DALLAS — Texas' power grid manager this week dramatically changed its operations to ensure backup electricity is available faster during emergencies.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) launched its Contingency Reserve Service (ECRS) Saturday. It's the first time ERCOT has added a tool of this kind to its operations in 20 years.
"I like to think of these things sort of like lines of defense," Stoic Energy consultant Doug Lewin said. "This adds an additional tool that is highly dispatchable, flexible and fast-acting."
When power plants suddenly stop producing electricity, Texas' power grid automatically draws on reserve power to immediately stabilize operations. This emergency electricity is only available for up to 15 minutes, though.
Larger reserve generators that can run for four hours take up to 30 minutes to ramp up. Previously, this delay meant emergency electricity could deplete before backup plants began producing ample energy to rescue the grid from an extreme emergency.
But ERCOT's new ancillary service system will ensure some backup generators can come online in just ten minutes and run for at least two hours. The faster response should make the grid more reliable during tight conditions.
"A lot of different things can happen and you really need that fairly rapid response," said Lewin, who also hosts the Texas Power Podcast and writes the Texas Energy and Power Newsletter.
Early indications are that ECRS will keep on retainer about 2.5 gigawatts of electricity capacity, enough to power about 500,000 homes on a hot summer day in Texas.
The new system also creates a framework that should allow more battery storage operators to contribute to the reserve power market. The ECRS reserve capacity could grow as battery storage operations launch in Texas, Lewin said.
"ECRS is most likely going to be a lot of battery storage," Lewin added. "Storage is really, really, really well-suited for ancillary services. It has that fast response, it's extremely reliable, dispatchable, and flexible - all the things a grid operator wants."
It does not appear that the ECRS change added a significant amount of reserve power capacity to Texas's energy grid. For now, the move primarily allows ERCOT to tap existing supplies faster.
In internal presentations, ERCOT acknowledged the new system will help compensate for inaccurate demand forecasts and unplanned outages at fuel-fired plants.
It's possible ERCOT will tap the reserve for the first time this weekend, when grid conditions are expected to tighten as Texans run their air conditioning. The council's forecasters expect solar panels to gather enough energy to operate the grid without issue, though.