NOTICE DATE: December 6, 2022

NOTICE TYPE: M-A120622-01 General

SHORT DESCRIPTION: Notice of Interim Voluntary Curtailment Program for Large Flexible Loads

INTENDED AUDIENCE: All Market Participants and Customers with Large Flexible Loads

DAYS AFFECTED: December 6, 2022 and thereafter

LONG DESCRIPTION: Due to the anticipated interconnection of an increasing number of large flexible Loads in the ERCOT Region, ERCOT is establishing an interim, voluntary curtailment program that would allow these Loads to assist ERCOT in ensuring reliability during periods of high system demand.  Under this program, ERCOT will provide participating customers with an automated notification (via phone call, Short Message Service (SMS) text message, and email) requesting curtailment of consumption during periods of low or declining Physical Responsive Capability (PRC) after Non-Spinning Reserve Service has been deployed, but before Emergency Response Service (ERS) has been deployed. 

While this program is primarily intended for large flexible Loads, any customer that is connected to a Transmission Service Provider’s (TSP) facility at transmission voltage may participate, subject to the conditions described in this Notice. 

As a condition for participation, the customer must ensure that ERCOT has telemetry of the customer’s total Premise-level Load.  If the Premise includes only the Load of the participating customer, the telemetry of the Transmission Operator (TO) at the transmission load bus where the customer interconnects will suffice so long as that telemetry is indicative of the customer’s total Premise-level Load.  The provision of any new telemetry by the customer’s TO is subject to the consent of that TO.  If the Premise that includes the participating Load also includes a Resource, the Qualified Scheduling Entity (QSE) representing the co-located Resource must establish a separate telemetry point that provides ERCOT a telemetered value of the participating Load that excludes all other non-participating Load at the site, including any Load associated with each co-located Resource. 

The amount of Load that may be registered by a customer to participate in this program must be energized at the time of registration and may not include any amount of Load that is, or may be, qualified, offered, committed, or used to provide any Ancillary Service or ERS.  If at any time a customer wishes to qualify or offer to provide any Ancillary Service or ERS using any amount of Load that has previously been registered to participate in this program, the customer must submit a revised registration form to ERCOT using the registration process described below. As a condition for qualifying or offering the Load to provide any Ancillary Service or ERS, the customer must have received ERCOT’s approval of the adjusted Load amount.  

Qualifying customers may begin registering to participate in this interim voluntary curtailment program as of the date of this Notice.  Customers should complete the attached form and submit it to largeloadnotice@ercot.com.  Any customer that wishes to register more than one Premise for participation should submit a separate form for each participating Premise.  ERCOT will send three emails – (1) confirming receipt of the customer form; (2) confirming eligibility of the customer to participate in the program; and (3) informing the customer when the program is live.  Any customer that intends to participate and has not received confirmation should resend the form or contact ERCOT Client Services as instructed below.  If a customer needs to update any information previously provided through the registration process, it should submit an updated registration form.  If a customer wishes to terminate its participation in this program, it should provide notice to largeloadnotice@ercot.com.

Customers that participate in this program will not be considered ERCOT Market Participants by virtue of that participation.  Participation is subject to ERCOT’s confirmation that the customer is eligible to participate, including confirming that the customer has established the necessary telemetry.  Ongoing participation in this program is voluntary, and ERCOT will not refer any customer to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) for failure to comply with any ERCOT curtailment request under this program.

By participating, customers acknowledge that ERCOT will publicly disclose aggregated and/or anonymized information regarding participation levels and curtailment impacts, and that the communications capabilities of participating customers and their QSEs are subject to testing.  Customers may opt in to ERCOT’s disclosure of certain customer-specific participation and performance information as part of the program registration process.  Consent to this disclosure is not required as a condition of participation.

ERCOT anticipates the program going live on or about January 1, 2023 and will notify participating customers via email of the specific go-live date.  Any notification provided to customers under this program will depend on real-time operating conditions and may be issued any time of day on any day of the year.  ERCOT may issue such notifications in groups to limit the frequency impacts of these curtailments on the ERCOT System.  When curtailment is no longer needed, ERCOT will provide a phone, SMS, and email notification to participating customers.  ERCOT will also post Operations Messages at https://www.ercot.com/services/comm/mkt_notices/opsmessages/ whenever it requests or ends curtailment under this program. 

Any curtailment request issued under this program is intended only for the customers participating in this program and should not be construed as a deployment or Dispatch Instruction for any Resource or ERS Resource at the site, including any Resource or ERS Resource providing any Ancillary Service or ERS.  Participation in this program does not affect any duty that a QSE or Resource Entity may have with respect to the provision of any Ancillary Service or ERS, including an Ancillary Service Responsibility or ERS obligation carried by any Resource or ERS Resource co-located with a participating Load.  ERCOT will continue to deploy Ancillary Services as described in the ERCOT Protocols.     

This voluntary curtailment program is temporary, and ERCOT reserves the right to terminate it at any time.  ERCOT intends to develop a permanent reliability framework for large flexible Loads by sponsoring ERCOT Protocol and Guide changes in the future. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: ERCOT will issue a Press Release providing broader notification of this program.

CONTACT: If you have any questions, please contact your ERCOT Account Manager. You may also call the general ERCOT Client Services phone number at (512) 248-3900 or contact ERCOT Client Services via email at ClientServices@ercot.com.

If you are receiving email from a public ERCOT distribution list that you no longer wish to receive, please follow this link in order to unsubscribe from this list: http://lists.ercot.com.

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