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OKAY.[1. Call General Session to Order]
GOOD MORNING EVERYONE, AND WELCOME TO THE TECHNOLOGY AND SECURITY COMMITTEE OF ERCOT.UM, I'M JOHN SWENSON, THE COMMITTEE CHAIR.
UM, I'M CALLING THIS MEETING TO ORDER.
IT'S BEING A WEBCAST VIA THE INTERNET ON ERCOT WEBSITE.
I'VE CONFIRMED THERE'S A QUORUM PRESENT, AND I'LL ASK PUC COMMISSIONER THOMAS GLEASON IF HE'D LIKE TO CALL AN OPEN MEETING OF THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSIONED ORDER.
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 APRIL 20TH, 2026.
BEFORE WE START, LET ME DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO ITEM ONE, WHICH IS THE SECURITY AND ANTITRUST ADMONITION, UM, INCLUDING THE WAY TO GET OUT OF HERE IF THERE'S A FIRE, UM, HAVING LOOKED AT THAT.
NOW, LET'S MOVE ON TO QUESTIONS ABOUT PUBLIC CONTENT.
DO WE HAVE ANY NOTICE OF PUBLIC CONTENT? NO, WE DO NOT.
SO WE WILL GO FORWARD ON THAT ITEM AND
[3. February 9, 2026 General Session Meeting Minutes]
MOVE TO ITEM NUMBER THREE, UH, WHICH IS THE MINUTES FROM THE FEBRUARY 9TH GENERAL SESSION MEETING.UH, THERE'S A DRAFT IN THE MEETING MATERIALS.
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY COMMENTS OR WISH TO MAKE ANY COMMENTS? IF NOT, CAN I HAVE A MOTION TO APPROVE, PLEASE? SO MOVED.
ALL IN FAVOR, UH, MOTION'S CARRIED.
[4. Hybrid Hydrogen / Natural Gas Power Solutions for ERCOT]
FOUR, AND I AM DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE OUR GUEST SPEAKER, WHO'S DR. PAUL BROWNING.DR. BROWNING IS A GLOBAL ENERGY EXECUTIVE AND ENTREPRENEUR WITH MORE THAN 38 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP IN POWER GENERATION.
HE PREVIOUSLY HAS SERVED AS GE OF AS CEO OF GE, OLA GAS, GAS POWER, CEO OF MITSUBISHI, POWER AMERICAS, AND CEO OF IRVING OIL.
UM, TODAY DR. BROWNING SERVES AS THE EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN OF ARGONNE POWER GROUP AND AS A BOARD DIRECTOR OF CMO, A LIFECYCLE POWER, AND THE GREEN HYDROGEN COALITION.
HE'S AN ADJUNCT PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE, WHERE HE WORKS WITH STUDENTS ON THE FUTURE OF ENERGY SYSTEMS AND INFRASTRUCTURE.
THANK OUR GUESTS FOR JOINING US TODAY, AND NOTE THAT COMMITTEE MEMBERS WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO ASK RISK MANAGEMENT RELATED QUESTIONS DURING THE EXECUTIVE SESSION, WHICH WILL FOLLOW THIS.
THERE WE IS THAT BETTER? YEAH.
SO IT'S, UH, THANK YOU SO MUCH AND IT'S SUCH A, SUCH AN HONOR TO, TO SPEAK, UH, TO, TO YOU ALL.
I I, UH, I SPENT A LOT OF TIME PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT ERCOT DOES.
UM, I HAVE A LOT OF REGARD FOR HOW WELL YOU GUYS RUN YOUR ISO AND, UH, AND, AND ESPECIALLY IN COMPARISON TO SOME OF THE, SOME OF THE OTHERS IN OUR COUNTRY AND AROUND THE WORLD.
AND, UM, YOU KNOW, I REALLY, I'VE ALWAYS VIEWED ERCOT AS SORT OF A GET STUFF DONE KIND OF A PLACE.
AND, UM, WHAT I'M GONNA TALK TO YOU ABOUT TODAY IS A PROJECT I'M, I'M ACTUALLY REALLY PROUD OF, UM, THAT I WAS, UH, INVOLVED IN DURING MY TIME AT MITSUBISHI.
AND, UM, THAT I THINK HAS SOME RELEVANCE TO THE FUTURE OF ERCOT.
AND, UM, YOU MAY OR MAY NOT AGREE WITH ME, UH, BY THE END OF THIS PRESENTATION, BUT, UM, THAT'S SOMETHING WE CAN TALK ABOUT.
SO, UH, FIRST OF ALL, JUST THERE WAS THIS GREAT INTRODUCTION, SO I'LL GO QUICKLY ON THIS SLIDE, BUT I JUST WANNA MAKE A, UH, THE POINT THAT, YOU KNOW, I, I'M ACTUALLY A GUY WHO'S RUN REAL BUSINESSES, DONE, YOU KNOW, REAL POWER PLANTS AROUND THE WORLD.
UM, I'M GONNA TALK TO YOU ABOUT GREEN HYDROGEN, WHICH, YOU KNOW, AND, AND IS SORT OF A, A FUTURE KIND OF A, OF A THING.
BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, BUT I'M TALKING ABOUT IT IN THE CONTEXT OF SOMEONE WHO HAS BUILT POWER PLANTS AND AND, AND DONE REAL PROJECTS.
AND, AND I'M GONNA TALK TO YOU ABOUT A REAL GREEN HYDROGEN PROJECT.
UM, SO AS I THINK ABOUT ERCOT AND THE KINDS OF CHALLENGES YOU GUYS ARE FACING, UM, OF COURSE, UH, YOU KNOW, THE EXPONENTIAL GROWTH THAT WE'RE SEEING IN DEMAND FROM, UH, AI DATA CENTERS IS AN ENORMOUS, UH, TOPIC OF CONCERN FOR YOU OR TOPIC OF INTEREST FOR YOU GUYS.
I'VE GOT A PICTURE HERE OF THE XAI, UH, COLOSSUS DATA CENTER IN NASHVILLE.
UM, ALL THESE THINGS AROUND THE OUTSIDE OF THE, OF THE, UM, PROPERTY OR ARE MOBILE GAS TURBINES, UM, THE COMPANY LIFECYCLE POWER THAT I'M ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR ACTUALLY DELIVERED THE FIRST TURBINES TO THIS PROJECT.
AND, UM, IT'S A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THE KIND OF THING THAT'S, YOU KNOW, THAT'S ON ITS WAY TO ERCOT, UM, A LOT OF BEHIND THE METER, UM, DATA CENTER DEMAND.
AND, AND AS YOU GUYS ARE VERY WELL AWARE, A LOT OF IN FRONT OF THE METER, UH, DEMAND TO SUPPORT DATA CENTERS AS WELL.
UM, THE PROJECT I'M GONNA TALK TO YOU ABOUT IS ON SORT OF A, THE
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OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM OF THINGS.IT'S, UH, IT'S A, A REALLY UNIQUE ENERGY STORAGE PROJECT.
IT'S LOCATED IN DELTA, UTAH, BUT, UH, 90% OF ITS OFF TAKE IS FOR THE LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF WATER AND POWER.
SO IT'S REALLY A UTAH POWER PLANT, BUT IT'S, IT'S FOR MOSTLY FOR, UH, TO MEET CALIFORNIA, UH, POWER DEMAND.
AND, UM, ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE IS A PROJECT THAT MY TEAM AND I AT MITSUBISHI, UH, CO-DEVELOPED WITH A PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM THAT'S ACTUALLY FROM HERE IN TEXAS, IN HOUSTON.
UM, WE, UH, THEY OWNED A SALT DOME, WHICH HAPPENED TO SIT RIGHT UNDERNEATH A RETIRING COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT WHERE, UH, PEOPLE WANTED TO BUILD A, A NEW COMBINED CYCLE POWER PLANT.
UM, I WAS SELLING COMBINED CYCLE POWER PLANTS.
THIS CUSTOMER HAD A BAD HABIT OF BUYING FROM ONE OF MY COMPETITORS, AND WE WERE LOOKING FOR SOME WAY TO SORT OF GET A LEG UP.
AND AS WE LOOKED INTO THIS, WE FOUND, YOU KNOW, THE ONLY DOM CELL FORMATION IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES IS LITERALLY RIGHT UNDERNEATH THIS POWER PLANT.
AND SO, UM, WE WENT IN AND TALKED TO THE LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF WATER OF POWER ABOUT, YOU KNOW, THIS COULD BE A GREAT SITE FOR THE COUNTRY'S FIRST UTILITY SCALE GREEN HYDROGEN ENERGY STORAGE PROJECT.
AND IN THE FIRST MEETING WE HAD WITH THEM, THEY LISTENED VERY POLITELY, AND THEY, THEY, THE LAST THING THEY SAID TO US AS WE WERE LEAVING WAS, WOW, THAT SOUNDS REALLY AMBITIOUS, WHICH IS, YOU KNOW, WE SORT OF TOOK, AS, YOU KNOW, WHATEVER, WELL, I'M GONNA SHOW YOU IN A LITTLE BIT, UM, A LITTLE BIT LATER, THE LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL VOTED 12 TO ZERO.
THAT L-A-D-W-P HAD TO GET TO ZERO CARBON BY 2035.
AND IN THE NEXT MEETING WE HAD WITH THEM, THE ROOM WAS FULL.
THEY WERE REALLY ENGAGED, AND, AND WE WERE TALKING ABOUT, YOU KNOW, ACTUALLY DOING THINGS INSTEAD OF THINGS LOOKING REALLY AMBITIOUS.
AND SO WHAT WE DID WAS WE BUILT, UM, A A, WE INSTALLED 220 MEGAWATTS OF ELECTROLYSIS.
UM, WE INSTALLED TWO SALT CAVERNS, EACH ONE THE SIZE OF THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING IN THAT SALT TOME.
AND, UM, AND THAT GREEN HYDROGEN PRODUCTION AND STORAGE FACILITY HAS A CAPACITY OF 300 GIGAWATT HOURS OF ENERGY STORAGE.
TO PUT THAT IN CONTEXT, THE ERCOT GRID TODAY HAS ABOUT 30 GIGAWATTS, 30 GIGAWATT HOURS OF BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE INSTALLED.
SO THIS IS, THIS FACILITY HAS 10 TIMES AS MUCH ENERGY STORAGE CAPACITY AS THE STATE OF TEXAS, UH, WELL ERCOT.
UM, AND SO, UH, IT'S, IT'S A, YOU KNOW, MASSIVE, UH, ENERGY STORAGE FACILITY.
AND IT'S NOT, BUT IT HASN'T, IT IS NOT MEANT TO DO WHAT, WHAT, UM, WHAT LITHIUM ION BATTERIES DO.
YOU KNOW, LITHIUM ION BATTERIES ARE GREAT TO MOVE POWER FROM ONE PART OF THE DAY TO ANOTHER.
UM, THIS FACILITY IS BUILT TO MOVE POWER FROM ONE PART OF THE YEAR TO ANOTHER, UM, OR ONE PART OF THE WEEK TO ANOTHER, OR ONE PART OF THE MONTH TO ANOTHER, OR TO BE THERE WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE WIND, YOU DON'T HAVE SOLAR AND YOUR BATTERIES ARE EMPTY BECAUSE, UH, A WINTER STORM HITS, UH, FOR, FOR FIVE DAYS.
AND YOU NEED SOMETHING, YOU KNOW, THAT'S THERE ON THAT, ON THAT EXTREME DAY.
AND SO THAT'S GONNA BE A BIG PART OF MY PRESENTATION.
UM, I'M ALSO GONNA TALK TO YOU ABOUT THE POWER PLANT THAT WE SOLD THEM.
IT TURNS OUT, SINCE WE OWNED THE HYDROGEN PRODUCTION FACILITY, UM, WE HAD A LEG UP AND SEWN 'EM THE GAS TURBINES, WHICH WAS OUR WHOLE SORT OF INTEREST, THE, THE, THE WHOLE WAY.
AND SO WE, WE SOLD THEM, UH, TWO OF MITSUBISHI'S H CLASS TURBINES, UM, 64% FUEL EFFICIENCY, 840 MEGAWATTS COMBINED CYCLE, SO ALMOST A GIGAWATT, SO, YOU KNOW, AGAIN, UTILITY SCALE PROJECT.
AND, UM, AND WE GUARANTEED THAT IT WAS CAPABLE OF USING 30 VOLUME PERCENT GR UH, HYDROGEN ALONG WITH NATURAL GAS.
AND SO THIS WHOLE THING FROM THE VERY BEGINNING WAS MEANT TO BE A BLEND OF HYDROGEN AND NATURAL GAS, UM, WITH THE, THE, THE HYDROGEN PRODUCTION, THE STORAGE FACILITY, UM, ITS OFFTAKER, IT'S 100% OF ITS OFFTAKE IS FROM THIS POWER PLANT.
AND THEN THE OTHER COOL THING ABOUT THE WAY WE STRUCTURED THIS IS 100% OF THE RENEWABLE POWER THAT, THAT POWERS THE ELECTROLYZERS ALSO COMES FROM THE INTERMOUNTAIN POWER AGENCY.
SO IPA PROVIDES A HUNDRED PERCENT OF THE ELECTRICITY AND THE, THE OFFTAKE FOR A HUNDRED PERCENT OF THE HYDROGEN.
WHAT WE WERE ABLE TO STRUCTURE THE CONTRACT AS IS BASICALLY A TOLLING CONTRACT.
UM, YOU KNOW, WE, WE CHARGE A TOLL.
THE, THE, THE ACES PROJECT CHARGES A TOLL FOR CONVERTING, UM, ELECTRICITY INTO HYDROGEN, AND THEN A HUNDRED PERCENT OF THAT HYDROGEN GOES TO IPA AND THE INTERMOUNTAIN POWER PLANT THEN CONVERTS THAT HYDROGEN BACK INTO ELECTRICITY.
AND THAT'S THE ROUND TRIP ENERGY STORAGE.
THE OTHER ASPECT OF THIS, THERE'S A THIRD PROJECT.
THERE'S A, THERE'S A PREEXISTING 2.4 GIGAWATT HVDC TRANSMISSION LINE THAT CONNECTS DELTA UTAH INTO THE LA BASIN.
THAT'S HOW THE POWER GETS TO L-A-D-W-P, AND THAT, UH, IS BEING UPGRADED AS PART OF THEIR, UM, RENEWAL, PRO RENEWAL PROJECT.
SO, UM, AND THE, MY MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO YOU TODAY IS THIS IS ALL IN COMMERCIAL OPERATION RIGHT NOW.
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FUTURISTIC MIGHT HAPPEN KIND OF THING.WE'RE, YOU KNOW, WE'RE PRODUCING HYDROGEN, WE'RE INJECTING IT INTO THE CAVERNS.
THE, THE COMBINED CYCLES ARE RUNNING.
THE HVDC TRANSMISSION LINE IS, IS IN OPERATION AND, UH, AND BEING UPGRADED.
SO IF I PUT THESE TWO SORT OF BOOKENDS TOGETHER, HUGE LARGE LOAD GROWTH, UM, WITH A LOT OF GAS TURBINE, UH, BEHIND THE METER AND THE FRONT OF THE METER DEMAND, AND ON THE RIGHT SIDE A NEW ENERGY, LONG DURATION ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGY.
AND WHAT I'M GONNA CLAIM IS, THIS IS ACTUALLY PRETTY RELEVANT TO ERCOT.
UM, AND MY REAL CLAIM TODAY IS THAT, UM, THIS IS SOMETHING, UH, OF RESOURCE ADEQUACY TECHNOLOGY TO THINK ABOUT ON EXTREME DAYS.
AND I'M ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT TWO KINDS OF EXTREME DAYS.
ONE EXTREME IS, YOU KNOW, SOMETHING LIKE STORM URI, RIGHT? UM, WHERE YOU'VE GOT, UH, YOU KNOW, A, A BIG, UH, SUPPLY SHORTAGE WITH A LOT OF DEMAND.
UH, THE OTHER EXTREME IS THE DAY THAT, YOU KNOW, YOU'VE GOT LOADS AND LOADS OF WIND AND SOLAR AND YOU'RE CURTAILING AND, AND, AND, YOU KNOW, TURNING FOLKS OFF, UM, YOU KNOW, IT, IT'S A WAY TO USE ALL THAT EXCESS POWER ON THE GOOD DAYS, STORE IT FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME.
SO IT'S THERE WHEN YOU NEED IT ON THAT EXTREMELY BAD DAY.
SO, UH, YOU KNOW, SO I'VE USED A PICTURE OF PABLO, UH, THIS IS ACTUALLY A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE, MARTY ADAMS, WHO'S, WHO WAS THE GENERAL MANAGER AT THE LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF WATER AND POWER, UM, WHEN WE SOLD THIS, UH, THIS WHOLE PROJECT TO THEM.
AND, UM, THE, THE GM AT L-A-D-W-P IS BASICALLY THE CEO OF L-A-D-W-P.
IT'S, IT'S A, IT'S OUR COUNTRY'S LARGEST MUNICIPALLY OWNED UTILITY POWERS, 4 MILLION HOMES.
AND, UM, UH, FOR SOME REASON, THEY CALL THEIR CEO GENERAL MANAGER.
BUT, UM, THE REASON THAT MARTY GOT PRETTY INTERESTED IN THIS IS THAT, AS I SAID EARLIER, UM, THEIR CITY COUNCIL VOTED 12 TO NOTHING THAT, UM, THEY HAD TO GET TO A HUNDRED PERCENT CLEAN ENERGY BY 2035.
AND, UM, AND THEY, THEY WERE ALSO LOOKING AT, UM, RETIRING THE INTERMOUNTAIN POWER PLANT, UM, A 1.6 GIGAWATT COAL FIRED POWER PLANT THAT LA DWP VERY MUCH RELIED ON.
AND THEY ACTUALLY RAN THIS AS LIKE A MID MERIT KIND OF A POWER PLANT, WHICH IS PRETTY UNUSUAL FOR A COAL FIRED POWER PLANT.
BUT IT'S CYCLED UP AND DOWN EVERY DAY, UM, YOU KNOW, FOLLOWING THE, THE PV SOLAR, UH, OR OFFSETTING THE PV SOLAR DUCT CURVE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
SO THEY'RE RE SO THEY'RE RETIRING THIS 1.8 GIGAWATT, UM, COAL FIRE POWER PLANT.
THAT'S AN INTEGRAL PART OF EVERYTHING THEY DO.
THEY WANT TO REPLACE IT WITH SOMETHING DISPATCHABLE, BUT THEIR CITY COUNCIL IS VERY NEGATIVE ON BUILDING NATURAL GAS, ANYTHING FOSSIL FUEL.
AND SO, WHAT, WHAT, WHAT FIT THE, YOU KNOW, THE, THE NEED WAS A POWER PLANT THAT COULD START OUT WITH A MIX OF GREEN HYDROGEN, UH, UH, CARBON FREE FUEL AND NATURAL GAS.
AND AS WE MADE PROGRESS IN REDUCING THE COST OF GREEN HYDROGEN OVER TIME, AND WE HAD SOME WORK TO DO TO MAKE OUR TURBINES A HUNDRED PERCENT HYDROGEN CAPABLE, THE IDEA WAS OVER THE COURSE OF A DECADE OR TWO, IT HAD THE POTENTIAL TO CONVERT TO, UH, A HUNDRED PERCENT, UM, OR, YOU KNOW, TO ZERO CARBON.
AND SO THAT IS REALLY THE BASIS OF WHAT, OF, OF HOW WE DID THAT.
THAT'S THE BASIS OF HOW THIS, THIS ALL CAME TO BE.
UM, AND THIS, THIS IS AROUND THE 2021, UH, KIND OF TIMEFRAME, UH, AS I SAID, UH, IT'S, IT'S NOW ALL BEEN BUILT AND IS IN COMMERCIAL OPERATION.
NOW, WE, AT MITSUBISHI, WE, WE WERE THINKING BIGGER THAN JUST DELTA.
WE WERE, THIS IS THE ONLY DOMMO SALT FORMATION IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.
SO YOU'VE, I'M GONNA SHOW YOU IN A MINUTE.
YOU'VE GOT LOTS OF DOMMO SALT HERE IN TEXAS, BUT IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES, THIS IS THE ONLY DOMMO SALT FORMATION.
THERE IS SOME BEDED SALT IN, IN OTHER PLACES, BUT THEY DON'T HAVE NEARLY THE ABUNDANCE OF, UH, UH, A GEOLOGIC STORAGE POTENTIAL THAT YOU GUYS DO HERE.
AND SO WE WERE, WE WERE THINKING OUR WAY THROUGH, UM, YOU KNOW, HOW ARE WE GONNA USE THIS TO ACTUALLY DECARBONIZE THE ENTIRE WESTERN INTERCONNECT? AND, UH, SOME OF THE THINGS WE WERE THINKING ABOUT, UM, YOU KNOW, THE, THE, THE, THE GREEN, UM, OVAL HERE, I THINK YOU CAN SEE THAT.
THAT'S WHERE THE SALT DOME IS.
THIS RED, UH, STRAIGHT LINE TO LA HERE IS, IS THE EXISTING 2.4 GIGAWATT HVDC LINE.
THIS DASH LINE IS, UM, IS THE, UH, TRANSWESTERN, UM, HVDC LINE THAT'S GETTING BUILT FROM THE LARGEST WIND PROJECT IN NORTH AMERICA IN WYOMING INTO, AND IT'S GONNA CONNECT INTO DELTA, UTAH.
SO THIS SITE IS GONNA BE REALLY WELL CONNECTED, CONNECTED INTO WYOMING WIND, AND THE HVDC LINED INTO THE LA BASIN.
UH, ALSO CONNECTS THIS FACILITY INTO PV SOLAR IN THE CALIFORNIA DESERT, AND ALSO ROOFTOP PV, WHICH, UM, UM, AND, YOU KNOW, AND AS
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YOU GUYS PROBABLY KNOW, THE, THE NICE THING ABOUT AN HVDC TRANSMISSION LINE IS IT CAN TRANSMIT IN BOTH DIRECTIONS.SO WHEN, WHEN LA IS LONG ON SOLAR, IT SENDS IT TO, UH, DELTA AND WE TURN IT INTO HYDROGEN.
AND WHEN LA IS SHORT ON POWER, WE CONVERT THAT HYDROGEN BACK INTO ELECTRICITY AND SEND IT DOWN THE SAME HVDC LINE BACK TO, TO LA.
UM, THE NICE THING ABOUT THE WYOMING WIND IS IT HELPS US GET THE CAPACITY FACTOR UP OF THE ELECTROLYZERS.
UM, AND THE NICE THING ABOUT TEXAS IS YOU GUYS HAVE, YOU HAVE, YOU GUYS HAVE GREAT WIND AND GREAT SOLAR CO-LOCATED, YOU KNOW, RIGHT HERE IN YOUR GREAT STATE.
BUT THE OTHER THING WE WERE THINKING ABOUT IS, IS BUILDING A NEW PIPELINE.
THIS GREEN PIPELINE, OR THIS GREEN LINE IS A PIPELINE TO BUTTE, MONTANA, UM, WHERE THEY HAVE A COMBINATION OF A LOT OF WATER AND IT'S INTERCONNECTED INTO EXISTING HVDC TRANSMISSION THAT GOES FROM THE COAL STRIP, COAL, COAL, UH, COAL FIRED POWER PLANT IN MONTANA TO THE WEST COAST, UM, LOAD CENTERS IN SEATTLE AND PORTLAND.
AND WE WERE GONNA, UH, PUT A, A GREEN HYDROGEN PRODUCTION FACILITY THERE THAT, THAT USED THE PIPELINE TO STORE, ITS ITS HYDROGEN IN DELTA, UTAH.
UM, AND, AND THEN USED THESE EXISTING HVDC TRANSMISSION LINES TO PUT SOMETHING TOGETHER THAT, THAT REACHES SOME OF THE BIGGEST LOAD CENTERS IN THE WESTERN INTERCONNECT.
AND THIS WAS SORT OF OUR THOUGHT OF THE NEXT THING WE, WE MIGHT DO AFTER WE THIS PROJECT.
UH, SO THIS, THIS IS A FUTURE KIND OF THING I'M SHOWING YOU RIGHT HERE.
WHEREAS, YOU KNOW, THE PROJECT IN DELTA IS A RIGHT NOW KIND OF THING.
UM, NOW ONE OF THE BIG CRITICISM OF GREEN HYDROGEN IS IT'S, IT'S EXPENSIVE ELECTRICITY.
AND ONE OF THE THINGS I TELL PEOPLE ALL THE TIME IS, UH, GREEN HYDROGEN IS NOT A BASE LOAD POWER GENERATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE PEOPLE WHO CRITICIZE IT, AND THERE, THERE ARE LOTS OF PEOPLE WHO WILL CRITICIZE IT.
THEY'RE ALWAYS TELLING YOU WHY IT'S SUCH A BAD SOLUTION FOR BASE LOAD POWER GENERATION.
THEY MIGHT NOT SAY THAT, BUT WHEN YOU LISTEN TO THE REASONS THEY'RE GIVING YOU FOR WHY IT'S, IT'S NO GOOD, THEIR, THEIR, THEIR MINDSET IS, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE EVALUATING IT AS A FUEL FOR BASE LOAD POWER GENERATION.
THAT IS NOT WHAT I'M HERE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT TODAY.
I'M TALKING TO YOU ABOUT USING GREEN HYDROGEN TO STORE ELECTRICITY FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME.
AND IN THAT CONTEXT, IT ACTUALLY, UH, PENCILS OUT PRETTY WELL.
AND I'LL, I'LL SHOW YOU IN A MINUTE, UH, COMPARED TO OTHER ALTERNATIVES, BUT EVEN IN THIS CASE WHERE, UM, WE'RE USING A BLEND, WHAT WE'RE DOING IS WE'RE, REMEMBER WE'RE REPLACING AN EXISTING COAL FIRE POWER PLANT THAT WAS PRODUCING POWER FOR ABOUT 50 TO $55, UM, A MEGAWATT HOUR BY PUTTING A REALLY FUEL EFFICIENT H CLASS COMBINED CYCLE POWER PLANT IN ITS PLACE, UM, USING LOW COST NORTH AMERICAN NATURAL GAS, WE WERE ABLE TO SHOW THEM THAT WE COULD PRODUCE POWER FOR ABOUT $38 A MEGAWATT HOUR, SO MUCH LESS THAN THAT COAL FIRED POWER PLANT.
AND THEN WHEN WE BLEND IN 30 VOLUME PERCENT HYDROGEN, WHICH HYDROGEN'S A VERY LIGHT MOLECULE IN, IN WEIGHT PERCENTAGE IS ONLY 11%.
AND WEIGHT IS WHAT DETERMINES, YOU KNOW, FUEL COST AND, AND, AND ALSO CARBON EMISSIONS, BY THE WAY.
UM, SO EVEN THOUGH IT'S PRETTY EXPENSIVE POWER AND $157 A MEGAWATT HOUR, IF, IF WE HIT $3 KILOGRAM, UM, GREEN HYDROGEN COST, UM, WHEN YOU BLEND IT IN WITH, YOU KNOW, 11% GREEN HYDROGEN, NOT 89% REALLY INEXPENSIVE NATURAL GAS POWER, WE ACTUALLY WERE ABLE TO COME IN AT A, AT A COST OF ELECTRICITY OF ABOUT $52 A MEGAWATT HOUR, WHICH WAS RIGHT IN THAT 50 TO $55 RANGE THAT WE WERE ESTIMATING THAT THE COALFIRE POWER PLANT WAS PRODUCING POWER AT.
AND SO THIS IS SORT OF HOW WE SOLD IT AS A, A, A COST EFFECTIVE SOLUTION FOR L UH, LED WPS RATE PAYERS.
UM, AND THE OTHER OFF-TAKERS OF IPA, UM, IS THAT, YOU KNOW, WE WERE COMING IN AT ABOUT THE SAME COST AS THAT COAL FIRE POWER PLANT THAT, THAT, THAT HAD TO RETIRE.
AND THEN THE IDEA WAS AS, AS THE COST OF GREEN HYDROGEN FALLS OVER TIME, AND AS OUR TURBINES BECOME MORE CAPABLE OF BURNING GREEN HEIGHT, MORE GREEN HYDROGEN, WE COULD INCREASE THAT PERCENTAGE FROM 30% TO 50% TO 70%, EVENTUALLY TO A HUNDRED PERCENT WITH THE GOAL OF ALWAYS TRYING TO STAY BELOW THAT, YOU KNOW, SORT OF 50 TO $55 A MEGAWATT HOUR, BLENDED, BLENDED COST.
UM, AND SO PAUL, CAN I JUST ASK QUESTION ON THAT? YES.
WAS, WAS THE 30% A QUESTION OF THE PHYSICS OF THE COMBINED CYCLE PLANT, OR WAS IT DRIVEN BY THE ECONOMICS? YEAH, IT'S, IT'S DRIVEN COMPLETELY BY THE, UM, THE COMBUSTION SYSTEM.
IT'S A DRY, LOW NOX COMBUSTION SYSTEM.
AND IN ORDER, UH, AT THE TIME, 30% WAS THE, THE HIGHEST WE COULD GO AND STILL BE IN DRY LOW NOX COMBUSTION COMPLIANCE.
SO IT WAS ALL ABOUT HITTING, YOU KNOW, THE TWO PPM AT THE STACK, UM, NOX REQUIREMENT OF THE, OF THE PRODUCT.
SO IT'S NOT A PHYSICAL CONSTRAINT, IT'S DRIVEN BY REGULATORY ISSUES.
AND, UH, THERE'S TURBINES TODAY WITH STANDARD COMBUSTION THAT CAN BURN A HUNDRED PERCENT HYDROGEN, RIGHT? UM, AND AS A MATTER OF FACT, UH, JUST WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE THIS PROJECT, MITSUBISHI HAS RECENTLY DEMONSTRATED A 50% HYDROGEN BLEND AT A, A LARGE, UH, PROJECT WITH, UH, SOUTHERN COMPANY IN GEORGIA, GEORGIA, GEORGIA OF POWER.
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AND THEN, UH, UH, BAKER HUGHES HAS ACTUALLY ANNOUNCED THAT ONE OF THEIR SMALLER GAS TURBINES, THE LT 16, UH, HAS A HUNDRED, A HUNDRED PERCENT HYDROGEN CAPABILITY, UH, IN DRY LOX COMBUSTION MODE.SO, UH, IT'S THE FIRST TIME AN OEM HAS SORT OF COME OUT PUBLIC AND SAID, WE DID IT.
SO ANYWAY, THEY'RE, THEY'RE ALL ON THEIR WAY TO MAKING THIS HAPPEN AND BEING ABLE TO, UH, HANDLE A HUNDRED PERCENT HYDROGEN, UH, AND, AND THE DRY OX COMBUSTION COMPLIANCE.
DR. BROWN, CAN I ASK A QUICK FOLLOW UP ON THE ECONOMICS? YES, SIR.
IS YOUR CURRENT COST PER KILOGRAM FOR GREEN HYDROGEN $3, OR IS THAT YOUR TARGET COST? SO IT WAS THE TARGET COST WHEN WE, UH, YOU KNOW, DEVELOPED THIS PROJECT.
UM, I ACTUALLY, YOU KNOW, I'M UNDER AN NDA, I CAN'T, NO, THE PROJECT OWNERS HAVEN'T DISCLOSED WHERE THEY'RE REALLY AT.
NEITHER HAS L-A-D-W-P, SO I, UH, I HAVE TO REMAIN SILENT ON THAT.
OKAY? BUT YOU COULD FIND A LOT OF, YOU KNOW, SORT OF INDEPENDENT SOURCES THAT, THAT WILL SAY THAT $3 IS, IS, YOU KNOW, A DOABLE KIND OF THING.
UM, YOU, YOU KNOW, WITH SOME ASSUMPTIONS AROUND WHAT YOUR CAPACITY FACTOR IS, YOUR ELECTROLYZER COST, ET CETERA, COST OF ELECTRICITY, YOU KNOW? YEAH.
KEEP IN MIND, UM, ONE OF THE BENEFITS OF THIS IS THAT WE'RE USING A LOT OF VERY LOW COST ELECTRICITY THAT WOULD OTHERWISE BE CURTAILED.
AND ABOUT 80% OF THE COST OF GREEN HYDROGEN IS ELECTRIC, IS THE COST OF ELECTRICITY.
SO IF YOU'RE IN A PLACE WITH A LOT OF CURTAILMENT, UM, OR EVEN JUST FREQUENT LOW, UH, MARGINAL COST OF ELECTRICITY, YOU CAN, YOU CAN, YOU CAN TARGET $3 AND YOU, IT, IT IS WITHIN THE, THE, THE REALM OF BELIEVABILITY, LET'S SAY THAT.
OKAY? SO, UM, THE, THE OTHER THING, YOU KNOW, I KNOW COMING IN HERE TO TEXAS THAT, UH, THIS, THE, THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT HERE IS PROBABLY QUITE A BIT DIFFERENT THAN THE LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, RIGHT? UM, BUT YOU HAVE SOME CALIFORNIANS COMING TO YOUR STATE THAT ARE BUILDING REALLY BIG, LARGE LOAD, UH, PROJECTS, AND THEY'RE FOLKS LIKE GOOGLE THAT HAVE MADE SOME VERY STRONG ENVIRONMENTAL AND, AND CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION TARGETS.
UM, I, YOU KNOW, WHAT I WOULD SAY HERE TODAY, AND KEEP IN MIND, I'M A GUY VERY HAPPY TO SEW NATURAL GAS POWER PLANTS TO ANYBODY WHO WILL BUY 'EM.
I'M, YOU KNOW, I ACTUALLY BELIEVE IN CLIMATE CHANGE.
I BELIEVE IN THE ENERGY TRANSITION, BUT I'M FAR FROM A, A ZEALOT.
UM, AND WELL, I'LL LEAVE IT THERE, BUT, UM, BUT I DO THINK THAT EVEN IF, UH, A LARGE PORTION OF YOUR CUSTOMERS AND YOUR GRID, UM, ARE, UH, YOU KNOW, LET'S SAY A LITTLE BIT MORE PATIENT ABOUT REACHING, UM, THEIR, THEIR WHATEVER CO2 EMISSIONS TARGETS THEY HAVE, YOU'RE GONNA HAVE SOME VERY LARGE LOAD CUSTOMERS THAT ARE VERY AMBITIOUS ABOUT REDUCING THEIR CARBON EMISSIONS AND, UM, AND, AND ARE ALSO WILLING TO SPEND A LITTLE BIT EXTRA TO DO THAT.
AND SO I THINK FOR THESE KIND OF FOLKS, UM, THIS COULD BE SOMETHING THAT MIGHT RESONATE WITH THEM.
SO JUST, UH, MY VIEW ON WHAT MIGHT BE COMING NOW, THE, THE NEXT THING I'M GONNA DO, I'M GONNA GO THROUGH SOME SLIDES RAPIDLY HERE.
I JUST WANT TO, I, I, I SOW RESPECT ERCOT AND THE STATE OF TEXAS ABILITY TO GET STUFF DONE.
UM, I JUST, IF IT LOOKS AMBITIOUS TO YOU TO BUILD A PIPELINE TO BUILD NEW, NEW HVDC TRANSMISSION, TO BUILD SALT CAVERNS TO, YOU KNOW, DO ALL THIS STUFF, UM, YOU GUYS, UH, ARE, YOU KNOW, IF YOU LOOK AT THAT, THIS HUGE THING OF RED, THIS IS, THESE ARE NATURAL GAS PIPELINES IN THE PERMIAN BASIN.
YOU KNOW, FRACKING STARTED IN AROUND 2008.
YOU GUYS BUILT ALL OF THAT IN THE LAST 18 YEARS.
UM, YOU KNOW, TEXAS KNOWS HOW TO GET PIPELINES DONE.
UH, HERE'S AN EVEN BETTER EXAMPLE.
WHEN PRESIDENT OBAMA SIGNED LEGISLATION ALLOWING THE EXPORT OF US CRUDE OIL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SIX YEARS, YOU GUYS BUILT FIVE MASSIVE, UH, PIPELINES FROM THE PERMIAN TO THE GULF COAST, SO YOU COULD EXPORT CRUDE OIL AND NATURAL GAS FROM THE GULF COAST.
UM, YOU KNOW, YOU GUYS CAN GET BIG STUFF DONE IN, IN A, A PRETTY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME, UM, WHEN YOU NEEDED TO GET WEST TEXAS WIND TO YOUR LOAD CENTERS IN EAST TEXAS.
YOUR CREZ, UH, PROGRAM BUILT MANY, MANY GIGAWATTS OF HVDC TRANSMISSION IN SIX OR SEVEN YEARS, IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY.
UM, AS A MATTER OF FACT, YOU GUYS ALREADY HAVE THE WORLD'S GREATEST QUANTITY OF ALREADY INSTALLED HYDROGEN PIPELINES, AND YOU ALREADY HAVE HYDROGEN SALT CAVERNS IN OPERATION IN THE STATE OF TEXAS.
THE, THE, THE OLDEST ONE HAS BEEN IN OPERATION FOR 30 YEARS.
THERE'S 1600 MILES OF PIPE OF HYDROGEN PIPELINES IN THE GROUND RIGHT NOW IN, UM, IN THE GULF COAST, WITH THE MAJORITY OF IT BEING IN THE STATE OF TEXAS.
UH, YOU GUYS HAVE, UH, A REAL ABUNDANCE OF SALT CAVERNS AND OTHER GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS.
[00:25:01]
RIGHT NOW, TODAY YOU HAVE ABOUT A A HALF OF A TERAWATT HOUR OF NATURAL GAS STORED IN GEOLOGIC STORAGE.AND ALL OF THE, YOU KNOW, ALL OF YOUR NATURAL GAS PIPELINES AT SOME POINT GO BACK TO GEOLOGIC STORAGE OF NATURAL GAS.
UM, WHAT I'M PROPOSING TO DO IS JUST DO EXACTLY WHAT YOU ALREADY DO WITH A DIFFERENT MOLECULE USING PIPELINES THAT ARE, THAT TECHNOLOGIES THAT ALREADY EXIST, SALT CAVERN TECHNOLOGIES THAT ALREADY EXIST, AND IN SALT CAVERNS THAT ARE SCATTERED ALL OVER YOUR, YOUR STATE.
UM, IF YOU DECIDE TO USE BLUE HYDROGEN, UH, YOU KNOW, AND GREEN HYDROGEN IS HYDROGEN PRODUCED FROM RENEWABLE POWER.
BLUE HYDROGEN IS HYDROGEN PRODUCED FROM NATURAL GAS WITH CARBON CAPTURE.
YOU GUYS HAVE SOME OF THE WORLD'S BEST CARBON CAPTURE INFRASTRUCTURE, UM, THAT'S UNDER, THAT'S ALREADY EXISTING OR, UH, UNDER PLANNED FOR THE FUTURE FROM FOLKS LIKE EXXONMOBIL.
UM, THE OTHER THING IS, YOU KNOW, YOU GUYS ARE THE, OUR COUNTRY'S RENEWABLE, UH, LEADERS IN DEPLOYING WIND AND SOLAR.
YOU'RE ALSO ONE OF OUR COUNTRY'S LEADERS IN DEPLOYING BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE.
UH, THIS IS FROM A, SOME, SOME WORK THAT MY STUDENTS DID AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE.
AND ONE OF THE THINGS THEY FOUND IS THAT, UH, PV SOLAR PLUS WIND PLUS BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE IS A REALLY GREAT WAY TO PROVIDE ABOUT 90% OR TO PROVIDE POWER ON THE 90% OF THE DAYS THAT ARE THE BEST DAYS OF THE YEAR.
AND IT'S A REALLY EXPENSIVE WAY TO PRODUCE IT ON THE 10% OF THE DAYS THAT ARE THE TOUGHEST DAYS OF THE YEAR.
AND ON THOSE 10% OF THE DAYS, IF, IF YOU USE GREEN HYDROGEN WITH GEOLOGIC STORAGE AND SOMEPLACE LIKE DELTA INSTEAD OF BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE, IT'S ACTUALLY A LOT CHEAPER TO STORE THAT POWER WITH GREEN HYDROGEN THAN IT IS WITH BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE.
UM, AND SO, UH, UH, IT'S, YOU KNOW, AGAIN, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THOSE EXTREME DAYS, THE LAST 5% OR SO, 10% WHERE, UM, THE BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE IS JUST THE WRONG SOLUTION.
AND AGAIN, I WANT TO, I, I'VE LAUNCHED BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE COMPANIES BEFORE, BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE IS A GREAT SOLUTION FOR THE REST OF THE DAYS OF THE YEAR.
UM, AGAIN, I JUST WANT TO EMPHASIZE MY POINT.
I'M NOT HERE CLAIMING THAT GREEN HYDROGEN IS A GOOD BASE LOAD FUEL.
AND, UM, AGAIN, I WANT YOU TO THINK ABOUT IT ON THOSE EXTREME DAYS AS, UH, A POTENTIAL SOLUTION FOR THE ERCOT GRID.
AND THE LAST THING I WANNA SAY IS, I GOT TWO MORE SLIDES.
UM, YOU GUYS HAVE A LOT OF PEAKING POWER PLANTS.
I'VE SOLD A BUNCH OF THEM, UH, IN, INTO TEXAS, AND I JUST PICKED ONE OF THEM.
THIS IS THE SILAS RAY BROWNSVILLE PEAKER PLANT.
UM, I PICKED, THERE'S, THERE'S A COUPLE LM SIX THOUSANDS THERE THAT ARE, UM, SIMPLE CYCLE PEAKERS.
THEY RUN AT, UH, CAPACITY FACTORS, YOU KNOW, RANGING FROM TWO TO 8% DEPENDING ON, ON THE YEAR.
UM, AND I'VE JUST GONE THROUGH AND SORT OF SHOWN, UH, THAT, YOU KNOW, FROM A FUEL COST POINT OF VIEW, YOU KNOW, IT'S VERY LOW COST ELECTRICITY, BUT, UH, IT'S A LITTLE BIT MORE THAN THAT COMBINED CYCLE I SHOWED YOU.
BUT, UM, WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE CAPITAL COST FOR SOMETHING WITH SUCH A LOW CAPACITY FACTOR, IT'S REALLY EXPENSIVE ELECTRICITY, UM, YOU KNOW, $388 A MEGAWATT HOUR, UH, AGAIN, BECAUSE IT'S GOT SUCH A LOW CAPACITY FACTOR AND IT'S, UH, VERY FUEL INEFFICIENT.
UM, IF YOU POWER THAT SAME PEAKER WITH BLUE HYDROGEN PRODUCED HERE IN TEXAS WITH YOUR CARBON CAPTURE CAPABILITY, UM, YOU KNOW, INDEPENDENT ESTIMATES ARE THAT THAT WOULD BE ABOUT A DOLLAR 80 A KILOGRAM, UH, WHICH WOULD EQUATE TO, UM, ABOUT $150 MEGAWATT HOUR VARIABLE FUEL COST.
UH, YOUR CAPITAL COST IS GONNA BE THE SAME, I'M ASSUMING THE SAME CAPACITY FACTOR, UM, THE SAME COST PER KILOWATT TO INSTALL THAT POWER.
UH, AND SO IT IS MORE EXPENSIVE POWER.
UM, IF YOU GET SOME 45 Q TAX CREDITS, IT, IT TAKES SOME OF THAT OUT, BUT, YOU KNOW, BUT YOU'RE IN THE SAME ZIP CODE, RIGHT? YOU KNOW, THE THE POINT I MAKE WITH THIS SLIDE IS, UM, IF YOU'RE WILLING TO SPEND $388 A MEGAWATT HOUR, BECAUSE YOU NEED THAT PEAKER ON THAT EXTREME DAY, WHEN TWO TO 8% OF THE YEAR YOU'VE GOTTA HAVE POWER, UM, AGAIN, YOU KNOW, IT, IT'S A DIFFERENT WAY OF THINKING ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU'RE WILLING TO PAY FOR POWER ON THOSE EXTREME DAYS.
IF YOU LOOK AT THE SAME THING WITH, UM, GREEN HYDROGEN USING AN H CLASS TURBINE, AND THESE DAYS, OUR COMBINED CYCLES CAN BE, UH, MADE TO BE VERY, VERY FLEXIBLE.
A COMBINED CYCLE POWER PLANT TODAY, IF YOU ASK FOR IT, CAN RUN LIKE A PEAKER OF THE PAST.
UM, AND SO WHAT YOU CAN GET IS THAT H CLASS KIND OF FUEL EFFICIENCY WITH THE KIND OF FLEXIBILITY THAT YOU'RE USED TO GETTING FROM A PEAKER.
AND IF YOU, AND IN THIS CASE, WHAT I'VE DONE IS ASSUMED THAT IF YOU HAD A SUPER EFFICIENT PEAKER, IT WOULD GET A BIT, IT WOULD BE GET DISPATCHED A BIT MORE.
SO YOUR CAPACITY FACTOR WOULD GO FROM TWO TO 8% TO 15%.
UM, YOU'RE STILL GONNA HAVE EXPENSIVE, UH, FUEL COSTS BECAUSE IT'S, UH, GREEN HYDROGEN, BUT, UH, BECAUSE YOUR CAPACITY FACTOR GOES UP, UM, YOU ACTUALLY GET A LOWER COST OF ELECTRICITY OUT OF THIS SOLUTION THAN YOU DID OUT OF THE, THE GAS FIRED PEAKER
[00:30:01]
OF THE PAST.SO, UH, AGAIN, ON, ON THE EXTREME DAY, THERE'S A WAY TO GET YOUR HEAD AROUND THE COST MATH ON AN AVERAGE DAY, THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT.
OKAY? AND THAT'S REALLY, UH, YOU KNOW, THAT'S MY PRESENTATION FOR TODAY.
ANY QUESTIONS FOR PAUL? HEARING NONE, DR. BROWNING, THANK YOU SO MUCH.
[5. Approval of the Company's Strategic Plan for AI]
AGENDA ITEM FIVE, WHICH IS THE APPROVAL OF THE COMPANY'S STRATEGIC PLAN FOR AI.AND VENKAT IS GONNA TAKE US THROUGH THIS, UM, THE BOARD APPROVED REVISIONS TO THE COMMITTEE'S CHARTER IN FEBRUARY TO ADD APPROVAL MONITORING FOR THE COMPANY'S STRATEGIC PLAN FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
VENKAT'S GONNA JOIN US TO PRESENT AN OVERVIEW OF THAT PLAN FOLLOWING THE PLAN.
UH, I'LL ENTERTAIN FURTHER DISCUSSION, AND THEN WE'LL HAVE A VOTE ON APPROVAL OF THAT PLAN.
AND IT'LL BE A COMMITTEE ONLY VI VOTING ITEM.
IT DOESN'T GO TO THE FULL BOARD.
AND WE'LL THEN MONITOR THAT AT UPCOMING MEETINGS.
UM, I'M HAPPY TO BE HERE TODAY TO TALK ABOUT, UM, OUR ENTERPRISE DATA AND AI STRATEGY, UM, ALL THE DIFFERENT PIECES FROM THE GOVERNANCE SIDE, FROM THE POLICIES AND THE STANDARDS, UH, THE STRATEGY ITSELF AS WELL AS, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THE USE CASES THAT WE ARE WORKING ON, ET CETERA, IS ALL COMING TOGETHER NICELY THAT I'M HERE IN FRONT OF YOU TODAY TO, TO GET YOUR APPROVAL TO EXECUTE ALL OF THIS, UH, IN A VERY RESPONSIBLE WAY.
UH, FOR US AS AN ORGANIZATION, YOU ALL MUST HAVE HEARD ABOUT THE ACCOUNT 4.0 STRATEGY.
UM, I STRONGLY BELIEVE, WE BELIEVE THAT DATA AND AI IS TRULY FOUNDATIONAL FOR US TO GET TO THE, THE FOUR, 4.0 STRATEGY OF TRYING TO BE THE MOST RELIABLE AND INNOVATIVE GRID IN THE WORLD.
AND THE STRATEGY THAT WE HAVE PUT TOGETHER FOR DATA AND AI IS NOT, IS NOT WORKING INDEPENDENTLY.
IT WORKS IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE EXISTING STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES THAT WE HAVE FOR OUR ORGANIZATION.
AND SO, I WANNA MAKE A POINT THAT, UH, THESE TWO STRATEGIES GO HAND IN HAND.
AND THE ENTERPRISE DATA AND AI STRATEGY IS PART OF OUR OVERALL
UH, THERE ARE THREE MAIN PILLARS, UH, FOR OUR, UM, DATA AND AI STRATEGY.
THE FIRST ONE IS ALL ABOUT GETTING THE FOUNDATIONS RIGHT.
IF YOU DON'T GET THE FOUNDATIONS RIGHT, YOU KNOW, THERE'LL BE A LOT OF CRACKS THAT WILL APPEAR IN, IN YOUR STRATEGY.
AND WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT THE TOOLING AND, AND THE DATA FOUNDATIONS ARE PRETTY STRONG FOR OUR ORGANIZATION.
THE SECOND ONE IS ALL ABOUT GOVERNANCE.
WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE GOVERNANCE, YOU KNOW, IS SET UP PROPERLY FOR US, UH, BE IT THE POLICIES, BE IT THE CORPORATE STANDARDS.
UH, WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF THAT IS, IS, UH, SET PROPERLY.
AND THE THIRD ONE IS ALL ABOUT MAKING SURE THAT WE ARE DELIVERING ON THE USE CASES.
THERE IS VALUE THAT WE ARE GETTING AS AN ORGANIZATION.
SO THESE ARE THE THREE SORT OF PILLARS TO REITERATE THE POINT.
FIRST IS FOUNDATION, SECOND ONE IS GOVERNANCE.
THIRD ONE IS ALL ABOUT EXECUTION, RIGHT? AND, UH, YOU KNOW, WHAT WE DID WAS WE INITIALLY WROTE UP THE, THE ENTERPRISE DATA AND AI STRATEGY INTERNALLY WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION.
UM, AND THEN, UH, WE WROTE OUR CORPORATE STANDARDS.
WE WROTE OUR CORPORATE POLICY, ET CETERA, BUT WE WANTED TO GET SOMEBODY INDEPENDENT TO COME AND SEE, YOU KNOW, HOW ARE STRATEGY STACKED UP AGAINST, YOU KNOW, THE INDUSTRY STANDARDS.
SO WE DID A PUBLIC, UH, YOU KNOW, A REQUEST FOR PROCUREMENT, UH, SAYING THAT, HEY, WE WANT A COMPANY TO COME AND DO AN ASSESSMENT ON, YOU KNOW, ON OUR STRATEGY.
UH, WE HAD, UH, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, 21 VENDORS WHO RESPONDED TO OUR RFP.
UH, IT WAS QUITE AN ENDEAVOR TO GO THROUGH ALL OF THEM, TO PICK A CONSULTING COMPANY TO HELP US WITH IDENTIFYING OUR, UM, UH, YOU KNOW, UH, WHERE WE ARE IN OUR STRATEGY AND, UH, ASSESS IT AND ALSO GIVE US SOME GAPS, RIGHT? AND SO, UH, WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW, IF YOU LOOK AT, YOU KNOW, UH, THE WAY THE, THE CONSULTING COMPANY DOES IT IS, YOU KNOW, THEY HAVE A SCALE OF ONE TO FIVE.
AND, UH, THEY SAID THAT RIGHT NOW WE ARE AT 1.6, WHICH THE FACT THAT WE ARE JUST STARTING UP, I THINK IS, IS A DECENT, UH, YOU KNOW, IS A DECENT NUMBER.
IN FACT, YOU KNOW, I THOUGHT MAYBE WE'LL BE EVEN LOWER THAN THAT, YOU KNOW, GIVEN, UH, GIVEN OUR, UH, TIMELINE HERE.
BUT THEN IF WE REALLY EXECUTE ALL THE THINGS THAT WE LAID OUT IN OUR STRATEGY, THE CONSULTING COMPANY BELIEVES THAT WE WILL BE AT ABOUT 4.6, WHICH IS, YOU KNOW, THE BEST IN THE INDUSTRY IN A WAY, IN THE FOUR POINT, YOU KNOW, FIVE TO FIVE RANGE.
UM, AND SO I THINK IT'S A, IT'S A GOOD, UH, MEASURE FOR US IN TERMS OF WHERE WE ARE STARTING.
AND IT ALSO GIVES ME AND THE ORGANIZATION A GOOD GOALPOST IN TERMS OF WHERE WE NEED TO GO AS AN ORGANIZATION.
UM, SO 1.6 TO 4.6 IS, IS WHERE, UM, YOU KNOW, WE WANT TO GO AND HOW WE ARE GONNA GO ABOUT IT, RIGHT? SO ON THE, ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE, YOU SEE THE, THE 1.6 WHERE WE ARE TODAY, WHERE WE DO HAVE GOVERNANCE.
IT'S NOT THAT, YOU KNOW, WE DON'T HAVE GOVERNANCE, BUT WE HAVE NOT, YOU KNOW, IMPLEMENTED IT IN THE RIGHT WAY.
UH, WE HAVE DATA IN THE ORGANIZATION.
ERCOT HAS TONS OF DATA, YOU KNOW, PETABYTES WORTH OF DATA THAT, THAT WE ARE SITTING ON.
[00:35:01]
SILOED, IT IS FRAGMENTED.WE WANT TO, YOU KNOW, UH, UH, GET IT INTO A BETTER SHAPE.
AND OF COURSE, AI IS JUST GOING AT PHENOMENAL PACE RIGHT NOW, RIGHT? AND WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT, YOU KNOW, WE JUST DON'T FALL BEHIND ON THE GOVERNANCE OF THAT AI.
SO WE WANT TO, WE WANT TO GET AI AHEAD OF, YOU KNOW, UM, GET SOME GUARDRAILS FOR THAT.
SO USING THE THREE PILLARS THAT I JUST TALKED ABOUT, THE DATA FOUNDATIONS, THE GOVERNANCE PIECE, AS WELL AS THE OPERATIONALIZATION PIECE, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE CLEARLY LAID OUT WHAT WE NEED TO DO IN 2026 TO GET FROM 1.6 TO 4.6.
WILL WE GET TO 4.6 BY END OF THIS YEAR? MOST LIKELY NOT.
AND IT, IT IS QUITE A JOURNEY FOR US, UH, TO GET THERE, BUT I'M REALLY HOPEFUL THAT, UH, WE WILL PROBABLY GET INTO THE THREES AND HIGHER THREES, UM, AS WE GO ALONG, UH, IN THIS JOURNEY.
SO IN PILLAR ONE, UH, WE ARE WORKING ON GETTING SOME SPECIFIC GOVERNED DATA STREAMS FOR THE ORGANIZATION, SOME FOUNDATIONAL DATA STREAMS IN PILLAR TWO, WE WANT TO GET THE GOVERNANCE TOOLS DEPLOYED FOR THE ORGANIZATION.
AGAIN, THERE'S AN RFP THAT WE HAVE PUT OUT THERE RIGHT NOW TO GET A DATA GOVERNANCE TOOL FOR OUR, FOR OUR ORGANIZATION.
AND THEN PILLAR THREE, WE DO HAVE SOME GEN AI USE CASES THAT WE ARE WORKING ON RIGHT NOW THAT WE WILL, WE ARE LEARNING AS THESE GEN AI PROOF OF CONCEPTS ARE HAPPENING.
AND ONCE THE FOUNDATIONS AND THE GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES IS IN PLACE, YOU KNOW, WE, WE WILL BE ABLE TO DO A BETTER JOB WITH THE REST OF THE USE CASES THAT WE ARE SITTING ON IN THE ORGANIZATION.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, UM, THERE ARE MORE THAN 800 OR SO USERS AT
WE HAVE LOTS OF IDEAS IN THE ORGANIZATION, MORE THAN HUNDRED OR SO IDEAS.
AND ONCE THESE STRUCTURES ARE IN PLACE, YOU KNOW, AND THE FRAMEWORK IS IN PLACE FOR US TO WORK ON THESE GEN AI APPLICATIONS, WE WILL SLOWLY AND STEADILY START WORKING ON THEM SO THAT WE CAN ACTUALLY GET THROUGH, UH, TRUE IMPACT FOR THE ORGANIZATION.
AND SO, THE TARGET OF 4.6, UH, WHERE WE WANT TO BE IS, YOU KNOW, THE GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES ARE IN PLACE, EVERYTHING IS OPERATING WELL.
WE CAN TRUST THE DATA THAT, YOU KNOW, THESE TOOLS ARE GONNA USE.
AND OF COURSE, AI IS BEING SCALED IN THE ORGANIZATION IN A VERY SAFE MANNER.
UH, SOME KEY ELEMENTS OF OUR, UH, ENTERPRISE DATA AND AI STRATEGY.
UH, AGAIN, WE ARE NOT CREATING THIS IN VACUUM.
THERE ARE SOME VERY, UH, UH, PROMINENT FRAMEWORKS THAT ARE OUT THERE.
THE NIST FRAMEWORK IS ONE OF THEM.
SO A LOT OF OUR STRATEGIC ELEMENTS ARE COMING FROM THE, THE NIST FRAMEWORK.
ALSO, ON THE DATA SIDE, YOU KNOW, THERE ARE, AGAIN, SOME FRAMEWORKS CALLED DAMA, DM B, ET CETERA, AND WE HAVE LEVERAGED SOME OF THE KEY ELEMENTS FROM, FROM THOSE FRAMEWORKS AS WELL AS WELL.
SO, THE EIGHT, YOU KNOW, THINGS THAT I JUST WANT TO BRIEFLY TOUCH UPON TODAY, RIGHT, IS THINGS THAT YOU SEE HERE.
SO WE ARE COVERING THE RISK AS, AS BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
YOU KNOW, UH, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT YOU ALL THINK ABOUT VERY CAREFULLY.
UH, NOT JUST THE RISK IN TERMS OF THE AI APPLICATIONS ITSELF.
UH, WE ARE ALSO LOOKING AT THE VENDOR RISK MANAGEMENT, UM, IN TERMS OF THE DATA, THE MODELS, AND THE TRAINING, ET CETERA.
OF COURSE, WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WHATEVER WE ARE DEVELOPING, YOU KNOW, WE THINK ABOUT SECURITY, THE COMPLIANCE AND CONTROLS, ET CETERA.
UM, IN THE AI WORLD, TRANSPARENCY, EXPLAINABILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IS VERY IMPORTANT.
YOU KNOW, THESE TOOLS ARE NOT VERY DETERMINISTIC.
THESE TOOLS ARE VERY PROBABILISTIC.
IF I TELL DAN OR KEITH THAT, HEY, YOU KNOW, LET'S USE THIS AI TOOL WITHIN YOUR, UH, BUSINESS OPS, AND I GIVE THEM A DIFFERENT ANSWER EVERY TIME, THEY'RE, THEY'RE NOT GONNA LIKE THAT.
SO, YOU KNOW, WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE, UH, METRICS AROUND EXPLAINABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY, ET CETERA.
OF COURSE, THERE'S A LOT OF EMPHASIS ON QUALITY ASSURANCE.
UH, THERE'S A LOT OF EMPHASIS ON, YOU KNOW, INTERNAL AUDITS, MAKING SURE THAT, YOU KNOW, THESE TOOLS ARE, UM, COMPLIANT.
AND WE ALL, WE ALSO WANT TO DO NOT JUST INTERNAL STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS ON OUR AI STRATEGY.
YOU KNOW, WE WANT TO DO SOME EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS BECAUSE, YOU KNOW,
AND NONE OF THIS IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT HAVING A PROPER ORGANIZATION CHANGE MANAGEMENT HAPPEN IN THE ORGANIZATION.
THIS WORLD IS CHANGING VERY FAST.
UM, AND IF WE DON'T, IT IS NOT JUST ABOUT TECHNOLOGY.
IT'S ABOUT GETTING THE PEOPLE, IT'S ABOUT GETTING THE PROCESS, ALL OF THEM TOGETHER TO MOVE FORWARD IS WHEN WE WILL ACTUALLY, YOU KNOW, SEE THE, THE IMPACT THAT WE WANT.
SO OUR, OUR STRATEGY HAS ALL THESE KEY AREAS COVERED.
AND AS I SAID, WE ARE NOT OPERATING IN VACUUM.
WE ARE LOOKING AT STANDARD FRAMEWORKS THERE, UM, IN TERMS OF, YOU KNOW, THE GOVERNANCE AND THE, THE RISK MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE.
UM, I'LL WALK YOU THROUGH FROM THE, THE BOTTOM TO THE, THE TOP OF THE SLIDE.
UH, WHAT YOU HAVE AT THE BOTTOM IS THE KEY SMES, UH, WHO ARE WORKING ON DATA AND AI.
SO WE ARE THINKING OF HAVING A WORKING COMMITTEE.
IN FACT, WE HAVE A VARIATION OF THIS IN THE ORGANIZATION RIGHT NOW CALLED, UH, AI COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE.
UM, AND, UH, YOU KNOW, THESE TWO, YOU KNOW, THESE, THESE WORKING COMMITTEE WILL REPORT TO TWO DISTINCT COUNCILS.
THE FIRST ONE ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE IS A DATA GOVERNANCE COUNCIL.
UH, JOHN MESSER, WHO IS A DIRECTOR OF DATA GOVERNANCE AND PLATFORMS, UH, IS GOING TO BE THE CHAIR OF THAT.
AND, UH, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE, UH, MEMBERS FROM DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS WITHIN THE, YOU KNOW, UH, FROM DIFFERENT BUSINESS UNITS BEING PART OF THE DATA GOVERNANCE COUNCIL.
IN FACT, YOU KNOW, UH, PROCUREMENT, YOU KNOW, FINANCE, UH, LEGAL, UH, CYBERSECURITY, EVERYBODY ARE PART OF THAT, UH, DATA GOVERNANCE COUNCIL.
[00:40:01]
IN FACT, THE CHARTER FOR THIS COUNCIL HAS BEEN APPROVED.WE HAD COUPLE OF MEETINGS ALREADY.
AND, UH, YOU KNOW, SO THAT PARTICULAR COUNCIL IS, UH, IS, UM, IS, UM, ALIVE AND KICKING RIGHT NOW.
AND ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE, YOU HAVE THE AI GOVERNANCE COUNCIL.
AND SOME OF YOU MIGHT RECOGNIZE AUSTIN ROZELLE.
YOU MIGHT BE LIKE, WHY? WHAT IS AUSTIN DOING HERE? THANKS, AUSTIN.
UH, AUSTIN MOVED FROM, UH, YOU KNOW, FROM THE COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS SETTLEMENT RETAIL AND CREDIT DEPARTMENT TO THE, THE NEW AI, UH, UH, DATA DEPARTMENT.
SO, AUSTIN WILL BE THE CHAIR OF, UM, THE AI GOVERNANCE COUNCIL.
AND, UH, YOU KNOW, HIS TITLE IS DIRECTOR OF DATA PRODUCTS AND AI STRATEGY.
AND AGAIN, THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS FOR THIS PARTICULAR COUNCIL ARE MADE UP OF, YOU KNOW, FOLKS FROM DIFFERENT, UH, BUSINESS UNITS.
UM, AND CYBERSECURITY HAS A PROMINENT ROLE, UH, IN THIS AS WELL, ALONG WITH LEGAL AND, AND, AND FINANCE.
AND, UH, SO THESE TWO COUNCILS WILL, UH, REPORT UP TO THE ENTERPRISE DATA AND AI EXECUTIVE STEERING COMMITTEE.
AND, UH, YOU KNOW, THIS SLIDE WAS MADE ABOUT TWO WEEKS AGO.
I'M HAPPY TO REPORT THAT PABLO HAS AGREED TO BE PART OF THIS PARTICULAR COMMITTEE.
SO THANKS, PABLO, FOR, FOR BEING PART OF THIS COMMITTEE.
UH, SO I WILL BE CHAIR THE, THE, THE EXECUTIVE STEERING COMMITTEE FOR DATA AND AI, ALONG WITH CHAD SEALEY, UH, RICHARD, SHE UDI, AND, UH, AND JP.
AND SO I THINK WE HAVE THE RIGHT, UM, SORT OF GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE BUILT UP IN TERMS OF HIERARCHY OF, OF THINGS FOR, FOR ESCALATION, ET CETERA.
SO I'M PRETTY CONFIDENT THAT WITHIN THE STRUCTURE, WE CAN ADDRESS NOT JUST THE DATA STUFF, BUT ALSO, UH, BUT ALSO AI RELATED THINGS.
AND ONE IMPORTANT PIECE THAT IS THERE IN THE MIDDLE IS THE ARCHITECTURE REVIEW BOARD.
UH, THAT IS SOMETHING THAT DIGITAL, YOU KNOW, JPS TEAM, UH, RUNS THAT IT HAS LEADERS FROM DIFFERENT, UH, COMPONENTS OF THE, THE DIGITAL, UH, BUSINESS UNIT.
AND FOR ANY DEVELOPMENT THAT WE WANT TO DO ON THE DATA SIDE, ON THE AI SIDE, WE DON'T WANT TO REINVENT THE WHEEL.
WE WANT TO WORK VERY CLOSELY WITH THE ARCHITECTURE REVIEW BOARD, THAT DIGITAL HAS TO ENSURE THAT WE ARE NOT DEVIATING FROM THE ARCHITECTURE STANDARDS THAT WE HAVE SET UP AS AN ORGANIZATION.
SO WE WILL WORK, THESE TWO COUNCILS WILL WORK VERY CLOSELY WITH THE EXISTING ARCHITECTURE REVIEW BOARD.
SO WITH ALL THESE, YOU KNOW, PIECES IN PLACE, UH, I'M VERY CONFIDENT THAT FROM A GOVERNANCE AND THE RISK PERSPECTIVE, UH, WE WILL DO A, WE'LL DO A GOOD JOB.
UM, YOU KNOW, UH, WHAT, WHAT, WHAT IS A STRATEGY WITHOUT SOME GOOD, UH, YOU KNOW, KPIS.
UH, WE HAVE CLUSTERED OUR KPIS AROUND RELIABILITY, AROUND VALUE, UH, RISK REDUCTION, COMPLIANCE, GOVERNANCE, AND OF COURSE, UH, EXPLAINABILITY.
AND FOR EACH OF THESE BUCKET, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE VERY DISTINCT, UH, KPIS THAT WE HAVE WRITTEN UP IN OUR, UH, IN OUR STRATEGY.
UM, THE WAY
AND THEN ON TOP OF THAT, WE HAVE ALL SORTS OF OPERATING GUIDES AND PROCEDURAL DOCUMENTS, ET CETERA.
SO FOR THIS PARTICULAR BODY, UH, WE ARE WORKING ON A DATA GOVERNANCE POLICY.
WE'LL HAVE A DATA GOVERNANCE CORPORATE STANDARD.
WE'LL HAVE AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE GOVERNANCE POLICY, AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE GOVERNANCE, CORPORATE STANDARD.
AND AFTER THAT, WE'LL HAVE NUMEROUS PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES.
SO THESE POLICIES AND STANDARDS WILL BE APPROVED BY THE DATA GOVERNANCE COUNCIL AND THE AI GOVERNANCE COUNCIL, ALONG WITH THE, THE EXECUTIVE STEERING COMMITTEE THAT, THAT WE HAVE, UH, FORMED.
AND WE HAVE WRITTEN UP ALL THESE DOCUMENTS THAT ARE GOING THROUGH THE DIFFERENT REVIEWS RIGHT NOW, UH, BY, BY THESE COUNCILS.
SO WITH THAT, YOU KNOW, I'M HERE TO GET THE COMMITTEE'S APPROVAL, UM, TO, TO MOVE FORWARD AND START EXECUTING ON THIS, UH, ON THIS STRATEGY IN A VERY RESPONSIBLE WAY, UH, FOR THE BROADER ORGANIZATION.
UH, BEFORE WE DO THAT, CAN YOU MAYBE WALK THE COMMITTEE THROUGH PAGE 14, WHICH IS YOUR 26 PRIORITIES, JUST TO GIVE THEM A SENSE OF WHAT SURE.
THE THINGS THAT YOU'RE GONNA BE WORKING ON, AT LEAST IN THE FIRST INSTANCE.
UH, FOCUSING ON THE, THE LEFT HAND SIDE, WHICH IS MORE ABOUT GOVERNANCE, RIGHT? UM, WHAT WE ARE DOING IS, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE, AS PART OF OUR OKRS, UM, FOR CERTAIN DATA SETS THAT ARE, UM, THAT WE WORKED ON LAST YEAR, UH, SURROUNDING LARGE FLEXIBLE LOADS, STATE OF CHARGE, ET CETERA, AND THE NETWORK MODEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, WE ARE TRYING TO GET THE METADATA, THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE DATA, ALL THE ATTRIBUTES PROPERLY.
UH, SO WE ARE WORKING ON THAT FROM A GOVERNANCE PERSPECTIVE.
UM, AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, WE ARE ALSO TRYING TO GET A DATA GOVERNANCE TOOL IMPLEMENTED IN OUR ORGANIZATION, WHICH WE DON'T HAVE RIGHT NOW.
AND SO THAT'S AGAIN, A FOUNDATIONAL THING THAT, THAT WE ARE TRYING TO DO.
UH, WHAT YOU SEE IN THE MIDDLE IS, YOU KNOW, THAT SYMBOL REPRESENTS DATABRICKS.
DATABRICKS IS OUR ENTERPRISE DATA AND ANALYTICS PLATFORM.
AND, UH, YOU KNOW, THIS YEAR, AS PART OF, YOU KNOW, UM, THE OKRS, WE WANT TO MOVE THE FOUNDATIONAL DATA SETS THAT ARE ESSENTIAL FOR THE ORGANIZATION INTO THAT PARTICULAR PLATFORM WHERE THINGS ARE GOVERNED PROPERLY, AND FOLKS CAN ACTUALLY TRUST THAT DATA.
AND WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT
INFORMATION IS A KEY COMPONENT OF THAT.
THE NETWORK MODEL IS ANOTHER KEY COMPONENT OF THAT.
RIO IS, YOU KNOW, A RESOURCE INTEGRATION TOOL THAT WE HAVE.
[00:45:01]
SURE THAT ALL THE DATA THAT PERTAINS TO RIO, MOST OF THE IMPORTANT DATA IS AVAILABLE IN THAT PARTICULAR PLATFORM, ALONG WITH LOTS OF MARKETS DATA, RIGHT? SO IF YOU THINK ABOUT THESE FIVE DIFFERENT DATA SETS, THEY PRETTY MUCH COVER MOST OF THE FOUNDATIONAL DATA ELEMENTS THAT ANY ENGINEERED ARCO WOULD NEED TO DO SOME GOOD, YOU KNOW, ANALYSIS ON.SO IT'S OUR GOAL THAT, YOU KNOW, WE, WE MOVE THEM FROM THE SILOS THAT THEY'RE IN RIGHT NOW INTO A PROPERLY GOVERNED PLATFORM WITH THE RIGHT DATA DICTIONARY AND THE RIGHT ELEMENTS FOR THEM SO THAT YOU CAN GET VALUE OUT OF THOSE DATA SETS.
AND, UH, YOU KNOW, WE DON'T WANNA MOVE AWAY FROM THE, YOU KNOW, FROM SORT OF THE, THE HOOPLA AROUND THE GEN AI STUFF RIGHT NOW.
AND SO WHAT YOU SEE ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE IS, UH, YOU KNOW, THREE AGENTS THAT WE ARE WORKING ON RIGHT NOW FROM A GEN AI PERSPECTIVE.
THE FIRST ONE IS RESOURCE INTEGRATION AGENT.
THIS IS MORE OF A, UH, UH, AN EXTRA INTELLIGENCE ON, ON EMAILS.
UH, THE, THE USE CASE AROUND THIS IS, IS PRETTY FASCINATING.
OUR, UH, INTEGRATION RESOURCE INTEGRATION TEAM GETS ABOUT 3000 OR SO EMAILS PER WEEK.
AND A LOT OF ENGINEERS ARE SPENDING TIME IN, YOU KNOW, LOOKING AT THE EMAIL, READING IT, AND TRYING TO GATHER INFORMATION FROM DIFFERENT PLACES, RESPONDING TO THAT.
AND THERE'S USUALLY A, LINDA, YOU HAVE A QUESTION, FINISH WHAT YOU WERE SAYING, AND THEN I'LL, I'LL MAKE A COMMENT.
SO, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT WE HAVE DONE IS, YOU KNOW, THAT SEEMS LIKE A VERY, UM, GOOD USE CASE FOR, FOR AI WHERE, YOU KNOW, THE, THE EMAIL COMES TO THE INBOX, YOU KNOW, THERE'S AN AGENT THAT LOOKS AT THAT EMAIL, FORMULATES A RESPONSE, AND THERE'S STILL HUMAN IN THE LOOP.
AND THE HUMAN IN THE LOOP READS THE EMAIL TO SEE, HEY, IS THIS INFORMATION CORRECT? AND THEN THE EMAIL GOES OUT, RIGHT? SO THAT'S THE, THE USE CASE THERE.
WE HOPE THAT WE CAN BRING A LOT OF, UM, TIME SAVING FROM THE ENGINEERS WHO ARE WORKING ON THE, THE RESOURCES.
SO YOU, YOU'VE JUST HIT ON THE COMMENT I MAKE, IF YOU GO BACK TO SLIDE FIVE.
SO I'M FINE WITH THE PROCESS STRUCTURE, BUT ULTIMATELY IT HAS TO DELIVER PERFORMANCE, CORRECT.
WHICH IS JUST WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.
SO WHAT I'D LIKE TO SEE COME TO THE BOARD NEXT AFTER YOU GET GOING IS WHAT'S THE PERFORMANCE THAT YOU'RE GONNA HURDLE THAT YOU'RE GONNA GO FROM ONE TO TWO? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU'VE MOVED OVER TO TWO AND YOU WERE JUST GOING THROUGH A PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTIC, A DEFECT LEVEL? RIGHT? RIGHT, RIGHT.
THE OTHER, THE OTHER USE CASE, YOU KNOW, THAT WE HAVE, THAT WE ARE WORKING ON IS, UM, YOU KNOW, CONTROL, UH, CENTER OPERATIONS ASSISTANT.
THIS IS MOSTLY FOR THE, THE ENGINEERS WHO ARE HELPING THE CONTROL ROOM OPERATORS.
AGAIN, THEY'RE DEALING WITH LOTS OF, UH, YOU KNOW, DATA.
THEY HAVE LOTS OF HISTORICAL INFORMATION THAT THEY HAVE ACCUMULATED OVER THE YEARS.
UM, AND THIS AGENT IS, IS SUPPOSED TO INGEST ALL OF THAT, AND IT'S A CHATBOT THAT THE ENGINEERS CAN ASK THEM QUESTIONS AND HOPEFULLY WILL HELP THEM WITH, YOU KNOW, DECENT ANSWERS.
AND WE HAVE A SORT OF A ROADMAP FOR IT IN TERMS OF WHAT, WHAT IT COULD DO OVER THE, OVER THE YEARS.
BUT RIGHT NOW IT, IT IS PREDOMINANTLY A CHATBOT TO HELP THEM WITH, YOU KNOW, WITH INFORMATION.
THE LARGE LOAD STUDY REVIEWER IS, IS VERY SIMILAR, YOU KNOW, FOR THE EXISTING PROCESS WITH, WITH LARGE LOADS.
UH, WE GET LOTS OF STUDIES, UH, FROM THE, THE T DSPS, UH, TO US.
AND THESE STUDIES ARE EITHER PDFS OR DOCUMENTS, YOU KNOW, LARGE DOCUMENTS.
THEY HAVE LOTS OF TABLES, NESTED TABLES WITHIN THEM.
THEY HAVE LOTS OF COMPLEX GRAPHS IN THEM.
AND OUR ENGINEERS ARE SPENDING TIME IN ANALYZING ALL OF THAT.
AND WE THOUGHT, YOU KNOW, WHY NOT LEVERAGE AI TO, YOU KNOW, TO LOOK AT THOSE DOCUMENTS.
AND THEN WE HAVE A CHECKLIST WHERE THE ENGINEER IS TRYING TO DETERMINE WHETHER THIS PARTICULAR STUDY MET THIS CRITERIA, THIS CRITERIA, THIS CRITERIA, ET CETERA.
AND THE IDEA FOR THIS PARTICULAR, YOU KNOW, AI AGENT IS YOU FEED THE PDFS, IT GOES THROUGH THE ANALYSIS, AND IT ACTUALLY COMES UP WITH A CHECKLIST OF WHAT'S BEEN MET AND WHAT'S NOT MET, RIGHT? AND SO I THINK THESE ARE HIGHLY IMPACTFUL USE CASES FOR OUR BUSINESS TEAMS, AND WE ARE WORKING, UH, CLOSELY WITH THE, THE BUSINESS TEAM MEMBERS, YOU KNOW, FOR, FOR THESE USE CASES.
AND, UH, AND, YOU KNOW, OUR, OUR GOAL IS TO ACTUALLY DELIVER THEM BY JUNE, JULY-ISH TIME PERIOD OF THIS YEAR.
AND, UM, AND, UM, AND THEN AS I SAID BEFORE, UH, WE HAVE LOTS OF OTHER USE CASES, UH, IN THE ORGANIZATION, AND BASED ON THE LESSONS THAT WE LEARNED FROM THIS, WE WILL TAKE THAT AND START WORKING THROUGH THE OTHER USE CASES THAT WE HAVE.
LEMME JUST BUILD ON WHAT LINDA SAID, AND THAT IS, I THINK, EXTREMELY USEFUL AS WE'RE ASSESSING THESE TO UNDERSTAND, OKAY, WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THESE PARTICULAR ONES AND WHAT RESULT DO YOU EXPECT TO GET FROM THEM? SO FOR EXAMPLE, ON THE LARGE LOAD STUDY, I MEAN, AM I EXPECTING TO IMPROVE ENGINEERING PRODUCTIVITY BY SOME PERCENT, AND DID I MEET THAT GOAL, ET CETERA.
SO THOSE ARE THE KINDS OF METRICS THAT I THINK WE'RE LOOKING FOR, UM, GOING FORWARD.
I I ASSUME YOU HAVE THEM OR, OR, YEAH, I THINK JOHN, WHEN WE STARTED THIS, YOU KNOW, WE WANTED TO DO A BASELINE IN TERMS OF HOW MUCH TIME ARE WE SPENDING ON THIS? AND, AND THESE USE CASES ARE, ARE, ARE, ARE MOSTLY ON THE PRODUCTIVITY SIDE WHERE WE HAVE A GOOD BASELINE, AND THEN WE CAN SEE WHETHER THESE TOOLS CAN ACTUALLY AFFECT THE BASELINE IN A POSITIVE WAY OR NOT.
WELL, I, I, I THINK THAT'S GREAT.
I JUST, I THINK WE WANT TO SEE THE METRICS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT.
YEAH, I CAN, I CAN PROVIDE THAT.
SO AGAIN, GET STARTED, THEN WE'LL SEE THE METRICS.
[00:50:01]
IN ANOTHER SESSION, AI ASSUMPTIONS ARE REALLY IMPORTANT TO GET RIGHT AT STAGE ONE.MORE SO THAN IN THE PAST BECAUSE THEY GET PROLIFERATED VERY QUICKLY ANY DECISIONS.
AND SO STAGE ONE, GETTING THE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS RIGHT IS REALLY IMPORTANT.
SO AGAIN, AND WHEN YOU GET STARTED, COME BACK TO THE BOARD YEP.
WE'LL DO NEXT TIME, YOU KNOW, IN JUNE, I'LL, I'LL COME WITH WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED BECAUSE HOPEFULLY BY THAT, BY THAT TIME, WE ACTUALLY HAVE IMPLEMENTED THESE AND I CAN SHARE THE, THE RESULTS AS WELL.
JULIE, WELL,
UH, SECOND AT THE, UH, INNOVATION SUMMIT, I LEARNED SOME THINGS ABOUT HOW ER HAS ADOPTING A AI, WHICH I THOUGHT WAS VERY INFORMATIVE.
UM, LOOKING AT THIS SLIDE, IF THERE WAS A FOURTH COLUMN CALLED INNOVATION, WHAT, WHAT TWO OR THREE PROJECTS WOULD YOU BE PRIORITIZING IN THE INNOVATIVE USE OF AI AT ERCOT? I THINK, YOU KNOW, THE ONE THING THAT I'M TRULY EXCITED ABOUT, AND THIS IS SOMETHING THAT, YOU KNOW, UH, CHASE SWENSON HAS INTRODUCED ME TO IBM FOLKS AS WELL, WHICH IS, CAN WE USE AI APPLICATIONS FOR SOLVING THE FUNDAMENTAL PROGRAMS THAT WE HAVE, YOU KNOW, IN POWER SYSTEMS, THE, LIKE, THE POWER FLOWS, THE OPTIMAL POWER FLOWS, THE SECURITY CONSTRAINED OPTIMAL POWER FLOWS, ET CETERA.
AND THAT'S THE ONE THAT I'M SUPER EXCITED ABOUT BECAUSE RIGHT NOW, SOME OF THE TOOLING THAT WE HAVE, YOU KNOW, LIMITS US FROM DOING THE KINDS OF ANALYSIS WE SHOULD BE DOING IN A WORLD THAT IS TRANSITIONING SO FAST.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, YOU, YOU'LL SEE US, UH, YOU KNOW, TALKING TO GEORGIA TECH.
YOU HEARD THAT LAST YEAR WHEN, UH, DR.
PASCAL WAS HERE TALKING ABOUT IT, AND YOU'LL HEAR US, YOU KNOW, UM, WORKING WITH SOME UNIVERSITIES ON THAT FRONT.
I'M VERY EXCITED ABOUT TAKING SOMETHING THAT TAKES 20, 30 MINUTES AND GETTING THAT INTO MILLISECOND RANGE WITH THE SAME KIND OF, YOU KNOW, UH, ACCURACY IN TERMS OF THE RESULTS.
SO I WOULD SAY, UH, JULIE, THAT, THAT, THAT'S ONE THING THAT I'M VERY EXCITED ABOUT.
UM, THE OTHER THINGS, YOU KNOW, IF YOU LOOK AT, UM, YOU KNOW, IN THE, IN THE EXECUTIVE SESSION, I WILL, I WILL SHARE A SLIDE ON THE USE CASES THAT WE HAVE SITTING IN FRONT OF US, YOU KNOW, WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION.
A LOT OF IT IS AROUND PRODUCTIVITY, AROUND GETTING ASSISTANCE AND CHAT BOTS TO HELP WITH THINGS THAT OUR ENGINEERS AND OUR, YOU KNOW, UM, UH, ANALYSTS ARE SPENDING TIME ON.
SO I THINK I'M EXCITED ABOUT, AGAIN, SEEING HOW AI CAN HELP WITH, YOU KNOW, GETTING THAT THROUGHPUT, YOU KNOW, A LOT FASTER, YOU KNOW, WITH THE RIGHT QUALITY, RIGHT.
AND GETTING THOSE PRODUCTIVITY UP.
SO,
UM, MOST OF WHAT YOU'RE DOING LOOKS LIKE IT'S INTERNAL ERCO, AND THAT'S FINE, BUT DO YOU HAVE ANY, UH, ANY TYPE OF OPERATION WHERE YOU'RE GONNA BE TALKING ABOUT STAKEHOLDERS ARE DOING AND TRYING TO LEARN BEST PRACTICES FROM THEM? AND ALSO TO THE EXTENT THAT THAT ERCOT ISS GOING TO BE SUCCESSFUL WITH THIS, WILL YOU TRY TO EXPORT, UH, YOUR LEARNINGS TO THE STAKEHOLDER COMMUNITY? YEAH, NO, GREAT QUESTION.
UH, CHAIR, BILL, UM, WHAT, UH, WE ARE PLANNING TO DO IS, LAST YEAR WE LAUNCHED OUR, UH, GRID RESEARCH INNOVATION AND TRANSFORMATION, UH, SITE PUBLICLY ON AIR CODE.COM.
UH, WHICH IS WHERE WE ARE POSTING ALL THE WHITE PAPERS.
IN FACT, YOU KNOW, ON THAT SITE, WE DO HAVE A WHITE PAPER THAT WE POSTED ABOUT ALL THE DIFFERENT AI USE CASES IN THE POWER INDUSTRY, RIGHT? SO WE HAVE A WHITE PAPER THAT ON, ON THAT PARTICULAR ONE.
AND AS WE GO ALONG IN OUR JOURNEY, AS GOOD RESULTS COME OUT, YOU KNOW, BASED ON WHAT WE ARE DOING INTERNALLY, WE INTEND TO, YOU KNOW, POST THAT ON OUR, UM, ON OUR WEBSITE AND WORK WITH THE CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS FOLKS TO GET THE MESSAGE OUT IN TERMS OF WHAT WE ARE DOING.
SO THAT IS ONE WAY OF REACHING OUT.
THE SECOND THING THAT WE ARE DOING IS WE HAVE WHAT'S CALLED A RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PARTNERSHIP ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM THAT WE, AGAIN, ROLLED OUT LAST SEPTEMBER, AND WE STARTED GETTING A LOT OF FOLKS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN WORKING ON THE AI FRONT, ON THE INNOVATION FRONT WITH US.
AND, UH, SO WHAT WE REALIZED IS ELCOT CANNOT DO THIS ALONE.
WE NEED, YOU KNOW, SOME MARKET PARTICIPANTS TO TAG ALONG WITH US, ALONG WITH MAYBE SOME VENDORS.
SO WE ARE INTERNALLY BRAINSTORMING ON MAYBE CREATING A WORKING GROUP OF SOME SORT, UH, WHICH IS DIFFERENT FROM THE TECHNOLOGY WORKING GROUP THAT EXISTS, BUT MORE FOCUSED ON SORT OF THE AI DATA EMERGING, YOU KNOW, TECHNOLOGIES KIND OF THING.
AND, AND HAVE A, A PLATFORM WHERE NOT JUST US SHARING WHAT WE ARE LEARNING, THE MARKET PARTICIPANTS ALSO SHARING WHAT THEY'RE LEARNING, BECAUSE WE ALL ARE GOING THROUGH THE SAME JOURNEY ON, ON THE AI SIDE, AS YOU SAID, RIGHT? SO I THINK AT LEAST TWO FRONTS WHERE, YOU KNOW, WE ARE, WE ARE THINKING ABOUT, YEAH, I, I WOULD ADD ONE MORE BILL, AND THAT IS WE'RE STARTING TO HEAR FROM MARKET PARTICIPANTS THAT THEY'RE USING AI TO INFORM THEIR BIDDING STRATEGIES.
UM, AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT ARE, EXCEPT IF THEY'RE USING AI AND THEIR BIDDING STRATEGIES AND WE'RE NOT, UM, WE HAVE A MISMATCH IN TERMS OF CAPABILITY, AT LEAST A POTENTIAL MISMATCH IN TERMS ESCAPE.
VANKAT, THANKS FOR A GREAT PRESENTATION.
UM, REMIND ME, HOW MANY FTES DO WE HAVE DEDICATED TO AI RIGHT NOW AT ERCOT RIGHT NOW? YOU KNOW, IT IS DEMOCRATIZED IN A WAY, UH, IN THE SENSE A LOT OF SMES WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION
[00:55:01]
WHO ARE RE-SKILLING THEMSELVES AND UP TOOLING THEMSELVES TO, UH, TO, TO DO IT.BUT WE DON'T HAVE DEDICATED, YOU KNOW, UM, UH, DEPARTMENT STAFFED UP YET TO DEVELOP SOME OF THESE APPLICATIONS.
BILL AUSTIN ROSE, AS I MENTIONED, YOU KNOW, HE'S THE DIRECTOR FOR DATA PRODUCTS AND AI STRATEGY.
WE HAVE A MANAGER POSITION THAT, YOU KNOW, WE POSTED SO THAT AUSTIN CAN GET SOME, YOU KNOW, HELP THERE.
AND WE DO HAVE PLANS TO, YOU KNOW, GET A COUPLE OF, YOU KNOW, UH, FTES REPURPOSED FROM OTHER PLACES IN THE OR TO HELP WITH THE DEVELOPMENT.
UM, BUT THEN, UH, SO THAT'S ON THE FT E FRONT, UH, BUT WE HAVE REALIZED THAT, YOU KNOW, WE DO NEED HELP FROM THE EXTERNAL SORT OF, YOU KNOW, COMPANIES, UH, THE HIGH TECH COMPANIES WHO ARE IN THIS SPACE.
AND SO WE HAVE A COUPLE OF RFPS THAT WE HAVE PUT OUT THERE TO GET SOME HELP, UH, CONTRACTING HELP, UH, TO HELP US ON THE DATABRICKS IMPLEMENTATION AND THE USE CASE IMPLEMENTATION THERE, AS WELL AS ON THE GEN AI APPLICATION, UH, UH, IMPLEMENTATION.
SO THOSE RFPS ARE OUT, AND WE ARE ACTUALLY WORKING TO GET SOME HELP.
SO TWO PRONGED INITIALLY, WHILE WE ARE UPSKILLING AND RETOOLING OUR EMPLOYEES GET EXTERNAL HELP AND THEN GET THE, THE SKILL SET UP.
AND THEN, YOU KNOW, UH, I SEE.
SO I THINK THE STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE MODEL IS REASONABLE, AND I AGREE WITH THE COMMENTS MADE BY THE COMMITTEE.
UM, I DO THINK WE HAVE A HUGE OPPORTUNITY IN FRONT OF US TO APPLY AI.
I MEAN, WE'RE A VERY PROCESS TECHNICAL, ANALYSIS ORIENTED ORGANIZATION, AND I THINK EFFICIENCY IS IMPORTANT.
I THINK SOME OF OUR PROCESSES COULD BE DRAMATICALLY IMPROVED BY AI.
AND AS JOHN POINTS OUT THE LEVEL OF SOPHISTICATION THAT YOU'RE SEEING, I MEAN, WE'RE IN ANOTHER COMPANY.
WE'RE USING AI TO DEVELOP PRICING STRATEGIES FOR OUR PRODUCTS AND OUR SERVICES.
SO I THINK THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT.
I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT ERCOT REALLY LEAN IN ON THE AI EFFORT.
I'M NOT SUGGESTING YOU GET AHEAD OF YOURSELF OR, YOU KNOW, GET OUTSIDE OF YOUR GOVERNANCE MODELS, BUT WE KNOW THAT ONE OF OUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES IS THE AMOUNT OF TIME IT TAKES TO PROCESS EVERYTHING.
IT'S VERY LABOR INTENSIVE, AND I APPRECIATE THE EFFORTS OF CHRISTIE AND OTHERS TO TRY TO IMPROVE THESE PROCESSES FOR STAKEHOLDERS, BUT I THINK THE FUTURE SAYS THAT WE WANT TO BE A LEADER IN APPLYING AI TO BE MORE EFFICIENT.
SO I WOULD JUST, UH, AS WE THINK ABOUT THE RESOURCES REQUIRED, I THINK GETTING THE RIGHT INTERNAL TALENT IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL.
I'VE SEEN THAT IN OTHER BUSINESSES.
SO I, YOU KNOW, I THINK KEEP, PLEASE KEEP THE BOARD APPRISED OF THAT, AND I THINK WE SHOULD REALLY PUSH TOWARDS INVESTING IN AI TO IMPROVE.
I'D JUST LIKE TO, YOU KNOW, ADD AND OR MAYBE RESPOND BILL AND SAY THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT THAT WAS START FOUNDATIONALLY ONE OF THE DRIVERS IN OUR NEW VISION THAT WE SET FOR THIS YEAR.
YOU KNOW, BRINGING IN BEING THE MOST INNOVATIVE.
WE HAVE USED THAT PLATFORM TO HELP EXPLAIN WHY WE ARE MOVING IN THE DIRECTION WE ARE, INCLUDING AI AND THE DATA GOVERNANCE WORK THAT WE'RE, THAT WE'RE WORKING ON.
WE SEE HUGE OPPORTUNITIES ACROSS OPERATIONS, ACROSS PLANNING, ACROSS TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT, AND BUILDING ALL OF THAT TO LEVERAGE AI, UM, IN A WAY THAT IS GOING TO QUICKLY ACCELERATE OUR ABILITY TO KEEP UP NOT ONLY WITH THE KIND OF THE RAPIDLY CHANGING RESOURCE EXPECTATIONS, BUT ALSO THE COMPLEXITIES THAT WE'RE STARTING TO SEE BECAUSE OF ALL THE DIFFERENT, UH, TYPES OF CUSTOMERS THAT WE'RE SEEING COMING INTO OUR GRID.
AND THAT'S ONLY GETTING MORE COMPLICATED.
SO WE ARE PLANNING TO INTEGRATE AI DEEPLY INTO OUR CORE PROCESSES.
WE'RE JUST WANTING TO BE REALLY CLEAR THAT WE'RE GONNA DO IT IN A VERY SAFE AND RELIABLE WAY.
WE RECOGNIZE OUR MANDATE AS A, UM, CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORTING ORGANIZATION.
AND SO WHILE WE ARE RUNNING FAST, WE'RE GONNA BE RUNNING VERY SAFELY FORWARD IN ALL OF THIS.
AND, AND WE ARE FULLY SUPPORTIVE OF THE STRATEGIC INTENT THAT YOU'RE DESCRIBING, BILL.
AND THIS IS SOMETHING THAT THEN KEN AND I SPEND A LOT OF TIME TALKING ABOUT AS WE DO ACROSS THE LEADERSHIP TEAM, THAT WE'RE GONNA EMBED AND INCORPORATE THESE CAPABILITIES INTO OUR CORE BUSINESS AND DO IT IN A, IN A, IN AN AGILE AND RESPONSIBLE WAY.
ANY OR ANY OTHER COMMENTS, COMMENTS FOR VENCAT? THANK YOU, VENCAT.
UM, IF NO ONE HAS ANY MORE, LET'S, UH, CAN I GET A MOTION TO APPROVE THIS? UH, LINDA? THANK YOU, BILL.
ALL IN FAVOR? ANY OPPOSED? HEARING NONE.
WE'LL LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU FREQUENTLY IN FRONT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE PROGRESS ON THIS PLAN.
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT.
WE ARE GOING TO MOVE ON NOW, AND YOU'LL NOTICE THAT SOME OF THE MEMBERS HAVE LEFT BECAUSE THE HUMAN CAPITAL COMMITTEE IS SPINNING UP, UH, AS WE SPEAK.
[6. Committee Briefs]
SIX, WHICH IS COMMITTEE BRIEFS.[01:00:01]
US TO BE THE FIRST PRESENTER, UM, AND SHE'S GONNA GIVE US, UH, 6.1, WHICH IS A PROJECT AND TECHNOLOGY UPDATE.I'M THE SENIOR DIRECTOR OF ERCOT PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE.
AND I WILL BE HERE JUST GIVING YOU AN UPDATE OF WHERE WE'RE AT.
I WOULD SAY SOME OF THIS IS A BIT OF A NO SURPRISES, KIND OF UPDATE, CONSIDERING LAST TIME I WAS HERE.
WE TALKED A BIT ABOUT THE, UH, EXPECTED RISE IN PROJECT VOLUME, AS WE SEE LABOR FREEING UP OFF OF RTC.
AND THAT, IN FACT IS WHAT WE'VE SEEN COME THROUGH.
WHEN WE STARTED THE YEAR, THE SNAPSHOT ON JANUARY 1ST HAD US AT ABOUT 59 ACTIVE PROJECTS.
UM, SO WE'RE TRENDING UP JUST AS WE EXPECTED.
AS WE SEE, UH, THE RTC WORK DIPPED DOWN AND WE'RE ABLE TO PICK UP SOME OTHER WORK.
UM, THE NEW STARTS WE'VE SEEN IN THE FIRST QUARTER, THEY'RE ROUGHLY HALF FOCUSED ON INTERNAL INITIATIVES, WHETHER THAT'S INTERNAL PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS, SERVICE AUTOMATION, UM, SOME INFRASTRUCTURE PRO PROJECTS, SOME SECURITY PROJECTS, A PROJECT SUPPORTING WHAT VENCAT JUST SPOKE WITH Y'ALL ABOUT.
UM, NUMEROUS THINGS KINDA ON THE INTERNAL SPACE, BUT THEN THE OTHER HALF ARE REALLY FOCUSED ON, UH, MARKET BASED EXTERNALLY FACED FUNCTIONS.
SO, UH, WE'RE SEEING IT PRETTY WELL SPLIT AT THIS POINT IN TIME.
I THINK IT WOULD BE HELPFUL IF, IF YOU COULD SORT OF GIVE US A SENSE OF WHAT DEPARTMENTS OR WHAT FUNCTIONS THOSE PROJECTS ARE ACTUALLY BEING IMPLEMENTED IN IS, I DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S IN THE BACKGROUND MATERIAL SOMEWHERE.
I, IT'S NOT IN THE BACKGROUND MATERIALS.
I CERTAINLY COULD DO THAT FOR NEXT TIME IN THE MATERIALS IN THE APPENDIX.
UM, LOOKING THROUGH THOSE AS I KIND OF WENT THROUGH THAT DATA SET, UM, MULTIPLE DIRECTLY SUPPORT OUR SECURITY TEAM AS WE'RE LOOKING AT THE IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM THAT WE MENTIONED.
UH, WE'VE GOT A FEW DIFFERENT KIND OF FACILITY RELATED AND INFRASTRUCTURE RELATED PROJECTS.
UM, WE'VE GOT SOME IT PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS AROUND CAPACITY PLANNING FOR INFRASTRUCTURE AND HARDWARE AND, UM, SOME AUTOMATION OF OUR BUSINESS PROCESSES OR REPLACEMENTS OF THE SYSTEMS THAT THEY'RE USING.
SO OFFHAND, THOSE ARE, THOSE ARE THE CATEGORIES, BUT CERTAINLY FOR NEXT REPORT, I CAN GET THAT INTO THE APPENDIX SO YOU GUYS CAN, YEAH, I THINK WE'D BE PART PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN THAT ARE SUPPORTING OF, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THE RECENTLY PAST, UH, ODORS AND, AND PIGS, PIGGERS AND ALL THOSE.
SO ON THE EXTERNAL SIDE, WE'VE GOT SOME CHANGES THAT, UH, SUPPORT THE FOCUS ON LARGE LOAD.
WE'VE GOT MULTIPLE PROJECTS RUNNING ON THAT.
UM, SOME IMPROVEMENTS AROUND OUR FORECAST SPACE AND, UM, THE PLATFORM THEY USE TO SUPPORT THE FORECAST PLANNING ACTIVITY, UM, AND NPR FOR CRS.
AND, UH, SIMILAR, I'LL HAVE TO PUT THAT INTO THE APPENDIX FOR NEXT TIME, BUT I THINK, UH, UNLESS THERE'S ANYONE WHO WANTS TO, THERE YOU GO.
YEAH, JOHN, MAYBE ONE IDEA IS, UM, YOU KNOW, WE IMPLEMENTED SOME SCR FOR EXAMPLE, RIGHT? MM-HMM
AND MAYBE WE CAN DO LIKE A SHORT PRESENTATION OF, YOU KNOW, FOUR OR FIVE SLIDES OF HOW MARKET IMPACTING THAT IS AND, UM, SOME OTHER THINGS THAT YOU GUYS APPROVED.
SO IT'S GOOD TO SEE THOSE THINGS IN PRODUCTION.
SO WE MIGHT DO A LITTLE BIT MORE THAN JUST A PRO A PRESENTATION, A LITTLE MORE ON HOW THE APPLICATION ACTUALLY LOOKS AND HOW IT BENEFITS THE MARKET.
IS, IS THAT QUICK? WOULD THE COMMITTEE BE INTERESTED IN THAT? WELL, AS A COMMITTEE MEMBER, I'M INTERESTED IN THE PARETO OF HOW THE, THE NEWS.
I MEAN, I, I STARTED WITH THE PARETO, HE'S SUGGESTING MORE THAN THAT.
LET'S JUST SEE THE PARETO AND WE CAN ASK MORE QUESTIONS PERHAPS THERE.
AND I'LL WORK WITH YOU, JOHN, AND, UH, YEAH, WE'LL, WE'LL, WE'LL FIGURE OUT IF THERE'S SOMETHING OF, OF UTMOST INTEREST, WE'LL TRY AND FIGURE OUT HOW TO OKAY.
SO I THINK WHAT'LL HAPPEN IS THE AI WILL START TAKING UP OUR TIME.
AND THEN AGAIN, AS WE LOOKED AT BEFORE, YOU CAN SEE, UH, FROM THE FORECAST LABOR SIDE OF IT, THE DIP AS WE CAME OFF OF RTC, AND WE BEGAN TO TRANSITION INTO, UM, OUR NEW PROJECT START.
SO EVEN THOUGH WE HAD A, A JUMP UP IN THE VOLUME OF PROJECT STARTS, WE'RE EARLY IN THOSE PROJECTS.
SO, UM, IT'LL TAKE A LITTLE BIT OF TIME AS WE'RE RAMPING INTO THAT AND, AND THOSE PROJECTS ARE GETTING GOING.
SO THAT'S A, A FAIRLY SIMILAR VIEW IS WHAT WE PRESENTED LAST TIME.
UH, AS WE GET INTO THESE OUT MONTHS, THOSE FORECASTS ARE GONNA REFINE.
SO I DO EXPECT WE'LL STAY AT A RELATIVELY HIGH LEVEL BECAUSE WE ARE INCREASING OUR OVERALL PORTFOLIO.
BUT, UM, WE'LL GET SOME REFINEMENT AS WE GET INTO EACH OF THOSE MONTHS AND, AND REALLY ASSESS WHERE OUR RESOURCES ARE AT AND THEIR AVAILABILITY.
AND THEN IN TERMS OF ACTUAL BILLING, AGAIN, THE SAME STORY
[01:05:01]
HERE.UH, WE'RE SEEING THE AREAS OF LABOR SHIFT AWAY FROM RTC AND OVER INTO OTHER WORK, UM, IN SUPPORT OF THE, THE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES WE TALKED ABOUT A BIT AGO.
UM, NOW TODAY IN EXECUTIVE SESSION, YOU'VE GOT SOME FOLKS THAT WILL SPEAK TO YOU ABOUT THE IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM IN MORE DETAIL.
UM, I'LL SHARE A FEW HIGH LEVEL POINTS WITH Y'ALL.
UM, SO THIS PROGRAM IN PARTICULAR, WE EXPECT TO RUN SIX PROJECTS.
THREE OF THOSE HAVE ALREADY STARTED.
THE, WE GOT TWO EXPECTED TO START HERE IN THE, IN THE REST OF THIS MONTH, IN APRIL.
UM, THIS PROGRAM OVERALL, IT IMPACTS HOW WE DO OUR IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT SOLUTION.
IT'S MODERNIZING THAT BOTH INTERNALLY FOR ERCOT AS WELL AS EXTERNALLY WITH THE MARKET.
UM, SO THIS IS A PRETTY LARGE PROGRAM.
WE EXPECT IT COULD RUN INTO 2028.
UH, WE'RE GOING TO BE IN PLANNING FOR ALL OF THIS AS WE FINISH THROUGH THIS YEAR AND GET INTO 2027.
SO IN EARLY 2027, WE SHOULD HAVE A BETTER VIEW IN TERMS OF THE OVERALL FOOTPRINT OF THE EFFORT AND HOW LONG IT'S REALLY GONNA TAKE.
UM, BUT IT IS, IT IS SOMETHING WE ARE LOOKING TO MOVE QUICKLY ON, BUT THERE IS A LOT OF WORK AHEAD OF US.
SO THAT'S KIND OF THE, THE HIGH LEVEL BLUEPRINT ON THIS RIGHT NOW.
UM, I ALSO WANNA CALL OUT, THERE'S AN NPRR 1306 THAT IS FOCUSED ON REMOVING SOME TECHNICAL LANGUAGE IN THE PROTOCOLS THAT REQUIRE US TO USE DIGITAL CERTIFICATES FOR AUTHENTICATION FOR OUR EXTERNAL PARTIES.
SO, UM, THAT NPR JUST MADE IT THROUGH PRS, IT'LL BE AT TAC AND WE'RE HOPING IT'LL LAND AT THE BOARD IN THE JUNE SESSION.
AND AGAIN, IT'S JUST THAT, THAT NPR MAKES THE PROTOCOLS TECHNICALLY AGNOSTIC SO THAT WE CAN MOVE FORWARD WITH THE RIGHT SOLUTION.
UH, SO AS MENTIONED LAST TIME, WE'RE, UH, WE'VE GOT FOLKS OUT COMMUNICATING ON THAT.
THEY'VE, UH, BEEN THROUGH MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDER COMMITTEES AND WE CONTINUE THE DISCUSSION MONTHLY AT THE TECHNOLOGY AND WORKING GROUP.
THE DC SIX PROGRAM, THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR TO SOME OF YOU ALL WHO'VE BEEN AROUND FOR A FEW YEARS, AND WE JUST WRAPPED UP DC FIVE, IT FEELS LIKE YESTERDAY,
SO THIS IS OUR SIXTH ITERATION OF DOING A DATA CENTER REFRESH OF OUR, UM, INFRASTRUCTURE.
AND AGAIN, THIS IS A MULTI-YEAR PROGRAM, JUST AS IT HAS BEEN IN THE PAST.
WE JUST KICKED THIS PROGRAM OFF LAST WEEK.
UM, IT IS ENVISIONED TO RUN JUST LIKE OUR DC FIVE PROGRAM EFFORT, WHERE WE WILL SET UP THE PROGRAM, HAVE THE PROGRAM CONTROL PROJECT FOCUSED ON THE GOVERNANCE, RISK MANAGEMENT, COMMUNICATIONS, OVERALL OVERSIGHT, AND THEN WE EXPECT A SEVEN OR EIGHT SUB-PROJECTS WITHIN THAT PROGRAM AS WELL.
UM, BRIAN HANLEY WILL BE AT THE JUNE BOARD SESSION TO GET INTO A DEEP DIVE ON, UM, THE, THE TECHNOLOGY THAT NEEDS TO BE REPLACED, THE TIMING, AND ANYTHING HE FORESEES WITHIN THAT PROGRAM.
UM, BUT I DID JUST WANNA GIVE YOU A HEADS UP.
WE DID JUST KICK THAT OFF AND WE ARE EMBARKING ON, ON THAT PROGRAM THAT IS SET.
IT SHOULD STILL BE ABOUT A FIVE YEAR PROGRAM.
MY QUESTION IS, UM, FOR, FOR EACH OF THESE ITERATIONS, DO YOU GO THROUGH A ARCHITECTURE REFRESH, SO TO SPEAK, AND DECIDE MAKE VERSUS BUY BEFORE YOU COMMIT TO THE NEXT GENERATION? THEY WILL DO THE PROGRAM CONTROL ITSELF.
ONE OF, UH, SO IT'S GONNA FOCUS ON JUST THE, UM, FACILITATION NATURE OF THE PROGRAM AND THE OVERSIGHT WITH THAT.
BUT ALSO THEY, THEY WILL ALIGN ON TECHNICAL STANDARDS AND REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE AND ALL THE GUIDANCE THAT NEEDS TO GO INTO THE PURCHASING.
UM, AND WHAT WE ACTUALLY WANT TO MOVE FORWARD WITH.
SO THEY DO REASSESS THAT EVERY TIME.
I DON'T KNOW BRIAN IF, OR JP JULIE, I CAN ANSWER SOME OF THAT.
RIGHT? I MEAN, AT EVERY TIME WE, WE ASSESS WHAT KIND OF TECHNOLOGY CHANGE THAT WE NEED TO DO.
LIKE, FOR EXAMPLE, WITH DC FIVE, WE, UH, CONSOLIDATED VARIOUS DIFFERENT, UM, OPERATING SYSTEMS INTO AS MINIMUM AS POSSIBLE.
SO IT AFFECTS PATCHING AND ALL THAT KIND OF STUFF.
SO IT'S AN OPPORTUNITY TO RETHINK WHAT OUR INFRASTRUCTURE SHOULD BE.
SO JUST LIKE FOR THIS ONE, MAYBE WE'LL HAVE TO THINK ABOUT HOW CAN WE BE SAFER WITH AI? HOW CAN WE BETTER NETWORKING? SO IT GIVES US AN OPPORTUNITY TO LOOK ACROSS THE BOARD, WHAT CAN WE DO TO RETHINK, YEAH, AI WILL BE A BIG COMPONENT OF THIS BECAUSE SO MUCH OF AI RUNS IN THE CLOUD, IT'S GONNA FORCE A RETHINK, I THINK, OF WHERE ON CLOUD CLOUD VERSUS ON-PREM.
AND CLOUD VERSUS ON-PREM IS CERTAINLY A, A DISCUSSION THAT WE DIDN'T HAVE BEFORE BECAUSE WE INTRODUCED CLOUD IN THIS CYCLE.
SO THIS CYCLE, WE WILL HAVE CERTAINLY THAT DISCUSSION.
WHAT MAYBE SHOULD MOVE TO CLOUD, WHY SHOULD WE KEEP ONPREM? OKAY.
AND THEN THE FINAL SIGNIFICANT PROJECT NOTED HERE, WE TALKED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT LAST TIME.
I HAVE COORDINATED WITH THE COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
[01:10:01]
THAT SPONSORS THIS INITIATIVE, AND THEY'LL BE HERE IN THE JUNE BOARD SESSION TO KIND OF WALK THROUGH THE JOURNEY THAT GOT THEM INTO THIS PROJECT AND ALL OF THE, UM, INPUT AND INTAKE THEY, THEY WENT THROUGH IN TERMS OF THE REQUIREMENTS AND WHAT THEY WANT TO SET FOR OBJECTIVES FOR THE OUTCOME OF THE REDESIGN.UM, AND THEN PROVIDE SOME INSIGHTS INTO WHAT TO EXPECT OUT OF THE NEW SYSTEM AND THE NEW EXPERIENCE.
SO THEY'LL BE HERE IN JUNE FOR THAT.
AND THEN FINALLY, TO WRAP UP, JUST A BIG PICTURE VIEW OF SOME OF THE, UH, UPCOMING CHANGES WE EXPECT TO SEE.
AND JUST A REMINDER ON OUR TC, UM, YOU KNOW, WE ARE, THE PROJECT WILL REMAIN OPEN FOR A GOOD PORTION OF THIS YEAR.
WE HAVE THE 180 DAY REPORT RELEASE AS THE FINAL RELEASE THAT'S TARGETED FOR THE END OF MAY.
WE'LL HAVE A STABILIZATION PERIOD ON THAT, AND THROUGH THE SUMMER WE WORK THROUGH THE PROCESS TO DECOMMISSION THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND WE EXPECT THE RTC PROGRAM TO WRAP UP IN THE AUGUST, SEPTEMBER TIMEFRAME OVERALL.
SO, UM, LOOK FORWARD TO MOVING FORWARD ON THAT.
AND THEN, AS YOU MENTIONED, UH, JOHN, THE BOTTOM BULLET REPRESENTS SOME OF THOSE LARGE LOAD RELATED EFFORTS THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.
UM, WE'VE GOT AN OBJECTIVE TO DELIVER, UH, KINDA A MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT FOR, UM, ONE OF THOSE EFFORTS BY THE END OF JUNE OF THIS YEAR.
SO THAT ONE'S TARGETED THERE AS WELL.
ARE THERE ANY OTHER, ANY OTHER QUESTIONS I CAN TAKE? YES, I'VE GOTTA ASK ABOUT ONE OF OUR OTHER FAVORITE PROJECTS.
HOW'S THAT DOING? WHICH ONE? D-D-S-D-R-R-S-D-R-S-R-R-S-D-R-R-S.
NOT AN SORRY, ACRONYM SOUP OVER HERE.
UM, THAT ONE IS NOT AN ACTIVE PROJECT AT THE TIME.
I DON'T KNOW IF WE HAVE TO PASS THE, IT HAS TO COME TO US AND WE HAVE TO PASS IT AS A BOARD FIRST.
SO KEITH, YOU WANTED TO ADD TO THAT? YEAH, NO, I, I WOULD, UH, IT'S, IT'S STILL IN ACTIVE DISCUSSIONS AS WE'RE SAYING, AND I'LL, I'LL TALK ABOUT THAT A LITTLE BIT MORE EITHER LATER TODAY OR TOMORROW, BUT IT'S, IT'S, UH, STILL IN DESIGN AT THIS POINT AND HASN'T REACHED THE IMPLEMENTATION STAGE.
WELL, I GUESS THAT ANSWERS MY OTHER QUESTION I'VE ALWAYS WONDERED IS DOES ANY SORT OF CODING PROCESS START DURING THIS TECH PROCESS? AND THE ANSWER IS NO.
WE, WE TRY TO MINIMIZE THAT SO THAT WE DON'T DO REWORK.
BUT THAT BEING SAID, PROJECTS LIKE THIS, WE TRY TO PREP AS MUCH AS WE CAN SO THAT WE CAN GET A RUNNING START.
WELL, SINCE THE RRS IS ONE OF OUR KEY 2026 PROJECTS, I HAD ASSUMED THERE MIGHT HAVE BEEN SOME PARALLEL DEVELOPMENT GOING ON.
WELL, I NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT THE, WHAT THEY'RE ASKING FOR IS LOCKED DOWN, OTHERWISE I'LL BUILD SOMETHING THAT THEY DON'T WANT.
THEY STILL DECIDED WHETHER BATTERIES ARE GONNA BE IN IT OR NOT, WHICH IS A BIT OF A PROBLEM.
IN SOME CASES, WHAT WE SEE TEAMS ARE ABLE TO DO IN THAT SORT OF A SCENARIO, UM, THOSE BUSINESS OWNERS OF THOSE EFFORTS REALLY BEGIN CONTEMPLATING THE REQUIREMENTS.
AND OFTENTIMES THEY'RE GETTING A JUMPSTART AND KIND OF WORKING THAT IN PARALLEL WITH THAT REGULATORY PROCESS SO THAT ONCE WE GET INTO THE PROJECT, THEY'RE REALLY READY TO ACCELERATE QUICKLY.
THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE'VE SEEN WHEN WE'RE ON SOMETHING THAT'S ON A VERY URGENT TIMELINE.
UM, AND AS LONG AS THEY'RE STAYING IN STEP, IT'S NOT, IT'S NOT REALLY WASTED EFFORT, IT'S JUST DOING AS MUCH AS THEY CAN WHILE THAT MOVES FORWARD.
ANYTHING ELSE FOR MINDY? THANK YOU SO MUCH.
[7. Future Agenda Items]
A SLIDE WHERE, YOU KNOW, UM, WE TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO HEAR MORE AS FAR AS, UH, FUTURE SPEAKERS ARE CONCERNED.IF YOU HAVE, UH, ANY IDEAS THAT YOU'D LIKE TO BRING FORWARD TO JOHN, UM, AND I, THEN WE WILL GO, UH, PURSUE SOME OF THAT.
UM, AND WE HAD A GOOD, UH, SPEECH TODAY BY DR. BROWNING.
UM, SO THERE'S A DIFFERENT AREA THAT WE HAVE NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE.
UM, IF THERE'S ANYTHING LIKE THAT, THAT, UM, UH, INTERESTS YOU, UM, WE'LL BE HAPPY TO GO, UH, FIND THOSE SPEAKERS.
WELL, I THINK THE TOPIC OF THE YEAR IS AI, SO ANYTHING AI RELATED FOR THE INDUSTRY WE'RE IN, I THINK WOULD BE RELEVANT.
WE HAD COUPLE OF SPEAKERS ON AI LAST YEAR, BUT IF THERE'S A PARTICULAR ANGLE OF AI THAT YOU, OKAY.
SO I THINK SINCE WE'RE GOING THROUGH THIS AI PROCESS, STAGEGATE PROCESS MM-HMM.
WE'RE REALLY, IT'S NOT THE TOPIC OF AI, IT'S HOW TO MAKE SURE THAT WE LAUNCH AI WELL, THAT THE ASSUMPTIONS ARE GOOD AND THE PROLIFERATION IS GOOD.
OF THAT, THE PROCESS OF DOING THAT THEN.
AND I, AND I WOULD JUST ADD THAT AI HAS, YOU KNOW, GATHERED A LOT OF MOMENTUM IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS AND, AND I THINK, YOU KNOW, WITHIN
[01:15:01]
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY IS STARTING TO, PEOPLE ARE STARTING TO FIGURE OUT SORT OF WHAT THE VIABLE USE CASES ARE.WE'LL, WE'LL, LET'S SEE IF WE CAN FIND PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING AI IN ISO OR, YOU KNOW, UTILITY KIND OF DOMAINS.
AND I AM GLAD TO GIVE YOU A LIST OF FIVE FAILURES.
I HAVE IT RIGHT ON MY LAPTOP HERE.
THAT WOULD BE VERY INTERESTING FOR US TO, TO UNDERSTAND WHEN THEY WENT THROUGH WHAT THEY LEARNED FROM THOSE FAILURES.
WELL, AS I SAY, WE, WE HAVE A SORT OF A RUNNING LIST THAT JP AND I ARE WORKING ON AND, YOU KNOW, FINDING THE RIGHT SPEAKERS AT THE RIGHT TIME IS, IS SOMETIMES A BIT A CHALLENGE, BUT, BUT WE'LL CONTINUE TO WORK ON THIS.
AND THANK YOU FOR THE IDEAS ON AI.
I THINK WE ARE AT THE END OF THE OPEN SESSIONS.
[8. Other Business]
BUSINESS THAT PEOPLE WANNA BRING UP IN, IN, IN OPEN SESSION? IF NOT,[Convene Executive Session]
WE WILL ADJOURN AND TAKE ABOUT FIVE OR 10 MINUTES AND THEN GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION AND, AND WE'LL COME BACK IN EXECUTIVE SESSION WITH A FURTHER DISCUSSION WITH, UH, DR.UM, CHAIRMAN GLEASON IS NOT HERE, BUT I WILL ADJOURN ON HIS BEHALF.