Executive Summary

The inaugural session of the Technology Working Group began with a review of the ERCOT TWG charter by chair Venkat Tirupati (venkat.tirupati@ercot.com).  Kevin Bunch of EDF Trading NA was elected vice chair.  The purpose of the meeting is to inform technical staff of breaking technical changes that may affect market participants, well in advance of rollout.  Speakers from ERCOT updated the current status of projects related to NPRR1093 (Load Resource Participation in Non-Spinning Reserve), NPRR863 (addressing both Fast-Frequency Response Advancement and Contingency Reserve Service changes), and the WAN upgrade project. Wei Qiu briefly introduced NERC goals for 2022.  Status and timelines were discussed for supported web browsers, MOTE, and operator real-time messaging.  Suggestions for future agenda items and changes to meeting logistics were solicited. 

Agenda

• ERCOT Meeting Page

Notes

• Troy Anderson noted that project management updates for technical work going on are covered in detail at PRS meetings. (Link to the 2/9/2022 PRS meeting) 
• Matt Mereness discussed projects with interface changes 
  • High priority/fast track for NPRR1093, rollout of a new AS trade type, NSPNM, for manual non-SCED resources planned for rollout close to May 23, 2022. Minor, backwards compatible for market submission, no telemetry changes, reporting changes TBA. Version 1.4 of the Market Submission Validation Rules.
  • High priority/fast track for NPRR863/FFRA, planned for rollout in October 2022. Previously scheduled for December 2021, interface changes described at the 12/7/2021 FFR advancement workshop are still valid.  Affects all QSEs with AS, major impact with breaking changes, extensive testing in MOTE recommended.
  • High priority/fast track for NPRR863/ECRS, planned for rollout in 1st half of 2023.  New 10-minute AS affects all QSEs, major impact with breaking changes, extensive testing in MOTE recommended when available.
• Todd Jaksch gave an update about WAN upgrade projects. In addition to upgrading to a more reliable technology, support for encrypted tunnels between ERCOT data center and market participants will bring about compliance with NERC CIP-012 (Cyber Security).
• Wei Qiu (wei.qiu@nerc.net) gave an update about items of interest in the NERC 2022 work plan
  • Monitoring and Situational Awareness conference Q3 2022 (TBA)
  • Document announcement for “Risk and Mitigations” Q3/Q4 2022 (TBA)
  • Clarification of the phrase “monitoring and control” 
• Venkat Tirupati noted:
  • Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer in June 2022, so plan to switch to chromium based browsers like Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
  • MOTE will be more prominent going forward, enhancements will be forthcoming.  A solicitation was made for suggestions for additional MOTE enhancements. 
  • SCR820 – Operator real time messaging will be forthcoming.  A solicitation was made for suggestions of secure messaging tools.

Discussed Issues

• NPRR1093 (Load Resource Participation in Non-Spinning Reserve)
• NPRR863 FFR Advancement
• NPRR863 ECRS (ERCOT Contingency Reserve Service)
• WAN Upgrades
• SCR820 (Operator real time messaging)