(a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to promote
reliability through provisions that provide ERCOT flexibility in the
implementation and administration of ERS.
(b) ERS procurement. ERCOT must procure ERS, a special
emergency response service to be deployed by ERCOT to help prevent
or alleviate an actual or anticipated Energy Emergency Alert (EEA)
event.
(1) ERCOT will determine the ERS standard contract
terms under which ERS resources are obligated to provide ERS, including
renewal of ERS contract periods ERCOT deems necessary due to the depletion
of available ERS.
(2) ERCOT may spend a maximum of $75 million in a 12-month
period on ERS, unless otherwise determined by the commission. During
that 12-month period, ERCOT may exceed the $75 million maximum by
up to an additional $25 million for ERS contract renewals under subsection
(d)(9) of this section during a period where ERS has been exhausted.
ERCOT may determine cost limits for each ERS standard contract term
in order to ensure that the ERS expenditure cap is not exceeded. To
minimize the cost of ERS, ERCOT may reject any offer that ERCOT determines
to be unreasonable or outside of the parameters of an acceptable offer.
ERCOT may also reject any offer placed on behalf of any ERS resource
if ERCOT determines that it lacks a sufficient basis to verify whether
the ERS resource complied with ERCOT-established performance standards
in an ERS deployment event during the preceding ERS standard contract
term.
(c) Definitions.
(1) ERS contract period--A period defined by ERCOT
for which an ERS resource is obligated to provide ERS, consisting
of all or part of the hours in an ERS standard contract term.
(2) ERS resource--A resource contracted to provide
ERS that meets one of the following descriptions:
(A) A load or aggregation of loads; or
(B) A dispatchable generator that is not registered
with ERCOT as a Generation Resource, or an aggregation of such generators.
(3) ERS standard contract term--Periods for which ERCOT
may procure ERS.
(4) ERS time period--Set of hours designated by ERCOT
within an ERS standard contract term.
(d) Participation in ERS. In addition to requirements
established by ERCOT, the following requirements apply for the provision
of ERS:
(1) An ERS resource must be represented by a qualified
scheduling entity (QSE).
(2) Offers must be submitted to ERCOT through a QSE.
(A) An offer may be submitted for one or more ERS time
periods within an ERS contract period.
(B) QSEs representing ERS resources may aggregate multiple
loads to reach the minimum capacity offer requirement established
by ERCOT. Such aggregations will be considered a single ERS resource
for purposes of submitting offers.
(3) ERCOT must establish qualifications for QSEs and
ERS resources to participate in ERS.
(4) A resource must not commit to provide ERS if it
is separately obligated to provide response with the same capacity
during any of the same hours.
(5) ERCOT must establish performance criteria for QSEs
and ERS resources.
(6) When dispatched by ERCOT, an ERS resource must
deploy consistent with its obligations and must remain deployed until
recalled by ERCOT.
(7) ERCOT may deploy ERS as necessary, subject to the
annual expenditure cap.
(8) Deployment of an ERS resource must be limited to
the number of hours for which the service was contracted, up to a
maximum of 24 cumulative hours in an ERS contract period. However,
if an instruction causes the cumulative total ERS deployment time
to exceed the number of hours contracted within an ERS contract period,
each ERS resource must remain deployed until permitted by ERCOT procedures
or by ERCOT instructions to return from deployment.
(9) Upon exhaustion of an ERS resource's obligation
in any ERS contract period, ERCOT may renew that obligation, subject
to the consent of the ERS resource and its QSE. ERCOT may renew the
obligation on each occasion that the resource's obligation is exhausted.
ERCOT may limit the renewal quantity to manage the overall cost of
the service or for reliability needs.
(10) ERCOT must establish procedures for testing of
ERS resources.
(11) A resource with a pre-existing obligation to provide
ERS may submit a proposal to serve as an alternative to a resource
subject to reliability must-run (RMR) service for the same period.
If the resource is selected, ERCOT must appropriately modify or terminate
the resource's pre-existing ERS obligation to allow the resource to
participate as an RMR alternative.
(e) ERS payment and charges.
(1) ERCOT must make a payment to each QSE representing
an ERS resource on an as-bid basis, a market clearing price mechanism,
or such other mechanism as ERCOT deems appropriate, subject to modifications
determined by ERCOT based on the ERS resource's availability during
an ERS standard contract term and the ERS resource's performance in
any deployment event.
(2) ERCOT must charge each QSE a charge for ERS based
upon its load ratio share during the relevant ERS time period and
ERS standard contract term.
(3) ERCOT must settle an ERS contract period within
80 days following the completion of the ERS standard contract term.
(f) Compliance.
(1) A QSE representing an ERS resource is subject to
administrative penalties for noncompliance with this rule or any related
ERCOT Protocols, Operating Guides, or other ERCOT standards, by the
QSE or the ERS resource it represents.
(2) ERCOT must establish criteria for reducing a QSE's
payment, suspending a QSE from participation in ERS, or both, for
failure to meet its ERS obligations, and must also establish criteria
for subsequent reinstatement.
(3) ERCOT must establish criteria under which an ERS
resource will be suspended for noncompliance with this rule or any
related ERCOT Protocols, Operating Guides, or other ERCOT standards,
and must also establish criteria for subsequent reinstatement.
(4) ERCOT must notify the commission of all instances
of noncompliance with this rule or any related ERCOT Protocols, Operating
Guides, or other ERCOT standards.
(5) ERCOT must maintain records relating to any alleged
noncompliance with this rule or any related ERCOT Protocols, Operating
Guides, or other ERCOT standards.
(g) Reporting. Prior to the start of an ERS standard
contract term, ERCOT must report publicly the number of megawatts
(MW) procured per ERS time-period, the number and type of ERS resources
providing the service, and the projected total cost of the service
for that ERS standard contract term. ERCOT must review the effectiveness
and benefits of ERS and report its findings to the commission annually
by April 15 of each calendar year. The report must contain, at a minimum,
the number of MW procured in each period, the total dollar amount
spent, the number and duration of deployments, and the circumstances
that led to each deployment.
(h) Implementation. ERCOT must develop, in consultation
with commission staff, additional procedures, guides, technical requirements,
protocols, or other standards that are consistent with this section
and that ERCOT finds necessary to implement ERS, including, but not
limited to, developing a standard form ERS Agreement and specific
performance guidelines and grace periods for ERS resources.
(i) Self Provision. ERCOT must establish procedures
for self-provision of ERS by any QSE.
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