UM, THE, ANOTHER INTERESTING THING ON THIS CHART IS YOU SEE THAT THERE WAS, THERE WERE CHARGING OVERNIGHT WHEN THERE WAS WIND.
IT DROPPED DOWN IN THE MORNING WHEN THE SUN STARTS TO COME UP AND THERE'S THAT RAMPING PERIOD.
AND THEN YOU SEE THEY START TO CHARGE AGAIN IN THE MORNING BECAUSE THE LOADS STILL LOW, AND NOW YOU'VE GOT SOLAR, UH, GENERATION KEEPING PRICES LOW.
THEN IN THE AFTERNOON, OVER PEAK THERE WAS SOME DISCHARGE AND THERE'S ALSO SOME CHARGING.
SO THERE WAS ACTUALLY CHARGING GOING ON OVER THE PEAK, AS WE TALKED ABOUT YESTERDAY AND THAT, BUT THEN THE BIG DISCHARGE IS WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN IN THE EVENING AS THE BATTERIES ARE EFFECTIVELY EXTENDING THE SOLAR WINDOW UNTIL THE THE LOAD COMES DOWN.
THE OTHER THING WE WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT WAS THE LARGE FLEXIBLE LOADS.
AND SO THIS IS A DAY LAST YEAR COMPARED TO A DAY THIS YEAR.
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT AT THE GOLD HERE IS OUR, THE SYSTEM LAMBDA, THAT'S EFFECTIVELY THE MARKET CLEARING PRICE, UH, ACROSS THE SYSTEM A COUPLE OF DAYS WHEN PRICES GOT HIGH.
ONE OF THOSE IS AUGUST 20TH OF THIS YEAR, AND THEN, UH, COMPARISON LAST YEAR.
AND THEN THE BLUE LINE IS THE OUTPUT OF ALL THE LARGE FLEXIBLE LOADS THAT WE'VE IDENTIFIED, UM, THAT ARE, ARE CATEGORIZED AS SUCH.
AND SO YOU CAN SEE THERE'S A LITTLE MORE OF THEM THIS YEAR THAN THERE WERE LAST YEAR.
AND YOU CAN ALSO SEE THAT THEY GENERALLY RESPONDED DURING TO DOWN TO, YOU KNOW, SOME FEW HUNDRED MEGAWATTS, BUT REDUCED SIGNIFICANTLY DURING THO THOSE HIGH PRICED WINDOWS IN THE, UH, EVENING.
AND SO I, I'M GONNA TURN IT OVER TO KEITH.
UH, THERE ARE SOME ALSO SOME GREAT OTHER INSIGHTS MAYBE IN THE APPENDIX PART OF THIS, BUT IN THE INTEREST OF TIME, WE'RE NOT COVERING THOSE.
BUT, UH, HAPPY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT THOSE WHEN THE TIME COMES OR, UM, UH, HOPE YOU LOOK THROUGH THEM.
UH, PEGGY, YOU GOT A QUESTION? YEAH.
SO ON THIS SLIDE, CAN YOU HELP ME UNDERSTAND A LITTLE MORE WHAT'S GOING ON, UH, WITH THE LARGE FLEXIBLE LOADS? IT LOOKS LIKE THEY'RE NOT COMING OFFLINE.
ALL OF IT'S NOT COMING OFFLINE, UH, WHEN, WHEN THE PRICES ARE HIGH? YEAH, I THINK, I THINK IN GENERAL, THE, THE PROCESSING PART OF THAT LOAD AND MAYBE SOME OTHER THINGS ARE COMING OFFLINE, THEY PROBABLY STILL HAVE SOME AUXILIARY TYPE LOAD THAT IS STAYING ONLINE, MAYBE AIR CONDITIONING AND, AND THOSE KIND OF THINGS.
AND SO THAT'S REALLY THE, THE PART THAT, AND THAT, AND, AND YOU CAN ALSO SEE THAT, THAT THAT ACTUALLY HAS COME DOWN MORE THIS YEAR THAN EVEN THOUGH THERE'S BEEN MORE MEGAWATTS ADDED, IT CAME DOWN A LITTLE FURTHER.
SO THEY FOUND WAYS TO, UH, DECREASE THAT.
IF YOU COULD SUM UP THE PERFORMANCE OF THE THERMAL FLEET THIS SUMMER, UM, HOW WOULD YOU, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THAT IN THIR LESS THAN 30 SECONDS? UM, I, I THINK WE HAD A FEW MORE OUTAGES GOING ON THIS, NOT PLANNED OUTAGES, BUT FORCED OUTAGES WERE HIGHER GENERALLY ACROSS THE, THE AFTERNOON HOURS, UH, THIS SUMMER COMPARED TO LAST SUMMER, BUT NOT, NOT SIGNIFICANTLY, SO.
DAN, I'VE GOT A QUESTION ABOUT DURING THAT CRITICAL SUNSET HOUR WHERE THE BATTERIES ARE DISCHARGING MOST OF THEIR ENERGY THAT THEY'RE GONNA CONTRIBUTE TO THE GRID BECAUSE THERE'S NOT A LOT OF DISPATCHABLE MIX AT THAT PARTICULAR TIMEFRAME.
ARE WE SEEING ANY FREQUENCY OR VOLTAGE INSTABILITY BECAUSE OF THE HIGH CONTRIBUTION FROM BATTERIES? UM, NO.
I MEAN, WE WE'RE GENERALLY PLANNING THE SYSTEM SUCH THAT THOSE ARE NOT, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE, THEY'RE, WE'RE NOT GONNA HAVE ANY KIND OF, UH, VOLTAGE INSTABILITY TYPE ISSUE, UM, OR, OR ANY OTHER KINDS OF
[01:20:01]
STABILITY FROM A FREQUENCY PERSPECTIVE.AS LONG AS WE'VE GOT ENOUGH GENERATION TO SERVE THE LOAD, WE SHOULDN'T HAVE A, A FREQUENCY PROBLEM.
UM, AND GENERALLY THEY'RE HELPING WITH THAT.
UM, THE CONCERN WOULD BE IS IF THE LOAD CONTINUES TO GROW AND WE DON'T ADD MORE GENERATION DISPATCHABLE GENERATION CAPACITY THAT CAN BE THERE DURING THOSE PERIODS AND WE START DEPENDING ON THE BATTERIES FOR A LONGER TIMEFRAME SUCH THAT THEY START RUNNING OUT OF, OF CHARGE, THEN, THEN THAT, THAT'S THE KIND OF THE CONCERN TO ROLL.
IS THERE A WAY YOU CAN SHOW US THE ACTUAL VERSUS LIKE THEORETICAL, WHAT WE NEED GOING FORWARD AS THE LOAD GROWS SO WE CAN SEE THAT
HEY, DAN, TALK ABOUT THE STARTING STATE OF CHARGE AND THE ENDING STATE OF CHARGE AS YOU, UH, GO THROUGH ONE OF THOSE REALLY TIGHT EVENINGS.
UM, YEAH, SO, SO WE, WHAT WE WERE, I DON'T KNOW THAT I, I DON'T KNOW THAT I HAVE THIS IN MY HEAD FROM THIS YEAR, BUT I KNOW LAST YEAR THERE WERE SOME DAYS WHERE WE START OUT WITH, YOU KNOW, PRETTY CLOSE, PRETTY HIGH STATE OF CHARGE.
THEY MAY HAVE DISCHARGED SOME AND THAT, THAT'S WHY WE SEE THIS CHARGING OVER THE, THE PEAK AND THEN SOMETIMES BETWEEN THE PEAK AND WHEN THE NET LOAD PEAK IS, THERE'S CHARGING GOING ON IF THEY, UM, AND SO THEY'RE PRETTY WELL CHARGED GOING INTO THE SOLAR RAMP EVERY DAY.
BUT LAST YEAR, I KNOW THERE WERE SEVERAL DAYS WHERE WE STARTED SEEING BATTERIES THAT HAD DISCHARGED PRETTY MUCH COMPLETELY, AND SO THEY STARTED TO FALL OFF, NOT, NOT IN THE AGGREGATE.
I THINK WE GOT, YOU MAY HAVE THE, SINCE YOU ASKED THE QUESTION, YOU MAY HAVE THE NUMBER IN YOUR HEAD
I THINK THAT'S KIND OF STARTING OFF AS HIGH AS 80 AND GETTING DOWN AS LOW AS 20 SOMETHING BY, BY THE END OF THE SOLAR.
AND UH, ANOTHER QUESTION IS WITH RESPECT TO THE BATTERIES AND THE CHARGING AT PEAK OR NEAR PEAK, ARE YOU SEEING CONGESTION ISSUES, IN OTHER WORDS, UH, CALIFORNIA FOR EXAMPLE, IS LOOKING AT SIDING REQUIREMENTS FOR BEING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF CHARGE SO YOU DON'T GENERATE A CONGESTION WHILE CHARGING AT, YOU KNOW, NEAR PEAK.
IS THAT A CONSIDERATION HERE? I I DON'T THINK IT'S BEEN ENOUGH OF AN ISSUE THAT WE'VE LOOKED AT IT, SO THAT PROBABLY TELLS YOU IT'S, IT'S NOT OKAY.
KEITH, THANKS DAN, OR DAN, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE? YEAH.
WOODY, WILL YOU, I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE WHEN THEY LOOK AT THEIR PRC NUMBER ON THE WEBSITE, YOU KNOW, SEVEN, EIGHT YEARS AGO, IF YOU LOOKED THAT PRC NUMBER AND YOU SAW THREE OR 4,000 MEGAWATTS THAT WAS THREE OR 4,000 MEGAWATTS OF, UH, GENERATION, THAT COULD LAST FOR AS LONG AS YOU NEEDED IT.
TODAY, WHEN YOU SEE THREE OR 4,000 MEGAWATTS OF GENERATION OR, OR FIVE OR 6,000 MEGAWATTS OF GENERATION THERE, A GOOD PORTION OF THAT IS LIMITED DURATION.
SO AS SOON AS YOU START TAPPING INTO IT, IT DISAPPEARS.
'CAUSE IT'S GONNA, THE STATE OF CHARGE IS GONNA GO, SO MAYBE AS MUCH AS IT IS THREE OR 4,000 MEGAWATTS OF A 6,000 PRC MAY ACTUALLY BE LIMITED DURATION BATTERIES.
AND, AND SO THE PRC NUMBER IS NOT THE SAME NUMBER AS WHAT WE WERE LOOKING AT FIVE OR SIX YEARS AGO, AND WE'RE GONNA MAKE SOME CHANGES TO THE WEBSITE TO, TO SHOW THAT.
BUT, UH, FOR, FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS WATCHED THE, HAS BEEN WATCHING A PRC NUMBER FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS, THEY'RE NOT LOOKING AT THE SAME NUMBER NOW AS THEY USED TO.
THE, THE, THE CHANGING GENERATION MIX HAS, HAS REALLY CHANGED THE NATURE OF WHAT THAT PRC NUMBER IS.
IT'S A, IT'S, I CAN REMEMBER SEVERAL YEARS AGO IF WE HAD 6,000 MEGAWATTS OF PRC, IT WAS LIKE, WAS A LOT, WE WERE IN REALLY GOOD SHAPE.
IT DOESN'T HAVE THE SAME SECURITY NOW AS IT DID.
I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE NOTE THAT, UH, FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE USING THE WEBSITE OR THE MOBILE APP TO SEE WITH THE PRC NUMBER, BECAUSE I THINK IT IS THAT METRIC HAS BEEN MISUSED IN SOME NEWSLETTERS, UM, TO SAY THAT WE HAVE ADEQUATE RESOURCE CAPABILITY.
I, I THINK DAN DID A GOOD JOB SETTING ME UP FOR, FOR THIS PRESENTATION HERE.
AND I THINK I'LL JUST START WITH THE, THE PUNCHLINE IS PRICES WERE DOWN 82% YEAR OVER YEAR.
UM, AND THE REASONS MAY NOT BE THAT OBVIOUS.
AND, AND SO HOPEFULLY THE PRESENTATION TODAY WILL HELP SORT OF FLESH OUT WHAT THAT IS AND, UM, HELP US THINK ABOUT WHAT MIGHT BE COMING IN THE, IN THE COMING YEARS AS WELL.
I'LL JUST SORT OF NOTE AS WELL, THE, THE NICE THING ABOUT THE THE TOP CHART IS WE, WE START AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR COMPARING, UH, COMPARING PRICES, UH, SORT OF AVERAGE PRICES JANUARY, FEBRUARY, ALL THE WAY THROUGH AUGUST.
AND WHAT'S INTERESTING TO NOTE, PARTICULARLY FOR THE JANUARY THROUGH MAY PERIOD, IS THAT THERE
[01:25:01]
WERE FAIRLY SIMILAR, UH, OVERALL, NOT IDENTICAL BUT CLOSE.UH, BUT THEN ONCE WE GET TO JUNE, JULY AND AUGUST, THERE'S A, A, A RATHER LARGE, UH, CHANGE BETWEEN WHAT WE WERE SEEING, UM, IN, IN THOSE MONTHS.
AND SO, UH, REALLY THE, THE QUESTION IS, IS WHY, UH, BUT I'LL, I'LL SORT OF ALSO NOTE IN THE BOTTOM, THE BOTTOM CHART, UH, THE PEAKER NET MARGIN, UH, WHICH WE, WE TRACK, UH, IS, IS SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT, UH, COMPARED TO, UH, THIS YEAR AND LAST YEAR.
NOW GRANTED AS, AS, AS DAN NOTED, WELL LAST YEAR WAS, WAS REALLY A, UH, AN EXTREME YEAR, UH, IN TERMS OF WHAT WE WERE SEEING IN, IN SORT OF WEATHER.
UH, AND, AND THIS YEAR WAS DIFFERENT AND LOADS, LOADS ARE PART OF THIS.
UM, BUT THEY'RE NOT THE ONLY, ONLY THING.
AND IN FACT, WHEN YOU LOOK AT LOADS IN JUNE, LOADS IN JUNE, WERE HIGHER, UH, THIS SUMMER COMPARED TO LAST SUMMER.
BUT, BUT YOU'LL SEE IN THE CHART AND IN THE TOP BAR BAR CHART IS THAT JUNE, JUNE PRICES WERE SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER.
UM, GAS PRICES WERE DOWN A A, A LITTLE BIT.
I I'D SAY A LITTLE OVER 20%, AROUND AROUND 20% LOWER.
UM, BUT AGAIN, THE PRICES IN JUNE WERE LOWER.
SO IF LOADS WERE HIGHER, GAS PRICES MAY BE A LITTLE LOWER.
WELL, WHAT'S DRIVING THIS? AND, AND ULTIMATELY, UH, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE, WE DIDN'T TALK ABOUT AS MUCH IS, IS CHANGES TO THE NON-THERMAL FLEET, RIGHT? AND SO WE HAD INCREASES IN SOLAR AND STORAGE.
SO SOLAR, UM, WAS UP ABOUT EIGHT GIGAWATTS, UH, SUMMER TO SUMMER.
AND, UH, STORAGE RESOURCES, UH, ABOUT DOUBLED, SO UP ABOUT NINE GIGAWATTS IN TOTAL.
SO GREW ABOUT FOUR AND A HALF TO FIVE GIGAWATTS SUMMER OVER SUMMER.
SO THAT INCREASE IN, IN THE GENERATION MIX HAD A, HAD A PRETTY SUBSTANTIAL EFFECT ON, ON WHAT WE'RE SEEING.
OBVIOUSLY, SOLAR RESOURCES, UH, THE PRICING ON ON SOLAR IS DIFFERENT THAN, THAN THE THERMAL FLEET.
AND IN PARTICULAR WITH THE STORAGE, UH, WE SAW A LOT OF SUBSTITUTION ON THE ANCILLARY SERVICES SIDE.
SO, UH, IN TERMS OF ANCILLARY SERVICES, UH, UH, STORAGE IS, IS A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO THE, THE TOTAL SHARE OF RESOURCES THERE.
AND WE'VE GOT A SLIDE THAT'LL HIGHLIGHT THAT AS WELL.
SO WHAT ARE SOME OF THE OTHER THINGS THAT ARE GOING ON AS A RESULT OF, OF THIS CHANGE, UH, THAT, THAT I JUST DESCRIBED? AND, AND WHAT WE'RE SEEING HERE IS THE ORDC, UH, THE OPERATING RESERVE DEMAND CURVE, AND WHAT WAS THAT CONTRIBUTION TO, TO THE PRICING? AND WHAT WE SAW HERE IS NOT, NOT UNEXPECTEDLY, UM, IT WAS, IT WAS LESS THAN WHAT WE SAW OVER THE LAST COUPLE YEARS.
UH, FEWER INSTANCES OF, OF THE OPERATING RESERVE DEMAND CURVE, UM, BEING APPLIED.
UH, AND PART OF THAT HAD TO DO WITH THE, THE RESOURCE AVAILABILITY THAT WE WERE SEEING IN THE SYSTEM THAT, THAT DAN WAS TALKING ABOUT JUST A MINUTE AGO, OVERALL RELATIVE TO THE, THE DEMAND THAT WE SAW IN THE SYSTEM.
SO, UH, THE ORDC UH, PLAYED PLAYED A SMALLER ROLE IN TERMS OF THE IMPACT OF PRICE AND THE FREQUENCY AS WELL IN TERMS OF ENERGY STORAGE CAPACITY OFFERED INTO THE REAL TIME MARKET.
WE SAW A A, A LARGE SHIFT THIS THIS SUMMER COMPARED TO LAST COUPLE YEARS.
UH, THE BAR, THE HEIGHT OF THE BAR IS, IS HOW MUCH THAT WAS BEING OFFERED INTO THE MARKET IN THESE MONTHS.
UH, WE'VE ALSO BROKEN OUT IN TERMS OF THE PRICE LEVEL, WE, WE GENERALLY SEE STORAGE RESOURCES AT OR NEAR THE, THE, THE CAP OF $5,000.
UH, BUT, UH, AND THAT'S REPRESENTED IN THE SORT OF THE BLUE, BLUE BAR.
UH, BUT WHAT WE ALSO SAW WAS A GROWTH IN THE, IN THE AMOUNT OF ESRS THAT WERE UNDER, UH, UNDER THAT LEVEL.
AND THAT'S IN THE SORT OF THE GRAYISH COLOR THAT YOU SEE THERE, AND THAT THAT SUBSTANTIALLY GREW AS WELL.
SO THE TOTAL VOLUME OF ESRS IN THE, IN THE MARKET, UH, IN THE REAL TIME MARKET WAS, WAS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN, THAN IN PREVIOUS YEARS.
AND, AND WHAT, WHAT THIS CHART WILL SHOW US IS COMPARING, UH, UH, AUGUST 23 TO AUGUST 24.
AND WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT IS ESSENTIALLY THE CAPACITY OF, UH, UH, SOLAR IN, IN THE, THE ORANGE COLOR AND STORAGE RESOURCES IN THE RED COLOR.
AND ULTIMATELY IT'S A SIGNIFICANT SHIFT UP IN, IN BOTH.
UH, AND, AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT SORT OF, THE PRICES DID SORT OF MASS, BUT IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE, IS THAT IN THAT, UH, THE, THE SOLAR RESOURCES THAT HAVE A PROFILE AND THERE'S A, A SIGNIFICANT RAMP DOWN PERIOD, UM, AFTER THE PEAK, UH, WHICH OCCURS AROUND 17, BUT THE NET PEAK SHIFTING OUT TO OUR HOURS 1819, UM, AND WHAT, WHAT WE SAW IN THE PRICING, AND WE STILL SEE THAT TODAY OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS, WE CONTINUE TO SEE THAT SOLAR RAMP DOWN PERIOD BEING THE PERIOD OF, OF WHERE, UH, THE SYSTEM IS TIGHTEST AND THE PRICES REFLECT THAT AS WELL.
UH, WE SAW PRICES ON AUGUST 20TH AT, UH, UH, $5,000
[01:30:01]
AND, AND THE DATE THAT DAN SHOWED EARLIER AND THE DISCHARGE, THE PRICES DURING THAT PERIOD WERE ALSO, UM, UH, UP AND AROUND THE CAP, UH, ON THAT DAY.UH, AND SO, UH, THE STORAGE THAT IS AVAILABLE IS ABLE TO FILL IN THAT GAP, UH, OF THE SOLAR RAMP PERIODS.
BUT I WILL NOTE THAT THE EXPECTATION OF WHAT, WHAT WE SEE IN, UH, COMING FORWARD IN THE NEXT YEAR OR TWO IS THAT WE EXPECT THAT, UH, STORAGE COULD DOUBLE IN THE NEXT YEAR, AND THAT, UH, SOLAR COULD DOUBLE IN THE NEXT TWO TO THREE YEARS.
SO IF YOU'VE GOT A DOUBLING OF SOLAR, THAT RAMPING THAT RAMP DOWN PERIOD IS, IS ALSO LIKELY TO DOUBLE AS WELL.
SO, UM, THE STORAGE, UH, WE SAW THIS YEAR AS, AS DAN SHOWED, WAS ABLE TO FILL THAT, THAT GAP, UM, DURING THAT PERIOD.
BUT, UH, WE WOULD EXPECT GOING FORWARD THAT AS THAT SOLAR RESOURCE CONTINUES TO GROW, THAT THOSE NEEDS ON THE SYSTEM WILL, WILL ALSO GROW, AND THE PRICING WILL REFLECT THAT AS WELL.
SWITCHING GEARS A LITTLE BIT, TALKING ABOUT CONGESTION, UH, ON THE SYSTEM, UH, COMPARED TO LAST COUPLE YEARS, CONGESTION WAS, WAS NOT A, UM, UH, IT WAS RELATIVELY MILDER COMPARED TO LAST YEAR.
AND, AND, UH, UH, YOU KNOW, UH, NOT THAT DIFFERENT FROM, UM, YOU KNOW, A LITTLE LOWER, BUT NOT OVERALL THAT DIFFERENT FROM, UH, PREVIOUS YEARS.
AND SO OVERALL CONGESTION, UH, NOT AS A, A MAJOR DRIVER IN THE SUMMER MONTHS.
AND, AND AGAIN, NOT TO BE, YOU KNOW, AS YOU'VE GOT MORE, UH, TRANSMISSION AVAILABLE, MORE RESOURCES AVAILABLE CONGESTION DURING THE PEAK PERIODS IS, IS GENERALLY NOT A MAJOR DRIVING FACTOR.
UM, BUT AS WE ENTER SHOULDER PERIODS AND, AND RESOURCE TAKE OUTAGES, WE, WE EXPECT CONGESTION TO INCREASE ANCILLARY SERVICES.
AND I THINK THIS IS A MAJOR POINT, UM, IS THAT ANCILLARY SERVICE COSTS WERE, UH, FOR THE, FOR THE SUMMER MONTHS, UH, TOTALED 36 MILLION, AND WE COMPARE THAT TO AUGUST OF LAST YEAR, WHICH TOTALED OVER 800 MILLION.
SO THIS IS A DRAMATIC SHIFT IN THE TOTAL COST OF ANCILLARY SERVICES.
AND ONE OF THE, ONE OF THE KEY FACTORS IS THE, THE RESOURCES THAT ARE MAKING UP THOSE, UH, ANCILLARY SERVICES ARE INCREASINGLY, UH, UH, THOSE, THOSE RESOURCES ARE INCREASINGLY MADE UP OF ENERGY STORAGE RESOURCES.
AND THAT'S, UH, WHAT WE'LL SHOW HERE ON THE FINAL CHART THAT I HAVE IS, UH, AND THIS, THIS, THIS BAR CHART, UH, SHOWS US THE LAST FEW, FEW SUMMERS.
UH, EACH BAR HEIGHT IS UP TO A HUNDRED PERCENT IS THE SHARE OF THOSE, UH, ANCILLARY SERVICES THAT ARE COVERED BY ENERGY STORAGE RESOURCES.
AND WHAT WE SEE IS THAT FOR REGULATION UP, UH, IN THE, IN THE BLUE REPRESENTED ABOUT 75%, AND THAT WAS SIMILAR TO LAST YEAR, BUT THERE WERE CHANGES, UH, IN TERMS OF REGULATION DOWN, UH, ALSO AROUND, UH, 75, 80% WAS ENERGY STORAGE RESOURCES.
UH, THE RRS WAS AROUND A LITTLE UNDER 50%.
AND THEN ECR, THE ECRS PRODUCT IN PARTICULAR HAD A INCREASED SHARE OF EC HAD ECR, UH, ESR RESOURCES, UH, PROVIDING ECRS, UH, UP, UP IN THE 40 TO 45, UH, PERCENT DEPENDING ON THE MONTH.
UH, WHILE THE PERCENTAGE INCREASE WAS DIFFERENT AS THE SHARE INCREASED, IT'S, IT'S ONLY ABOUT 5% OF, OF NONS SPIN, BUT OVERALL, IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW THAT THIS IS A PRETTY DRAMATIC SHIFT OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS IN TERMS OF RESOURCES PROVIDING ANCILLARY SERVICES HAS SHIFTED PRIMARILY, UM, UH, TOWARDS, UM, ESR RESOURCES AND STORAGE RESOURCES.
AND, AND AGAIN, THAT WHAT THAT CAN DO IS YOU'RE SUBSTITUTING STORAGE RESOURCES, RESOURCES THAT MAY HAVE BEEN DISPATCHABLE THERMAL RESOURCES ARE NOW AVAILABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ENERGY MARKET, UH, WHEREAS BEFORE THEY WERE PARTICIPATING IN THE ANCILLARY SERVICE MARKET.
AND SO THAT FURTHER HAS AN EFFECT OF, OF DAMPENING PRICES AS WELL.
SO I WILL PAUSE THERE AND, AND SEE WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE FOR ME.
SO, SO KEITH, IS THERE A, A WAY TO SUMMARIZE THE PRICING STRUCTURE FOR THIS PAST SUMMER, UH, IN TERMS OF WHAT THAT MEANS FOR SOMEONE THAT'S CONSIDERING MAKING AN INVESTMENT IN A THERMAL DISPATCHABLE RESOURCE? SO, UH, I THINK WHAT'S, WHAT'S INTERESTING FROM THAT PERSPECTIVE IS WE KNOW THAT THERE IS A, OR, OR, OR EXPECT TO BE MORE LOAD IN THE FUTURE.
UM, WE, WE HAVE OUR STUDY, UH, IN 2030 THAT SAYS, UH, 150 GIGAWATTS, WHICH IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM WHERE WE'RE NOW.
I THINK WHAT WE'RE SEEING, UH, IN, IN THIS YEAR AND THE NEXT, THE NEXT YEAR, A COUPLE YEARS POTENTIALLY, IS THAT, UM, THERE'LL BE GENERATION INCREASING, AND IN THIS CASE GENERALLY, UM, UH, THE NON-THERMAL RESOURCES, HOWEVER,
[01:35:01]
THERE IS THIS EXPECTATION THAT THERE'S LIKELY TO BE SIGNIFICANT LOAD GROWTH POTENTIALLY IN 27, 28, 29.AND SO WHEN YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT PRICING AND INVESTING IN, UH, THERMAL GENERATION, UH, YOU REALLY HAVE TO WEIGH THE, THE, THE GENERATION INCREASES WE'RE SEEING NOW THIS SUMMER, POTENTIALLY AGAIN NEXT SUMMER.
AND, AND THAT HAS A POTENTIAL IMPACT ON, ON THE PRICE FOR SURE, BUT ALSO EXPECTATIONS OF LOW GROWTH THAT'S LIKELY TO OCCUR THAT POTENTIALLY IN 28, 29 AND 30.
SO, UM, SO IN TERMS OF INVESTMENT DECISIONS, YOU HAVE TO SORT OF WEIGH THE, THE GENERATION MIX, THE GENERATION THAT'S COMING ON NOW, ALSO WITH THE LOAD SIDE THAT'S EXPECTED COMING IN THE FUTURE.
AND, AND KEITH, COULD YOU ADD, COULD YOU ADD TO THAT ANSWER A LITTLE BIT ABOUT A PERSPECTIVE ON PRICE CURVES AND HOW WE'VE SEEN HOW PRICE CURVES IN THE TWO THREE YEAR WINDOW OR SHAPING UP AN KIND OF WHAT SIGNAL THAT, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT THAT REPRESENTS TO THAT QUESTION? YEAH, SO WE DO HAVE A LOOK INTO THE FORWARD PRICES, UH, THAT ARE TRADING ON, ON EXCHANGES.
AND WHAT WE'RE SEEING THERE THAT THERE HAS ACTUALLY BEEN A REDUCTION IN THOSE FORWARD PRICE CURVES, UM, OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS RELATIVE TO WHAT THEY WERE EARLIER IN THE YEAR.
SO EARLIER IN THE YEAR, THE PRICES WERE A LITTLE HIGHER, UH, GOING OUT TO 2030, AND WE'VE SEEN THOSE PRICE PRICES COME DOWN OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS AS THEY PROJECT OUT FURTHER IN THE FUTURE.
UM, IT'S, IT'S REALLY HARD TO SAY SPECIFICALLY WHAT'S DRIVING THAT.
UH, BUT WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT, UM, UH, WE'RE SEEING THE INCREASE IN, IN GENERATION AND WE KNOW WE'LL BE IMPLEMENTING THE RTC PROGRAM, WHICH WILL BE VERY EFFICIENT.
UM, BUT THAT CAN HAVE AN IMPACT ON, ON PRICES AS WELL.
KEITH, GOING BACK TO WHAT YOU RESPONDED TO BILL, THE WAY I THINK ABOUT THE ERCOT MARKET, AND FEEL FREE TO CORRECT ME IF IT'S NOT THE RIGHT VIEW, BUT ERCOT USED TO BE KIND OF A BASELOAD MARKET.
IT SHIFTED TO A LOAD FOLLOWING TYPE OF GENERATION MARKET, BUT NOW WE'RE SEEM TO BE MOVING TOWARDS A COMBINATION OF THE BO OF BOTH BECAUSE SOME OF THESE LARGE LOADS EXPECTED TO COME IN ARE 24 7 LOADS MM-HMM
AT THE SAME TIME, WE HAVE A LOT OF LOAD FOLLOWING ASSETS.
SO IT JUST SEEMS LIKE IT USED TO BE THIS, NOW IT'S THIS, NOW IT'S GOING TO A COMBINATION OF BOTH AS WE LOOK TOWARDS THE FUTURE.
MM-HMM,
YEAH, I, I THINK UNDER THE CONSTRUCT WE, WE LIVE WITH, LIVE UNDER IN THE ERCOT MARKET, UM, THE REAL TIME IS WHERE WE SEE THE PRICE MOVEMENTS.
AND, AND I THINK YOUR POINT IS IT'S HARD TO ANTICIPATE WHAT THAT MAY LOOK LIKE UNTIL IT HAPPENS.
AND I THINK YOUR POINT ON THE DIFFERENT PROFILE OF, OF THE GEN, WHICH CAN BE VARIABLE AND UM, EVEN ON THE LOAD WHERE WE CAN SEE SOME LOAD RESPONSIVENESS, RIGHT? SO IT DEPENDS ON THE LOAD.
THERE ARE SOME LOADS THAT ARE MORE BASED AS YOU SUGGESTED, AND THERE'S OTHER LOADS THAT CAN BE VERY FLEXIBLE SO THAT THAT PARADIGM IS SHIFTING FOR SURE.
KEITH, I THINK YOU'VE GOT A ROUGH SLIDE.
DID YOU WANNA GO THROUGH THAT OR, OH, YEAH, YEAH, THAT WAS MY FINAL, SORRY, THAT WAS MY FINAL SLIDE HERE IS THE RUCK.
AND, UM, I KNOW FOR, FOR ME BEING SORT OF NEW TO THE, THE ERCOT MARKET, ONE OF THE THINGS I HEARD WAS YEAH, RUCK, OH WOW, IT'S SUCH A BIG ISSUE AND IT, IT'S, IT'S ALMOST FELT LIKE THIS WEIGHT OF, OF CRUSHING AND, AND THEN I LOOKED AT THE DATA AND SAID, WOW, THERE DOESN'T SEEM TO BE THAT MUCH RUCK GOING ON IN THE SUMMER.
SO I I I TAKE THIS AS A VERY POSITIVE, UH, POSITIVE OCCURRENCE THAT THE INSTANCES OF RUCK ARE, UM, GREATLY DIMINISHED OVER THE, WHERE THEY WERE A COUPLE YEARS AGO AND, AND LESS THAN THEY WERE LAST YEAR.
SO I, I SEE THIS AS A POSITIVE THING THAT THE RELIANCE ON RUCK AS A TOOL, PARTICULARLY IN THE SUMMER MONTHS, IS, IS A POSITIVE THING.
ALTHOUGH I WILL NOTE THAT WHAT WE'VE BEEN SEEING A LITTLE MORE RECENTLY, GIVEN THAT SOLAR RAMP DOWN PERIOD, IS THAT AS RAMPING NEEDS HAVE BEEN INCREASING, UH, YOU KNOW, THE R TOOL, PARTICULARLY IN SEPTEMBER OR OCTOBER TIMEFRAME IS, IS PERHAPS MORE MORE RUCKS THAN THAN WE HAD SEEN.
AND SO, UH, WE DEFINITELY WANT TO THINK ABOUT WHAT THAT MEANS GOING FORWARD AND, AND HOW THAT IMPACTS PRICING.
ALRIGHT, ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS FOR KEITH? OKAY, THANK YOU.
[8. TAC Report]
TO AGENDA ITEM EIGHT.UH, AND I'D LIKE TO INVITE CAITLIN SMITH, WHO'S THE CHAIR OF TAC, THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO PRESENT THIS, UH, AGENDA.
UM, SORRY, CAITLIN, I SHOULD HAVE BE, YOU KNOW, BETTER HEADS UP THAT
I KNOW, I THOUGHT THERE WAS BREAK SCHEDULED, SO I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA GET TO STRETCH BEFORE THIS.
[01:40:01]
THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND WE ARE HAPPY TO HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO PRESENT.AND I DO FOLLOW ERCOT ON INSTAGRAM.
I THINK I WAS LIKE THE 22ND FOLLOWER, SO YOU KNOW THAT THAT'S A CHALLENGE, I THINK, 'CAUSE I SAW THEY'RE ONLY AT 73, SO I THINK EVERYBODY NEEDS TO FOLLOW ERCOT ON INSTAGRAM.
SO AS WE DO AT EACH BOARD MEETING, UH, WE'LL BE PRESENTING A SUMMARY OF THE TAC MEETINGS THAT OCCURRED SINCE THE LAST BOARD MEETING.
THOSE WERE OUR AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER TAC MEETINGS.
WE HAVE INCLUDED SOME MORE INFORMATION TO THIS REPORT STARTING THIS MONTH, AND ALWAYS HAPPY FOR FEEDBACK AS WE DISCUSSED YESTERDAY, KIND OF AN EFFORT TO PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE STAKEHOLDERS TO THE BOARD.
SO WE HAVE ADDED HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE GROUPS, NOT JUST TAC, BUT THE GROUPS THAT REPORT DIRECTLY TO TAC, WHICH ARE FOUR SUBCOMMITTEES, THE CREDIT FINANCE SUBGROUP.
AND THEN CURRENTLY WE HAVE TWO TASK FORCES THAT REPORT DIRECTLY TO TAC.
THOSE ARE THE RTC PLUS B AND THE LARGE FLEXIBLE LOAD TASK FORCE.
AT THE AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER MEETINGS, WE VOTED UNANIMOUSLY TO RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF 11 REVISION REQUESTS, AND WE ALSO EN ENDORSED ERCOT RECOMMENDED 2025 ANCILLARY SERVICES METHODOLOGY.
SO HERE ARE THOSE 11 UNANIMOUS REVISION REQUESTS, AND HERE IS WHERE WE ADDED THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SUBCOMMITTEES AND THE SUBGROUP AND THE TASK FORCES.
I THINK I WILL JUST PICK OUT A FEW AND NOT READ THE WHOLE LIST TO DEMONSTRATE THE TYPE OF ISSUES THAT ARE HAPPENING.
AND THEN IF ASKED OR IF THERE'S FEEDBACK, WE, WE CAN ADD MORE.
THE, THE RELIABILITY AND OPERATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE IS REALLY DIGGING IN ON THE TRANSMISSION NEEDS AND KIND OF THE METHODOLOGY AND PLANNING AROUND THAT.
AND SO TRANSMISSION PLANNING ITEMS RELATED, UM, TO NPR 1247 INCORPORATION OF CONGESTION COSTS, SAVINGS TESTS, AND ECONOMIC ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF TRANSMISSION PROJECTS.
AND, UM, THE, THE PI R ONE 17, AND THESE ARE IMPLEMENTING THE, THE PUC RULE CHANGES ON THE, UM, ECONOMIC COST SAVINGS TEST.
IT WAS ADDED TO TRANSMISSION FOLLOWING LEGISLATION.
UM, LOAD FORECASTING RELATED ISSUES SUCH AS PI R 1 0 7 RELATED TO NPR 1180 INCLUSION OF FORECASTED LOAD AND PLANNING ANALYSIS.
AND THAT'S WHERE WE ARE GETTING THESE, UH, LARGE LOAD NUMBERS FOR TRANSMISSION PLANNING.
UH, LARGE LOAD ISSUES FROM THE, THE LARGE LOADS THAT ARE WANTING TO INTERCONNECT, INCLUDING NPR 1234 INTERCONNECTION REQUIREMENTS FOR LARGE LOADS AND MODELING STANDARDS FOR LOADS, UH, 25 MEGAWATTS OR GREATER.
AND SO THAT'S WHAT WHAT'S HAPPENING AT THAT GROUP.
ON THE SLIDE, WE ALSO HAVE THE RETAIL MARKET SUBCOMMITTEE.
UM, THEY HAVE BEEN WORKING VERY HARD AND FOR A LONG TIME ON TEXAS SET, UH, VERSION FIVE IMPLEMENTATION.
THEY ARE WORKING ON THE, STILL ON THE, UH, LUBBOCK POWER AND LIGHT TRANSITION TO COMPETITION.
AND THEN, UH, T-S-P-T-D-S-P UPDATES FROM HURRICANE BARREL.
I THINK THIS SLIDE ALSO HAS, UH, SO PRS, UM, THEY ARE NOT TAKING UP AS MANY KIND OF SEPARATE ISSUES, BUT THIS IS WHERE GRINDING OUT THOSE NPR R HAPPENS.
AND SO AN NPRR WILL ALWAYS KIND OF START AT PRS AND THEN END HERE FOR LANGUAGE REVIEW AND THE, THE IA, THE IMPLEMENTATION AND THE IMPACT ANALYSIS, WHICH IS SORT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE AND COST BEFORE IT GOES TO TAC.
SO IN, I GUESS IN THE, THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS, THEY FORWARDED FIVE NPR TO TAC FOR CONSIDERATION THE WHOLESALE MARKET SUBCOMMITTEE.
UM, AND SO THIS IS WHERE A LOT OF THE, I THINK THIS IS A REALLY FUN SUBCOMMITTEE.
A LOT OF THE ARGUING ABOUT MARKET PRINCIPLES HAPPENS HERE.
AND, UM, SO THE LARGE LOAD INTERCONNECTION REPORT HAS BEEN HERE FOR A COUPLE MONTHS, I BELIEVE THAT WE'LL MOVE TO TAC WHEN THAT TASK FORCE WRAPS UP.
AND THEN I WANTED TO POINT OUT THAT THEY DID HAVE THE IMM DISCUSS THE 2023 STATE OF THE MARKET AND THE, THE RECOMMENDATIONS THAT THE IMM HAD IN THOSE, UH, YOU KNOW, UH, WM S'S GREAT LEADERSHIP, IT'S ERIC BLAKEY AND JIM LEE.
AND, YOU KNOW, THEY DID A GOOD JOB OF INVITING THE IMM TO PRESENT THIS REPORT.
I THINK IT'S SOMETHING WE SHOULD CONSIDER KIND OF FORMALIZING EVERY YEAR INTO THE STAKEHOLDER PROCESS.
I KNOW COMMISSION STAFF HAD A SIMILAR MEMO ON KIND OF THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE IMM RECOMMENDATIONS AND THE COMM COMMISSIONERS TOOK IT UP AS WELL.
SO I THINK FORMALIZING THAT OR, YOU KNOW, AT LEAST DOING IT KIND OF TRADITIONALLY OR, OR CONTINUALLY, UM, EVERY YEAR WOULD BE GOOD IN THE STAKEHOLDER PROCESS.
[01:45:03]
I DO WANT TO BRING YOUR ATTENTION TO A WMS CONVERSATION FROM OCTOBER.UH, I THINK IT WAS LAST WEEK, IT DIDN'T MAKE IT INTO THIS PRESENTATION.
UM, BOTH ITS WHOLESALE AND MARKET WORKING GROUP AND SUPPLY ANALYSIS WORKING GROUP HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING NPRR 1235.
AND THAT IS, UH, THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DRSA DISPATCHABLE RELIABILITY RESERVE SERVICE AS A STANDALONE PRODUCT.
AND THERE IS KIND OF A, A VERY ROBUST POLICY DISCUSSION THAT HAS FORMED THERE.
UM, THIS IS BASED OFF OF COMMENTS THAT WERE RECENTLY FILED BY LUMINATE AND AN INTERPRETATION, UM, OF THE STATUTE, THE LEGISLATIVE DRRS.
AND SO THIS POLICY QUESTION IS BASICALLY WHETHER THAT ANCILLARY SERVICE SHOULD BE DESIGNED TO BE A TOOL FOR OPERATIONAL UNCERTAINTY OR A, A TOOL FOR BOTH OPERATIONAL UNCERTAINTY AND ONE USED TO MEET THE RELIABILITY STANDARD.
SO I DON'T NECESSARILY, YOU KNOW, EXPECT AN ANSWER RIGHT NOW, BUT I THINK AS WE DISCUSSED THE PROCESS AND THINGS LIKE HOW AND WHEN TO GET POLICY DIRECT DIRECTION, YOU KNOW, THIS IS A, A POLICY KIND OF INFLECTION POINT THAT I THINK STAKEHOLDERS NEED SOME MORE FEEDBACK, UM, MAYBE FROM THE COMMISSION OR MAYBE FROM THE BOARD TO, TO KNOW THAT THEY'RE HEADED IN THE RIGHT WAY.
THERE'S SOME TECHNICAL DETAILS FROM THE NPR THEY CAN CONTINUE TO, TO WORK ON AND IMPLEMENT, BUT I THINK THERE IS A, A POLICY INFLECTION POINT.
I, I DO THINK THAT'LL BE KIND OF A RECURRING DISCUSSION.
UM, AT R AND M YESTERDAY WE PRESENTED THE, THE REASONS ON ON NO VOTES TO THE ANCILLARY SERVICE METHODOLOGY.
AND I THINK THERE WERE SOME SIMILAR CONCERNS FROM THE NO VOTES.
LIKE HOW, HOW DOES THAT FIT INTO THE RELIABILITY STANDARD? AND SO I THINK YOU'RE GETTING THIS QUESTION OF WHAT TOOLS AT ERCOT THAT WE'RE WORKING ON AT ATTACK AND STAKEHOLDER GROUPS NEED TO BE, HOW DO WE NEED TO BE THINKING ABOUT THOSE TO MEET THE RELIABILITY STANDARD, WHETHER IT'S E-C-R-S-D-R-S OR, OR WHAT HAVE YOU.
AND SO THAT'S KIND OF A FLAG THERE FOR A POLICY DECISION THAT I THINK NEEDS TO BE MADE FOR STAKEHOLDERS.
I CAN PAUSE THERE IF THERE'S QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS.
UM, KAITLYN, I HAVE A QUESTION.
WITH RESPECT TO THE DISCUSSIONS AT ROSS ON TRANSMISSION PLANNING, UH, PARTICULARLY NPR 1247 P ONE 17, THAT'S THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECONOMIC TRANSMISSION PLANNING TEST, RIGHT? YES.
AND THAT WAS REQUIRED BY A LEGISLATIVE BILL IN 2021? YES.
SO WHAT, WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATE OF THIS NPRR? BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW THAT WE SHOULD ENTER THIS NEXT SESSION WITHOUT HAVING IMPLEMENTED AN ECONOMIC TRANSMISSION PLANNING TEST.
YES, I BELIEVE THAT IS STILL AT, AT PRS AND ROSS.
YOU KNOW, THERE, THERE WAS SOME CONCERN ABOUT THAT.
I THINK I, I DON'T WANNA SAY A MISCOMMUNICATION, BUT I, I THINK MORE CLEAR COMMUNICATION WOULD HELP.
I THINK THE TIMELINE'S VERY TIGHT ON THAT.
SO I, I BELIEVE THAT'S AT PRS, WE COULD, WE COULD TAKE THAT UP AT TAC BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR, BUT I, I DON'T KNOW IF WE COULD GET IT TO DECEMBER BOARD MEETING, AND I BELIEVE THE COMMISSION WOULD THEN HAVE TO WAIVE SOME NOTICE TO GET IT THROUGH BY THE END OF THE YEAR.
OUR UNDERSTANDING WAS ON THE SORT OF REGULAR TIMELINE THAT THE LAST TACK TO PASS IT WOULD'VE BEEN THE SEPTEMBER TAC.
IT, IT WAS TABLED AT THE SEPTEMBER PRSI THINK THE CONCERN THERE WAS THE LANGUAGE JUST WASN'T ACCURATE ENOUGH.
AND I, AND THERE WAS SOME DISCUSSION OVER THIS BEING A PRIORITY THAT, THAT WE NEED TO GET IN BY THE END OF THE YEAR TO GET, HAVE THE COMMISSION HAVE IN PLACE.
BUT I THINK THAT THE LANGUAGE WASN'T WHERE STAKEHOLDERS WANTED IT TO BE TO MOVE IT FORWARD.
WELL, I KNOW THAT ERCOT HIRED, UM, E THREE TO HELP DEVELOP THIS TEST.
OUR STAFF HAS SPENT A LOT OF TIME WORKING ON THIS TEST.
MM-HMM,
THAT I THINK THAT, IS THAT CORRECT? THE VOTE FAILED.
SO, UM, I MEAN, I WOULD JUST FLAG THAT FOR CHAIRMAN GLEASON, I MEAN, THIS, THIS HAS BEEN HANGING OUT THERE SINCE 2021.
SO, YOU KNOW, IF ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE TO BRING THIS TO A CLOSE WOULD BE IMPORTANT.
I THINK AS OUR STATE CONTINUES TO GROW, WE'RE GONNA NEED CAPACITY TO BE MOVED AROUND TO SERVE LOAD.
THIS IS A DIFFERENT CRITERIA THAN RELIABILITY, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, IT, IT WILL SERVE TO MOVE CAPACITY AROUND, UM, THAT'S, YOU KNOW, IN, IN MORE REMOTE AREAS OF THE STATE.
SO, UM, I WOULD JUST URGE, UM, THE STAKEHOLDER PROCESS TO, TO KIND OF GET GOING ON THIS AND GET IT DONE.
LET ME, UM, GET WITH OUR COP STAFF AND, AND THEN MAYBE GET BACK WITH YOU AND SEE IF THERE'S A WAY WE CAN PASS IT THIS YEAR.
[01:50:01]
I, I, MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONVERSATION, I, I CERTAINLY DON'T THINK ANYBODY DISAGREED WITH, WITH THE RULE OR THAT THIS IS IMPORTANT.I THINK THE CONCERN WAS SOME OF THE LANGUAGE WASN'T QUITE THERE YET, KIND OF LIKE IN, IN TECHNICAL TERMS AND, AND MAKING SENSE FOR WHERE WE NEEDED.
BUT LET, LET ME MAKE SURE, I THINK ERCOT AND STAKEHOLDERS ARE CONTINUING TO WORK ON THAT.
SO LET ME SEE IF WE CAN FIND A PATH TO GETTING THAT PASSED.
BUT MY UNDERSTANDING AGAIN, WAS NOT THAT THEY DISAGREED WITH, WITH ANYTHING YOU'RE SAYING OR DISAGREED THAT IT WAS IMPORTANT.
IT WAS SORT OF THE, THE LANGUAGE NOT BEING THERE.
KRISTY, YOU'RE KNEE DEEP IN THIS, SIR, DO YOU WANT, SO I WANTED TO JUST CLARIFY, OR FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, I WOULDN'T TAKE THE, THE DISCUSSION THAT THERE WAS, UM, INACCURACIES IN THE LANGUAGE.
IT WAS THAT STAKEHOLDERS WERE LOOKING FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON HOW WE WOULD APPLY THE CRITERIA WHICH WE'RE PROVIDING THROUGH A SEPARATE DOCUMENT SO THAT THEY HAVE A FULL UNDERSTANDING OF HOW WE WOULD APPLY THE CRITERIA AND THE PLANNING STUDY.
SO I'M HOPEFUL IF THEY HAVE THAT INFORMATION, THEY'LL BE ABLE TO MOVE THAT FORWARD QUICKLY.
SO, SO CHRISTIE, CURRENTLY RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE THE TEST ISN'T IMPLEMENTED, IS ERCOT REVIEWING TRANSMISSION PROJECTS FROM AN ECONOMIC STANDPOINT? WE ARE.
AND THAT, WHAT IS THE INTERIM MEASURE? AGAIN, IT'S THE GENERATION REVENUE REDUCTION.
SO THEY, ERCOT TRANSMISSION PLANNING CONTINUES TO REVIEW ECONOMIC PROJECTS UNDER THAT INTERIM TEST, BUT, UM, I THINK IT'S JUST IMPORTANT TO GET THIS TEST DONE.
I MEAN, WE SPENT YEARS ALREADY TRYING TO GET THIS DONE.
WE SPENT A LOT OF TIME AT THE COMMISSION TRYING TO GET THE ROLE PASSED.
ERCOT WENT THROUGH THE TROUBLE OF HIRING E THREE AND, YOU KNOW, TRYING TO COME UP WITH A GOOD TEST.
OUR STAFF, I KNOW IKA AND TEAM HAVE SPENT TIME LOOKING AT IT.
AND SO, UM, I WOULD JUST URGE TO KIND OF WRAP THIS UP.
OKAY, CAITLYN, PLEASE CONTINUE.
WE ARE HERE, UM, THE CREDIT FINANCE SUBGROUP.
WE CONFLATED THE MARKET CREDIT WORKING GROUP AND THE CREDIT WORKING GROUP THAT USED TO REPORT DIRECTLY TO THE BOARD.
THEY, THEY TAKE UP KIND OF THOSE SEPARATE ISSUES, BUT THEY ALSO EVALUATE EACH REVISION REQUEST FOR THE CREDIT IMPACT.
SO THEY REVIEW THOSE FOR THE CREDIT IMPLICATIONS AND REPORT THAT TO TECH, THE RTC PLUS B TASK FORCE.
UH, THEY'RE KIND OF POWERING THROUGH THEIR CURRENT ISSUES LIST.
UM, THE RTC ASSOCIATED REVISION REQUESTS, WE'VE, WE'VE ALL TALKED ABOUT THE ANSWER SERVICE, DEMAND CURVES AND KIND OF THE POLICY DISCUSSIONS THERE.
BUT REALLY AT THIS GROUP, UM, MATT MORES AND STAKEHOLDERS DO A REALLY GOOD JOB OF SORT OF THE TIMELINE AND, AND PROJECT MANAGING AS WAS NOTED EARLIER.
UM, WE GOT THE ANNOUNCEMENT SINCE THE LAST BOARD MEETING THAT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RTC PLUS B WILL BE IN DECEMBER OF NEXT YEAR.
SO THEY'RE ARE DOING A GOOD JOB AT KIND OF REALLY MANAGING THE, THE PROJECT AND THE TIMELINE FROM THE KIND OF STAKEHOLDER INPUT PERSPECTIVE, THE LARGE FLEXIBLE LOAD TASK FORCE, UM, THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT MAX MAXIMUM SIZE OF A SINGLE LARGE LOAD CONNECTION.
AND THEN NPRR 1238 VOLUNTARY REGISTRATION OF LOADS WITH CURTAIL LOAD CAPABILITIES.
HERE ARE OUR, UH, AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, BUT REALLY I THINK THESE ARE ONLY SEPTEMBER TECH HIGHLIGHTS.
UM, THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE 2025 ANCILLARY SERVICE METHODOLOGY.
WE HAD A LONG DISCUSSION ABOUT THIS, UH, YESTERDAY AT R AND M ERCOT ALSO PRESENTED THEIR RECOMMENDATION.
AND THEN, UH, PABLO REVIEWED THAT WITH YOU TODAY.
THIS WAS THE, THE FIRST YEAR WITH THE REQUIRED COMMISSION APPROVAL.
SO THE TIMELINE WAS, WAS EARLIER.
UM, YOU KNOW, I, I WILL DO MY OWN VERSION OF PABLO'S THANK YOUS TO PEOPLE, WHICH I DID YESTERDAY.
THE, THE ERCOT STAFF ON THIS DID A REALLY GREAT JOB.
THEY, THEY CAME TO US IN, IN JUNE WITH THE TIMELINE AND THEN KIND OF A PLAN TO SOCIALIZE IT WITH STAKEHOLDERS SO THAT, THAT'S JEFF BELOW AND IKA MAGO AND THEIR TEAMS. AND SO THEY, THEY BROUGHT THE TIMELINE, AS I SAID TO US IN JUNE.
THIS WAS DISCUSSED AT SEVERAL, UH, WORKING GROUPS IN JULY AND AUGUST AT THE WHOLESALE MARKET WORKING GROUP PERFORMANCE DISTURBANCE, COMPLIANCE WORKING GROUP AND OPERATIONS WORKING GROUP.
IT WENT TO BOTH THE WHOLESALE MARKET SUBCOMMITTEE AND THE RELIABILITY OPERATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE, AND THEN IT WAS AT TECH.
UH, WE DID CHOOSE TO ENDORSE THIS METHODOLOGY.
THERE WAS ONE OPPOSING VOTE FROM THE INDEPENDENT GENERATOR SEGMENT AND TWO ABSTENTIONS, ONE OF THOSE FROM THE INDEPENDENT GENERATOR SEGMENT AND ONE FROM THE INDEPENDENT POWER MARKETER SEGMENT.
UM, WE, WE HAD A GOOD, NOT NOT SUPER CONTENTIOUS, BUT A, A GOOD ROBUST DISCUSSION AT TAC.
WE HAD REQUESTED THE IMM BE THERE.
THEY WERE THERE, UM, AND, AND OPINED.
AND SO THEY DID NOT OPPOSE THIS.
AND, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF THE DISCUSSION
[01:55:01]
WAS BETWEEN ERCOT AND THE GENERATOR SEGMENT ON REDUCED VOLUMES OF, OF SERVICES.AND SO THE NO VOTE OUTLINED TWO MAIN CONCERNS.
ONE WAS REDUCED RRS PROCUREMENT DURING WINTER MORNING RAMP AND THAT BRINGING MORE RISK TO THE SYSTEM.
THE SECOND WAS IMPACTS OF ECRS AND NONS SPIN REDUCTIONS, UM, VIEWING THOSE AS OCCURRING IN A VACUUM AND NOT CONSIDERING LONG-TERM IMPACTS TO RESOURCE ADEQUACY AND RELIABILITY.
UM, REGARDING THE REDUCTION OF ECRS AND NONS SPIN, THIS WAS ABOUT INVESTMENT SIGNALS.
UM, AND AS I KIND OF TOUCHED ON ALREADY, THE INTERACTION WITH THE NEWLY ADOPTED RELIABILITY STANDARD, THE TWO ABSTENTIONS.
ONE WAS REGARDING REDUCING NONS SPIN AND SORT OF IN, IN THAT, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, UH, RELYING ON ROCK.
AND SO MOVING THINGS FROM A, A MARKET BASED MECHANISM TO AN OUT OF MARKET BASED MECHANISM.
AND THEN THE SECOND WAS SORT OF, UH, A SIMILAR TO THE NO KIND OF A CONCERN WITH THE SUPPRESSION OF SUPPRESSING MARKET SIGNALS.
WHILE YOU MIGHT BE WORKING ON A MORE HOLISTIC PLAN FOR, FOR MEETING THE RELIABILITY STANDARD, THE MAJOR TRANSMISSION ELEMENT LIST, UH, AT THE SEPTEMBER TAC VOTED UNANIMOUSLY TO APPROVE THIS LIST AS PAST AND THEN THE STAKEHOLDER PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS DISCUSSION, I, I KNOW SEVERAL OF, OF THE BOARD MEMBERS LISTENED IN AND, AND I WANT TO THANK YOU GUYS FOR THAT.
UM, I THINK THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE CONVERSATION.
THE, THE DISCUSSION WAS REALLY AROUND GETTING MORE COMMUNICATION TO, TO THE BOARD AND I THINK TO THE COMMISSION.
AND SO, AGAIN, REALLY HAPPY TO GET FEEDBACK.
I THINK WE'D LIKE TO SEE MORE WRITTEN COMMENTS WHEN POSSIBLE FROM STAKEHOLDERS AND ESPECIALLY MORE WRITTEN COMMENTS AFTER BETWEEN TAC AND THE BOARD.
EVEN IF, IF YOU KNEW SOMEBODY OPPOSED SOMETHING THROUGH THE, THE PROCESS, JUST WHAT'S THEIR POSITION NOW? HOW STRONGLY DO THEY FEEL? WHAT, WHAT ARGUMENTS DO THEY NEED YOU TO HEAR? I, I THINK COORDINATION WITH COMMISSION STAFF WAS A BIG THEME THAT, THAT CAME UP.
AND, AND BARKSDALE ENGLISH DID SIT WITH US AND I, I THOUGHT THAT WAS A REALLY GREAT FIRST STEP AND HE HAD A LOT OF INPUT.
AND SO WE, WE'D LIKE TO TRY TO CONTINUE THAT COORDINATION.
UM, UH, AN AREA WHERE I FEEL THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF PRESSURE IS, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF TIMES WHEN THINGS COME TO TAC, IT IS THE FIRST TIME AT TAC AND WE HAVE TO VOTE IT OUT THAT DAY.
I REVIEWED, YOU KNOW, THE BIG STAKEHOLDER PROCESS CHART YESTERDAY, AND SO WE GET ALL THIS INFORMATION FROM VERY DETAILED AND TECHNICAL WORKING GROUPS.
BUT AGAIN, YOU KNOW, IT'S HEARING ALL THE ARGUMENTS, MAKING SURE WE ARE REVIEWING ALL THE DATA THAT CAME FROM THOSE WORKING GROUPS AND THEN RELAYING THAT UP TO THE BOARD.
AND SO I THINK HAVING MORE TIME WOULD, WOULD BE HELPFUL.
ANOTHER FLAG THAT, THAT CAME ALONG THOSE LINES WAS SOMEBODY SAID THAT THE AGING REVISION REQUESTS MAKES THEM FEEL A LITTLE BIT PRESSURED TO PASS THINGS THROUGH THE STAKEHOLDER PROCESS QUICKLY.
AND I HAVE GOTTEN A LOT OF CONCERN ABOUT THAT TOO.
I THINK THAT'S SOMETHING FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION.
AND WHAT THAT IS, IS WE HAVE A LIST OF AGING REVISION REQUESTS, WHICH HAVE BEEN APPROVED AND THAT STAKEHOLDERS AND ERCOT FEEL ARE IMPORTANT, BUT JUST DON'T HAVE TIME TO BE IMPLEMENTED.
SO DURING WINTER, AFTER WINTER STORM MURRY, WE HAD KIND OF A HOLD ON A LOT OF THE THINGS THAT HAD BEEN IN MOTION BECAUSE OF, YOU KNOW, POLICY DECISIONS THAT WOULD BE MADE AT THE LEGISLATURE.
AND THEN NOW WE HAVE SORT OF A HOLD, UH, KIND OF A SYSTEM PROCESS HOLD BECAUSE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF RTC.
SO IN THOSE DIFFERENT TIME PERIODS, WE'VE GOTTEN THIS BACKLOG OF REVISION REQUESTS THAT ARE, YOU KNOW, IMPROVEMENTS THAT PEOPLE FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT THAT HAVE BEEN APPROVED BY EVERYBODY, BUT JUST DON'T HAVE TIME TO BE IMPLEMENTED.
SO THAT'S SORT OF A RECURRING FEEDBACK I GET FROM STAKEHOLDERS.
SO I THINK THAT IS SOMETHING THAT WE'LL WANT TO LOOK TO ADDRESSING AS WELL.
AND I DO WANNA SAY, CHAIRMAN FLEXON, I AM VERY SAD TO HEAR THAT YOU'LL BE LEAVING.
HE, HE'S PROVIDED REALLY GREAT LEADERSHIP FOR TECH.
I, I KNOW FOR, FOR TECH LEADERSHIP AND FOR THE GROUP.
HE, HE HAS ENGAGED A LOT AND GIVEN US REALLY VALUABLE FEEDBACK, SO I'M SAD TO HEAR THAT, THAT YOU'RE LEAVING.
ANY QUESTIONS FOR KAITLYN? ANY COMMENTS? I HAVE A, JUST A COMMENT.
CAITLYN, YOU WHEN, IN THIS LAST SLIDE YOU WERE GOING OVER THE, UM, STAKEHOLDER PROCESS IMPROVEMENT, AND I JUST WANNA REITERATE ONE POINT YOU MADE ABOUT, UH, GETTING COMMENTS IN WRITING.
UH, IT'S, IT'S VERY HARD FOR US IF WE DON'T HAVE A WRITTEN RECORD AS TO WHAT
[02:00:01]
POSITIONS ARE.SO, UH, JUST WANNA ENCOURAGE TAC UH, AND ITS MEMBERS TO DO SO.
I THINK THAT WAS KIND OF A, A CONSENSUS VIEW WAS THAT THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL.
I THINK WE NEEDED TO MAKE SOME CLEAR CLARIFICATIONS.
YOU KNOW, WE DO COLLECT KIND OF WRITTEN BY EMAIL REASONS FOR OPPOSING AND ABSTENTION VOTES THAT I PRESENT TO YOU, BUT I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT IF SOMEBODY FEELS STRONGLY ABOUT SOMETHING ABOUT THE T DECISION THAT THEY HAVE A, A KIND OF NEW SET OF COMMENTS THAT YOU CAN READ ARTICULATING THAT, BECAUSE A LOT OF THESE NPRS HAVE A RECORD THAT'S A YEAR AND A HALF LONG.
AND SO I THINK, I THINK GETTING THE UP TO DATE INFORMATION IN WRITING IS HELPFUL TOO.
ANYTHING ELSE FOR CAITLYN? CAITLYN, I WANNA THANK YOU FOR THE DETAILED REPORT AND, UH, THANK YOU FOR LEADING THE TAC EFFORT FOR THE STAKEHOLDER IMPROVEMENT PROCESS.
APPRECIATE THE PUC DEDICATING RESOURCES TO, UH, THE TAC MEETINGS.
AND AS I TOLD YOU THE OTHER DAY, I'LL BE AT THE, I'M GONNA TRY TO BE MORE ENGAGED AT THE TAC PROCESS.
UM, I'LL BE AT THE MEETING ON NOVEMBER THE 20TH.
UM, THANKS FOR THE DETAILED REPORT AND THANKS FOR PROVIDING EXTRA INSIGHT INTO, UH, THE KEY ISSUES THAT YOU'RE WORKING ON AS YOU MOVE FORWARD WITH THAT.
UH, THE SCHEDULE OR THE AGENDA CALLS FOR A BREAK RIGHT NOW.
I WE CAN DO THAT OR WE CAN POWER ON THROUGH.
WE WILL SUSPEND THE MEETING FOR A FIVE MINUTES.
UH, AND WE NEED TO LET, UH, CHAIRMAN GLEASON, UH, DO HIS THING FOR THE PUC.
THIS MEETING OF THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS WILL STAND IN RECESS.
UH, WE'LL HAVE A HARD START AT 1210.
[9. Committee Reports]
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SERVICE REQUIREMENTS IS RECOMMENDED BY ERCOT[02:05:01]
STAFF AND THE R AND M COMMITTEE AND IS AND AS ENDORSED BY TAC TO BE EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1ST, 2025.BOB, ANY WHO'S THE SECOND? SECOND? OKAY, PEGGY, THANK YOU.
ANY OPPOSED? ANY ABSTENTIONS? NO.
SO NEXT, THE RM COMMITTEE CONSIDERED NPRR 1190.
AS YOU RECALL FROM THE BOARD'S AUGUST MEETING, THERE HAD BEEN SIX OPPOSING VOTES ATTACKED BY CONSUMERS ON NPRR 1190 AND THE BOARD TABLED THE REVISION REQUEST TO CONSIDER THE QUANTITATIVE DATA IN ERCOT COMMENTS.
SINCE THE AUGUST BOARD MEETINGS, ERCOT STAFF FILED ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ON SEPTEMBER 19TH, 2024, WHICH THE R AND M COMMITTEE CONSIDERED YESTERDAY, ALONG WITH COMMENTS SUBMITTED BY JOINT CONSUMERS ON OCTOBER 2ND, 2024.
YESTERDAY THE R AND M COMMITTEE HEARD IN PERSON COMMENTS FROM THE COMMISSION STAFF, ERCOT STAFF, AND THE CORPORATE MEMBER FROM LYELL CHEMICAL FOR DIFFERENT REASONS, BOTH COMMISSION STAFF AND LYELL CHEMICAL INDICATED THE CURRENT VERSION OF NPRR 1190 IS TOO BROAD AND RECOMMENDED.
THE BOARD REMAND NPRR 1190 TO ATTACK NPRR 1190 DOES NOT HAVE URGENT STATUS AND ERCOT STAFF HAS COMMENTED THE POLICY ISSUES DON'T IMPACT RELIABILITY AS SUCH.
THE RM COMMITTEE YESTERDAY RECOMMENDED THE BOARD REMAND NPRR 1190 TO TAC I MOVE THE BOARD REMAND NPRR 1190 TO TAC AS RECOMMENDED BY THE RM COMMITTEE.
ANY OPPOSED? ANY ABSTENTIONS? NPR 1190 IS REMANDED BACK TO TAC.
OKAY, THE RM COMMITTEE YESTERDAY ALSO RECOMMENDED THE BOARD APPROVED PRICE CORRECTIONS FOR TWO SETS OF EVENTS THAT MET THE PROTOCOLS CRITERIA FOR CORRECTION.
THE FIRST PRICE CORRECTION WAS ALSO DISCUSSED DURING THE TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE MEETING YESTERDAY, AND THE PRICE CORRECTION WOULD ESSENTIALLY RESULT IN RETURNING MONEY TO GENERATORS WHO PAID TOO MUCH.
I MOVED THE BOARD AS RECOMMENDED BY ERCOT STAFF AND THE R AND M COMMITTEE TO ONE, DETERMINE THAT REALTIME LOCATIONAL MARGINAL PRICES, REALTIME SETTLEMENT POINT PRICES, REALTIME PRICE FOR ENERGY, METERED RESOURCES, AND REALTIME PRICE FOR ENERGY METERED FOR SETTLEMENT ONLY.
GENERATION FOR OPERATING DAY AUGUST 20TH, 2024 WERE AFFECTED BY THE INCORRECT RECALL OF ECRS AND TWO DIRECT ERCOT STAFF TO IMPLEMENT THE APPROPRIATE PRICE CORRECTIONS PURSUANT TO PROTOCOL SECTION 6.3.
OKAY, WE HAVE A MOTION FOR PRICE CORRECTIONS FOR OPERATING TODAY, AUGUST 20 20TH, 2024.
ANY OPPOSED? ANY ABSTENTIONS? THE PRICE CORRECTIONS MOTIONS APPROVED.
OKAY, SO ERCOT STAFF ALSO HAS A CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN FOR THE PRICE CORRECTION IN BOARD AGENDA ITEM 8.2.
I MOVE THE BOARD AS RECOMMENDED BY ERCOT STAFF AND THE R AND M COMMITTEE TO ONE, DETERMINE THAT REALTIME LOCATIONAL MARGINAL PRICES, REALTIME SETTLEMENT POINT PRICES, REALTIME PRICE FOR ENERGY METER RESOURCES, AND RE REALTIME PRICE FOR ENERGY METER FOR SETTLEMENT ONLY.
GENERATORS FOR OPERATING DAYS AUGUST 9TH AND 10TH, 2024 WERE AFFECTED BY INCORRECT RESOURCE DATA AND TWO DIRECT ERCOT STAFF TO IMPLEMENT THE APPROPRIATE PRICE CORRECTIONS PURSUANT TO PROTOCOL SECTION 6.3.
WE HAVE A MOTION FOR OPERATING DAYS PRICE CORRECTIONS FOR AUGUST THE NINTH AND 10TH.
ANY OPPOSED? ANY ABSTENTIONS? OKAY.
FOR THE RECORD, ALL OF THE R AND M COMMITTEE MOTIONS WERE, UH, UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
AND FINALLY, CHAIR, UH, ANCILLARY SERVICE DEMAND CURVES WERE DISCUSSED BY STAFF AND THE INDEPENDENT MARKET MONITOR.
DURING THE STANDING UPDATE ON REAL TIME CO-OP OPTIMIZATION PLUS BATTERIES, ERCOT STAFF REPORTED THEY DRAFTED AND POSTED AN ANCILLARY SERVICE DEMAND CURVES WHITE PAPER ATTACK, AND THE IMM DISCUSSED THEIR WORK TO DEVELOP ANCILLARY SERVICES DEMAND CURVES THAT WOULD NOT DELAY IMPLEMENTATION OF RTC.
AND WITH THAT, THAT CONCLUDES MY REPORT.
UNFORTUNATE THAT'S GONNA BE YOUR LAST ONE, BUT, UH, WE APPRECIATE YOUR SERVICE.
UH, NEXT JOHN SWEN WILL PRESENT A AGENDA ITEM 9.4, THE TECHNOLOGY AND SECURITY, UH, COMMITTEE REPORT.
JOHN, PLEASE PROCEED WITH YOUR UPDATE.
UM, THE COMMITTEE MET YESTERDAY, UH, IN GENERAL SESSION.
THERE WERE NO VOTING ITEMS OTHER THAN MEETING MINUTES.
UM, WE HAD A PRESENTATION, UH, ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FROM DR.
JIM HAM ON THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LAB ON PHASER MEASUREMENT UNITS OR, OR PMUS.
UM, PMUS ARE USED TO SORT OF MEASURE VOLTAGE AND PHASE SHIFT IN, IN A GRID.
[02:10:01]
UM, WE'VE BEEN USING THEM HERE IN ERCOT FOR OVER A DECADE, AND THEY'RE CAPABLE OF SENDING REAL-TIME, STREAMING INFORMATION ON OSCILLATIONS, UM, IN, YOU KNOW, 30 OR 60 TIMES A SECOND.SO VERY, VERY FINE GRAIN DATA.
UM, THIS GIVES ERCOT CONTROL ROOM OPERATORS GREATER SITUATIONAL AWARENESS TO REACT TO GREATER INSTABILITY AND CAN AID IN IDENTIFYING SPECIFIC EQUIPMENT THAT'S CAUSING A PROBLEM.
UM, FRED WANG FOLLOWED UP WITH A DISCUSSION OF OUR CURRENT USE OF IMPLEMENTA, UH, OF PMUS AND WAYS THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO GROW AND LEVERAGE THE USAGE, WHICH I WOULD ADD IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT GIVEN THE HETEROGENEOUS NATURE OF THE GENERATION IN OUR, IN OUR GRID.
UM, ONE ISSUE THAT'S DELAYING IMPLEMENTATION BY SOME TRANSMISSION OPERATORS, UH, HAS BEEN COST, UH, WHICH IS BORN BY THE OPERATOR, EIGHT PAYERS AND MUST BE JUSTIFIED.
THE TRANSMISSION FROM OF DATA FROM PMUS TO ERCOT IS VOLUNTARY, UH, AND MANY TRANSMISSION OPERATORS DO IN FACT GIVE US ACCESS TO THEIR DATA, BUT NOT ALL.
AND SO WE'RE DISCUSSING WAYS TO INCENTIVIZE BROADER DEVELOPMENT OR BROADER DEPLOYMENT, UH, WHETHER VOLUNTARILY OR THROUGH A PLANNING GUIDE CHANGE.
UM, STAFF AL ALSO PRESENTED A NUMBER OF COMMITTEE BRIEFS, UM, INCLUDING OUR NORMAL UPDATE ON PROJECTS.
UH, THERE ARE 60 ODD PROJECTS CURRENTLY UNDER DEVELOPMENT, AND I WOULD SAY THEY ARE ALL RUNNING WITH THE NORMAL UPS AND DOWNS, BUT GENERALLY ON SCHEDULE WE DID A, WE DID AS WE USUALLY DO A DEEPER DIVE ON REAL-TIME, CO-OP OPTIMIZATION.
UH, AND AS YOU'VE HEARD ALREADY, WE'VE NOW SET DATES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THAT AND WE GOT INTO A LITTLE BIT OF DETAIL ON WHAT ARE THE NECESSARY PRECONDITIONS TO ENSURE THAT THE IMPLEMENTATION HAPPENS AS SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER 5TH, 2025.
AND THEN OUR LAST TOPIC IN THE GENERAL SESSION WAS FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS. AND, AND WE'RE LOOKING AT HAVING A PRESENTATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL MODULAR NUCLEAR REACTORS IN TEXAS.
UH, AND, UH, THERE IS, UH, THERE'S INTEREST IN DOING THAT.
SO WE'RE GONNA SEE IF WE CAN SCHEDULE THAT FOR THE DECEMBER MEETING.
ANY QUESTIONS FOR JOHN ON THIS REPORT? OKAY, THE NEXT ITEM IS
[10. Annual Membership Meeting Announcement]
GEN ITEM 10, THE ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT.I BELIEVE, CHAD, YOU'RE PRESENTING THIS? YES.
IT'S GETTING TO BE THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AS WE HEAD TOWARD DECEMBER THAT WE'LL HAVE OUR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND CONSISTENT ON LAST YEAR, WE'RE GONNA DO IT AT THE, UH, DOWNTOWN MARRIOTT.
UH, WE GOT A LOT OF FEEDBACK LAST YEAR SEEMED TO BE A GOOD SPACE FOR EVERYONE TO HAVE THE ANNUAL MEETING.
UH, WE'LL INCORPORATE SOME OF THE FEEDBACK WE RECEIVED FROM THE BOARD INTO THE CORPORATE MEMBERS, UH, INTO THE AGENDA, BUT WE'RE EXPECTING OBVIOUSLY TO HAVE ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE MEMBERS AND THE BOARD AND
UH, BEFORE WE KICK OFF THE MEETING, UH, THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A REQUIREMENT ON THE NEXT SLIDE.
WE'RE REQUIRED TO DO THIS ON THE TEXAS BUSINESS AND ORGANIZATION CODE AND THE ERCOT BYLAWS REQUIRE AN ANNUAL MEETING.
SO WE MUST HOLD AN ANNUAL MEETING AND COINCIDING WITH OUR BOARD CYCLE.
SO IT'LL BE ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 2ND.
ON THE NEXT SLIDE, YOU'LL JUST SEE KIND OF A DRAFT AGENDA AGAIN.
UH, WE'RE GONNA OPEN UP THE DOORS EARLY FOR KIND OF PRE-MEETING, SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT, AND UM, THEN WE'LL GET STARTED WITH OUR ANNUAL MEETING AGENDA.
WE, FOR THIS YEAR FOR CORPORATE MEMBERS, WE HAVE COLIN MARTIN, WHO IS SENIOR DIRECTOR OF TRANSMISSION GRID OPERATIONS AT ENCORE, WHO'S ALSO THE TAC VICE CHAIR.
THAT'LL BE THE CORPORATE MEMBER DOING A SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT.
AND THEN WE'LL HAVE TWO GUEST SPEAKERS THAT WE'RE FINALIZING AS WELL.
AND THEN WE'LL OBVIOUSLY GET THROUGH OUR MEMBERSHIP MEETING REQUIREMENTS AND THEN THERE'LL BE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR POST-MEETING, SOCIAL RECEPTION AS WELL.
SO AS WE MOVE FORWARD ON THE LAST SLIDE, CORPORATE MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE, UH, AN INVITATION ON NOVEMBER 11TH.
AND RIGHT NOW WE'RE GOING ALLOW THE OPPORTUNITY FOR AN INVITED GUEST.
UH, DEPENDING ON KIND OF WHAT THE CAPACITY LOOKS LIKE, WE MAY BE ABLE TO EXTEND THAT ADDITIONALLY BEYOND JUST ONE INVITED GUEST.
BUT WE'LL MANAGE THAT AS WE START TO SEE, UH, ACCEPTANCE INVITATIONS COMING IN AFTER NOVEMBER 11TH.
SO LOOK FORWARD TO THAT IN DECEMBER.
ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ANNUAL MEMBER MEETING? OKAY, LET'S MOVE TO AGENDA ITEM 11.
UH, THIS IS THE LAST ITEM BEFORE WE MOVE INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION.
IS THERE ANY OTHER BUSINESS THAT ANY OTHER BOARD MEMBER WISHES TO RAISE? OKAY, I DON'T HEAR ANY AT THIS TIME.
[Convene Executive Session]
GOING TO ADUR ADJOURN GENERAL SESSION AND WE WILL RECONVENE IN EXECUTIVE SESSION.THERE ARE TWO VOTING ITEMS THAT WE ANTICIPATE THAT WILL COME OUT OF EXECUTIVE SESSION.
SO THE GENERAL SESSION WILL RECONVENE AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE EXECUTIVE SESSION.
THIS MEETING OF THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS WILL STAND IN RECESS.
[02:15:01]
THE GENERAL SESSION IS NOW RECESSED AND THE WEBCAST WILL BE CONCLUDED.[Reconvene General Session]
UH, THIS IS BILL FLORES, BOARD, ERCOT, BOARD CHAIR OF THE GENERAL SESSION OF THIS MEETING IS NOW RECONVENED.[12. Vote on Matters from Executive Session]
FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION.I'LL HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE END OF THOSE VOTES.
FIRST, I'LL ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE THE CONTRACT MATTER DISCUSSED DURING EXECUTIVE SESSION UNDER AGENDA ITEM ES 2.11.
ANY OPPOSED? ANY ABSTENTIONS? OKAY, THAT MOTION IS APPROVED.
SECOND, I'LL ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE THE CONTRACT MATTER DISCUSSED DURING EXECUTIVE SESSION UNDER AGENDA ITEM ES 2.12.
ANY OPPOSED? ANY ABSTENTIONS? OKAY.
AND THEN, UH, LASTLY BUT NOT LEAST, I AM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT JULIE ENGLAND WILL BE OUR NEW R AND M CHAIR MOVING FORWARD.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR LEADERSHIP ON THAT COMMITTEE.
AND WITH THAT, THIS MEETING IS NOW ADJOURNED.