Capacity, Demand, and Reserves Report (CDR)

Topics

By STEVE REEDY

The Gist

ERCOT produces the CDR report twice a year, in May and December and publishes it on the ercot.com website. The CDR provides a resource by resource account of expected capacity over the peak for the upcoming years, but the most anticipated value in the report is the Planning Reserve Margin, or the amount of excess capacity that ERCOT is expected to carry over peak for each of the coming 10 years. The methodology of determining these values is strictly governed by the protocols. Notably, wind and solar capacities are determined by historical statistical performance; wind capacities are further determined by region. Currently battery storage and load resources are not included in the determination of the reserve margin..

Important Actions

1/12/22 ERCOT states in Supply Adequacy Working Group meeting that significant changes will be made to the CDR report, likely including a switch to an Effective Load Carrying Capacity methodology.
1/27/22 Commissioner McAdams states in an open meeting that there will be a project opened to take input on how the CDR and SARA should be improved. Commissioner McAdams feels it should better reflect load shed risk, Commissioner Glotfelty feels it should be easier to read.