Executive Summary
And with the Wholesale Market Subcommittee meeting, the ERCOT stakeholder process has returned after its winter break. The biggest news was that NPRR1092 (Reduce RUC Offer Floor and remove RUC OPT OUT option) got endorsed in a highly contested and debated 65-35 vote, with loads, Retail Electric Providers, Munis and Transmission utilities lining up behind it, and generators (with the notable exception of Invenergy) and Co-ops opposed.
The other big thing out of this meeting was that it appears (significant details need to be hammered out) that there will be a task force reporting to the Technical Advisory Committee dealing with the reliability and market issues of nodal settlement of load resources and the coming wave of crypto mining load.
Notes
- Resmi Surendran and Ivan Velasquez remain Chair and Vice Chair respectively
- NPRR1110 (Black Start Reform) was discussed. There was much discussion at the Black Start Working Group, apparently, and ERCOT is still digesting the ideas and working on comments to accept the ideas they agree with. This NPRR will also be discussed at WMWG in the future.
- Maybe include more than the bare minimum of resources due to failures seen during Uri?
- Look into requirements for “Next Start” units?
- ERCOT will try to bring some representation of age of units (that respects confidentiality) to WMWG.
- SCR819 (Require IRRs behind GTCs to follow base points to enable fuller utilization of GTCs) – ERCOT will bring some analysis of SCR819 performance to future meetings.
- WMWG Update
- Lots of discussion of Crypto Mining Problems.
- Exclude from load shed responsibility?
- Colocation issues for pricing?
- Request to hear how other ISOs are handling this issue
- Looking to get a task force that reports to TAC.
- The rest was just a rehash of the 12/17/21 meeting with no new info
- Lots of discussion of Crypto Mining Problems.
- HCAP Change Implementation – ERCOT presented on the changes required by the commission’s HCAP and MCL changes that went in effect on 1/1/22.
- VOLL to $5000
- AS DAM penalty factors changed to $5000
- Power Balance Penalty Curve capped at $5000
- Proxy Energy Offer Curves changed to $5000
- Bill Barnes (NRG) raised the point that the Base Case shadow price cap also needs to be lowered from $9251 (presumably to $5251).
- There was also some consternation that there may not have been an actual order to raise MCL to 3000MW and that the protocols will be out of sync with system implementation until the Board approves these OBDRRs
- NPRR1092 (Lowering of RUC Offer Floor to $75/18*FIP and eliminating RUC OPTOUT option) was discussed extensively with everyone expressing almost exactly the same opinions as they did in PRS. However, the vote went very differently. Generators and Co-ops voted against it, Loads, munis, transmission utilities voted for it, and it got recommended with a 65-35 vote.
- Nodal Settlement of Load Resources was discussed. The biggest concern was whether it would result in a proliferation of resource nodes that would cause performance issues in CRR and DAM auction engines. This will be looped into the task force, most likely.
- Phase 1 was discussed by ERCOT (Kenan). The current state is somewhat vague, so there will be many issues that go through the stakeholder process via NPRRs and OBDRRs.
- The issue about what to do with substation transmission equipment that needs to stay in the grid after the resource retires was raised; this will be further discussed in the future (CMWG?)
