NPRR1105 Voltage Reduction before EEA

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By STEVE REEDY

The Gist

NPRR1105 allows ERCOT to instruct TDSPs to implement voltage reduction prior to declaring EEA1 (previously ERCOT could not do so until EEA2). ERCOT was instructed to file this NPRR by the PUC Commissioners. There was much discussion about whether it was a good idea to deploy Voltage Reduction early in an emergency, as its effect is often of limited duration. In particular, it was brought up that the effect is often most pronounced on electric heating, which tends to be set on a thermostat. If voltage reduction is implemented on an electric heater with a thermostat the power consumption decreases but the duty cycle of the heating increases, and on an aggregate level the power reduction effect is lost quickly. ERCOT said that they understood when it would help and not help and would deploy accordingly.