AUSTIN, Texas — ERCOT stakeholders approved the creation of a battery energy storage task force as the grid operator steps up its efforts to accommodate the resource type.

Staff told the Technical Advisory Committee on Wednesday that ERCOT is “shifting gears” and dedicating full-time resources to integrate energy storage in its systems. Staff conducted an energy-storage workshop in April but have done little publicly since.

“We need a more focused and centralized discussion,” said ERCOT’s Sandip Sharma, who will chair the Battery Energy Storage Task Force (BESTF). “Creating a formal task force structure would allow us to better share information with stakeholders.”

The task force will hold its first meeting on Oct. 18, when it will finalize a scope document and elect a stakeholder as vice chair. The group will report to the TAC, which will be asked to endorse any recommendations it makes.

Congestion in Permian Basin an Issue

Transmission congestion will remain an issue in the Permian Basin through 2020, staff told members, requiring ERCOT to request relief from the state’s environmental regulator for increased generation emissions.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality obliged, granting “enforcement discretion” through 2019 for resources needed to resolve congestion in West Texas. A market notice detailing the action was distributed following the TAC meeting.

The commission said it would exercise its discretion in evaluating Luminant’s Permian resources’ compliance with air-permit limits “when they are needed to address certain ERCOT-declared transmission emergencies.”

Luminant will only be subject to enforcement discretion when ERCOT declares a transmission emergency and commits one or more of its Permian units through a reliability unit commitment. The units are approaching their 2019 emissions limitations but are the only resources with shift factors sufficient enough to help security-constrained economic dispatch resolve the constraints.

ERCOT told the commission that the basin’s substantial growth in petroleum-related load has resulted in “occasional limit exceedances” on the region’s import paths. Transmission additions to relieve the congestion will not be completed until late 2020 and early 2021, staff said.

Staff Issue Guidance on D-side Resources

Staff also previewed a market notice describing “intended practices” to interconnect and operate distribution generation resources (DGRs) that participate in ancillary services or economic dispatch.

DGRs present “certain operational concerns” not yet addressed in ERCOT’s rules, the grid operator said. It said it is concerned that the increasing numbers of DGR interconnection proposals “could create reliability risks if sufficient numbers of DGRs begin to interconnect.”

ERCOT said it is developing rule revisions to resolve the issues and expects to submit the revision requests “in the near future.” Until the rules are implemented, it said, DGRs should either operate under restrictions or be prohibited from interconnection.

“The most prudent policy at this point is to allow existing DGRs to continue operating and to allow those entities that can demonstrate substantial investment in one or more DGRs to pursue development of those DGRs, but only on the condition that each such existing or proposed DGR complies with certain specified conditions regarding interconnection and operation,” ERCOT said.

Members Approve 23 Revision Requests

The committee cleared a two-month backlog of revision requests after rejecting a motion to table a system change request (SCR) to give transmission operators access to ERCOT’s GridGeo application. The browser-based tool will provide better situational awareness of the transmission grid and is meant to replace the grid operator’s Macomber Map. (See ERCOT, SPP Collaborate to Improve Visualization Tool.)

Lower Colorado River Authority’s Emily Jolly asked that SCR804 be tabled to give stakeholders time to see whether the app could be scaled up for the greater market’s use. “Real-time weather information, seeing what ERCOT does … that could really be helpful,” she said.

ERCOT Senior Director of System Operations Dan Woodfin said GridGeo contains integrated generation data. To open it up to market participants beyond transmission operators would require different software, he said, and increase its estimated $400,000 to $600,000 cost.

“I’m not sure it warrants holding up what the transmission operators need,” Woodfin said.

The motion to table failed by a 9-13 vote, with eight members abstaining. The SCR passed by a voice vote, with LCRA abstaining.

The TAC unanimously endorsed 15 Nodal Protocol revision requests (NPRRs), two changes to the Nodal Operating Guide (NOGRR), single revisions to the Planning Guide (PGRR) and Retail Market Guide (RMGRR), a system-change request, a change to the Settlement Metering Operating Guide (SMOGRR) and two Verifiable Cost Manual updates (VCMRR):

• • NPRR918: Clarifies and updates hourly validation rules for the non-opt-in entity load forecast related to the submission of point-to-point obligations.
  • NPRR930: Requires staff to use an outage-adjustment evaluation process to delay accepted or approved outages after issuing an advance action notice, providing time for qualified scheduling entities to adjust their outage plans. The NPRR sets an offer floor of $4,500/MWh for resources in making them whole for following ERCOT’s instructions.
  • NPRR936: Changes the congestion revenue rights (CRR) auction’s transaction limit to the counter-party level from that of the CRR account holder.
  • NPRR939: Replaces ERCOT’s practice of creating two groups of load resources, other than controllable resources providing responsive reserve service (RRS), into groups of 500 MW each to provide up to 60% of the system’s RRS requirement and up to 150% of their RRS ancillary service responsibility toward physical responsive capability (PRC). The change allows ERCOT to maintain at least 500 MW of PRC from generation resources when releasing RRS capacity to SCED.
  • NPRR940: Removes from the protocols NPRR664’s gray-boxed language that introduces a fuel index price for resources.
  • NPRR948: Incorporates changes in the American National Standards Institute standards; increases the test schedule for coupling capacity voltage transformers (CCVTs) tested in the last quarter of a year and removes references to fiber-optic current transformers.
  • NPRR950: Prohibits any switchable generation resource contracted to provide black start service from generating in any control area other than ERCOT’s.
  • NPRR951: Expands the network security analysis active constraints report and the network security analysis inactive constraints report to include megavolt-ampere flows and limits.
  • NPRR952: Fully replaces the Houston Ship Channel with Katy Hub as the reference for the natural gas fuel index price in ERCOT’s systems.
  • NPRR954: Allows transmission and distribution service providers or load-serving entities to opt out of Texas standard electronic transaction 867 data for electric service identifiers with ERCOT-polled settlement meters.
  • NPRR958: Modifies the wind and solar capacity calculations used in ERCOT’s Capacity, Demand and Reserves (CDR) report and better aligns the two calculations.
  • NPRR959: Splits the CDR’s existing non-coastal wind region into a Panhandle region and an “other” region.
  • NPRR960: Revises NPRR863’s gray-boxed language to implement the Board of Directors-approved phasing approach for the NPRR. Also corrects resource status references within the gray-boxed language.
  • NPRR961: Aligns the protocols with changes proposed in NOGRR194.
  • NPRR962: Requires ERCOT to publish hourly the approved DC tie schedule for the following seven days.
  • NOGRR191: Paired with NPRR939, allows ERCOT to manually deploy load resources providing RRS to maintain at least 500 MW of physical responsive capability reserves while maintaining stable grid frequency for smaller disturbances.
  • NOGRR194: Clarifies and relocates to the Nodal Operating Guide black start training attendance requirements, originally located in the Nodal Protocols.
  • PGRR072: Allows staff to collaborate with stakeholders in setting a resource not yet subject to a notification of suspension of operations to “out of service” in the regional transmission plan and geomagnetic disturbance vulnerability assessment base cases, provided the resource’s entity notifies ERCOT of its intent to retire or mothball the resource or makes its intent public.
  • RMGRR161: Aligns the guide’s language with state regulations for providers of last resort by specifying market notices’ required contents in notifying market participants of a mass transition.
  • SCR803: Adds to the wind-integration report a new graphical dashboard showing actual and forecasted solar production and creates new solar-integration reports.
  • SMOGRR022: Removes from the guide references to fiber-optic instrument transformers.
  • VCMRR023: Aligns the manual’s language with NPRR940’s removal of gray-boxed language.
  • VCMRR024: Clarifies that auxiliary equipment using power from third-party service providers is recoverable as a variable cost, rendering moot the requirement to include start-up and minimum energy fuel consumption.

— Tom Kleckner