I will provide more details on each item below, but in summary, the December 16, 2011 GADS Open Source release already posted to the download/install sites will work just fine … no updates or reinstallation is necessary. Some manual settings may need to be changed as indicated below if the 3 items below apply to your situation.
However, if you ONLY collect/report “gross” capacities (GMC, GDC and GAC … in other words, no NMC, NDC or NAC at all) AND you only want to report the minimum “required” GADS data to NERC, you have two options discussed as a part of Item (3).
(1) ISO-NE
In our 12/23/2011 email, we indicated that we had received an email from the ISO-NE entitled “Changes in GADS Reporting Requirements as of January 1, 2012” dated December 21st indicating that their reporting requirements have changed.
Quoting the referenced email, “ISO New England (ISO-NE) has been working with NERC to become the Delegated Reporting Entity (DRE) for the New England region generators. This has been done to ease the burden on participants by allowing one data submission to ISO-NE. We will then be responsible for forwarding the data to NERC. While we require units 5 MW and higher to submit the required dataset to ISO-NE, we will only forward data for units with nameplate ratings of 50 MW or higher in 2012 and for units 20 MW and higher starting in January 2013 -- unless you specifically ask that we forward data for smaller units to NERC.
“When ISO-NE has submitted the data to NERC, you will receive a notice from NERC’s webGADS data submittal system. If NERC finds problems with the data, or if the data was not submitted by the deadline, they will contact the generator owner and also notify the appropriate data submittal agent(s) of the problem. In other words, the ultimate responsible party for the timely submittal of accurate data is the generator owner.”
For generating units 50 MW and higher, data must be submitted for all the required fields as noted in the spreadsheet attached to the email you should have received from ISO-NE to be in compliance with NERC.
Since ISO-NE will be submitting the NERC required data on your behalf, you will simply select “NERC Format” instead of “ISO-NE Format” under the “Write Data” menu item in DE or select NERC in the Dashboard.
Then when writing out your GADS data, also simply check the box for “Write expanded 05/07 data format”.
If you want to submit only the NERC “required” data, uncheck “Write ALL Data Including Voluntary to NERC”. If “Write ALL Data Including Voluntary to NERC” is CHECKED, all GADS data fields (required AND voluntary) will be included in the 05/07 ASCII files.
(2) NYISO
We also indicated that we had sent an email to NYISO asking if they too are planning similar changes.
In their 12/28/2011 reply to our email, in summary they write: “The NYISO will not be reporting data to NERC on behalf of generators at this point … We have told our MPs that they will need to submit their data in the 05-07 format beginning with the January [2012] data.“
When writing out your NYISO data beginning January 2012, simply check the box for “Write expanded 05/07 data format” before pressing the OK button.
(3) NERC
During our code and changes review, we requested clarification from Mike Curley, Manager, NERC GADS Services, on several identified items.
There is some apparent conflict in the NERC GADS DRI on what is required. The 2012 DRI states that the NMC, NDC, NAC and NAG are REQUIRED and GMC, GDC, GAC and GAG are voluntary
The DRI states that the Net capacity values are REQUIRED on the Performance data (Figure IV-2 Record Layout of Section B – Unit Generation Performance) and derating Event data (Figure III-5 Record Layout of Section B – Event Magnitude) as shown below:
Gross Maximum Capacity (GMC) (Record 01, columns 16-21) - Voluntary
Gross Dependable Capacity (GDC) (Record 01, columns 22-27) - Voluntary
Gross Actual Generation (GAG) (Record 01, columns 28-36) - Voluntary
Net Maximum Capacity (NMC) (Record 01, columns 37-42) - Required
Net Dependable Capacity (NDC) (Record 01, columns 43-48) - Required
Net Actual Generation (NAG) (Record 01, columns 49-57) – Required
Gross Available Capacity (GAC) as a Result of the Event (Record 01, columns 56-61) – Voluntary
Net Available Capacity (NAC) as a Result of the Event (Record 01, columns 62-67) – Required
The DRI also states: “For consistency in calculating statistics, if Net Actual Generation [NAG] is reported (negative integer or positive integer), NMC or NDC must also be reported.” (emphasis /clarification added)
Based on the DRI, when writing out the “required” data fields with the December 16, 2011 GADS Open Source release, only the Net values are written out in the 05/07 files; no Gross values.
We posed the following questions to Mike Curley: “So if a generator does not now collect Net values and only submits one or more Gross values will it pass OATI/NERC’s edit checks? Or must the required Net values be estimated and submitted to pass?”
His response on 12/23/2011 was: “Only NAG and any one of the capacities is required.” (emphasis added)
However, if you submit only one capacity or gross capacities only, the NERC editing program will apparently calculate any missing GMC, GDC, NMC, or NDC using the following criteria:
Fossil, Nuclear, and Fluidized Bed: 5.0% difference between gross and net values
Gas Turbine/Jet Engine: 2.0% difference between gross and net values
Diesel: No difference between gross and net values
Hydro/Pumped Storage: 2.0% difference between gross and net values
Miscellaneous: 4.0% difference between gross and net values
For example, if you report only GMC and GDC for a Fossil unit, then the program will take your GMC and multiply it by 0.95 to determine the new NMC. The same operation would occur for determining the NDC from the GDC number.
If you report only one capacity (for example GMC), then the program will assume the GMC and GDC are equal and will record the unit as such. It will then calculate the NMC and NDC using the calculation stated above.
According to the DRI, if you think the differences between gross and net are different than those numbers stated above, then “complete all capacities (maximum and dependable) with the correct numbers”.
NERC will also use the delta (difference) between your gross and net capacities from your performance records to calculate the differences between GAC and NAC on your derating event records!
Remember that when NERC calculates all of your “equivalent” factors and rates (e.g., EAF, EFOR, EFORd, etc.), they use the capacities to calculate the per cent derating when determining the equivalent hours and in calculating all capacity-weighted statistics for your units.
If you ONLY collect/report “gross” capacities (GMC, GDC and GAC … in other words, no NMC, NDC or NAC at all) AND you only want to report the minimum “required” GADS data to NERC, you have two options:
1. Using the December 16, 2011 GADS Open Source release, CHECK “Write ALL Data Including Voluntary to NERC” and all GADS data fields (required AND voluntary including all Gross capacities) will be included in the 05/07 ASCII files. Note you must still input the Net Actual Generation (NAG) as required by NERC.
2. We will be posting a 12/30/2011 release tomorrow that writes out the available NERC-identified required data plus the Gross capacities if you only input Gross values if you so choose. Download and install this version.
If you have any questions, please give me a call.
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