ERCOT staff and stakeholders are preparing to bring a first set of real-time co-optimization (RTC) policy principles to the Technical Advisory Committee in a key test of their efforts to improve the Texas grid operator’s market design.

The Real-Time Co-Optimization Task Force, which is responsible for developing the RTC principles to align the ERCOT market with the direction given by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, will present five key principles to the TAC for approval during its July 24 meeting:

• KP 1.4: System inputs into RTC
• KP 1.5: Process for deploying ancillary services (AS)
• KP 1.6: AS imbalance settlement with RTC
• KP 3: Reliability unit commitment
• KP 4: Supplemental AS market (SASM)

Stakeholders will debate KPs 1.5 and 3 and their alternative positions before the committee.

“The votes at the July TAC meeting will be a good indicator of whether the RTC Task Force’s efforts will be efficient in moving key design decisions through the stakeholder process,” said task force Chair Matt Mereness, ERCOT’s compliance director, following the group’s meeting Friday.

The task force is following guidelines set by PUC Chair DeAnn Walker for RTC, a market tool that procures both energy and AS every five minutes to find the most cost-effective solution for both requirements. (See ERCOT Real-time Co-optimization Falls into Place.)

Mereness said it was “helpful” to “have the PUC set direction on a number of key design issues.”

The RTCTF is also trying to engage other RTOs on lessons learned with their design and implementation of RTC. It hopes to bring MISO, PJM and SPP to Texas for a meeting in September.

ERCOT Comes Close to June Demand Record

The ERCOT system came about 1.5% shy of setting a new demand record for the month of June when it recorded a peak of 68.1 GW on June 19, compared to the all-time record set last year at 69.1 GW.

June’s peak set a high for the year that has since been broken in July. The system twice surpassed 70 GW on Wednesday, registering a peak demand of 70.5 GW for the hour ending at 5 p.m.

ERCOT is expecting a record peak demand this summer of 74.9 GW, 1.4 GW higher than the all-time record of 73.5 GW set last July. The grid operator has 78.9 GW of available capacity.

— Tom Kleckner