NPRR857  Creation of Direct Current Tie Operator Market Participant Role

This Nodal Protocol Revision Request (NPRR) creates the Market Participant role of “Direct Current Tie Operator (DCTO),” in order to clarify the obligations of Entities that operate Direct Current Ties (DC Ties) interconnected with the ERCOT System. This NPRR is proposed in accordance with the May 23, 2017 order of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) in Project No. 46304, which requires ERCOT to address a number of issues as a condition for the energization of the DC Tie project proposed by Southern Cross Transmission LLC (“Southern Cross”). Directive 1 in the order requires ERCOT, among other things, to “determine the appropriate market participation category for [Southern Cross] and for any other entity associated with the Southern Cross DC Tie for which a new market-participant category may be appropriate (creating new ones if necessary . . . .” Because all DC Ties in the ERCOT System are currently owned by Transmission Service Providers (TSPs), the Protocols do not currently establish the obligations of Entities that operate DC Ties as distinct from the obligations of TSPs more generally. Southern Cross will not qualify as a TSP, as that term is presently defined, because it will not own Transmission Facilities subject to the jurisdiction of the PUCT. Moreover, many of the rights and responsibilities of TSPs are arguably inappropriate for operators of DCTOs who do not own networked Transmission Facilities—for example, full Outage Scheduler visibility, participation in generator interconnection studies, and participation on Transmission Operator hotline calls. This NPRR proposes the DCTO role in an effort to separate out the obligations specific to those Entities that operate DC Ties as distinct from the obligations specific to TSPs. Consequently, this NPRR would require any TSP that currently operates a DC Tie to add an additional registration as a DCTO.