Texas Grid Operator Launches New Ancillary Service to Enhance Grid Reliability

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas announced the launch of a new daily procured ancillary service aimed to support grid reliability and reduce real-time operational issues to balance supply and demand. The new service, called ERCOT Contingency Reserve Service, or ECRS, marks the first such service introduced to the market in more than two decades. ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers representing about 90 percent of the state’s electric load.

Ancillary services are supplementary tools utilized by ERCOT to handle uncertainty and fluctuations in the power grid. These services can be provided by generators or consumers to increase or decrease the power supply within minutes or even seconds. The ECRS is part of the grid operator’s efforts to use all operational tools to meet growing energy demand as summer temperatures begin to rise across Texas and with high demand forecasted. The new service will work in conjunction with the grid operator’s existing ancillary services, namely Regulation Up, Regulation Down, Responsive Reserve Service, and Non-Spin Reserve Service, further bolstering their capabilities.

In May, ERCOT released a new grid notification tool called Texas Advisory and Notification System, or TXANS to deliver information on grid conditions to the public. The tool is designed to provide clear and reliable notifications ahead of significant weather conditions and possible high demand on the grid.

In its 2023 summer resource adequacy assessment, released in May, ERCOT anticipates adequate installed generating capacity available to meet system-wide forecasted peak load for the upcoming summer season, June – September 2023. About 97,000 MW of summer-rated resource capacity is expected to be available for the summer peak load. The base summer peak load is 82,739 MW based on average weather conditions during summer peaks for years 2007 through 2021.