Two auctions are held each year: one for the June to September period and one for the May to October period. See the Forward Reserve Auction Calendars.
Yes. Penalties are associated both with failure-to-reserve and failure-to-activate megawatts, which are detailed in Market Rule 1, Section III.9.7.
If a market participant fails to reserve sufficient forward reserve in the Real-Time Energy Market to meet its forward-reserve obligation, it is assessed a forward-reserve failure-to-reserve penalty for each hour of the operating day during which the failure to reserve occurs. The penalty rate calculated for each product type and reserve zone is the maximum of 1.5 multiplied by the forward reserve payment rate or the applicable real-time reserve clearing price minus the Forward Reserve Payment Rate.
NOTE: When a market participant is assessed a failure-to-reserve penalty, it also is not paid for the delivery of reserve.
A market participant is assessed a forward-reserve failure-to-activate penalty if its forward-reserve resource fails to provide, per the ISO’s dispatch instructions, the electric energy associated with the resource's forward-reserve delivered megawatts (i.e., the lesser of the assigned or available reserve megawatts for a reserve zone or reserve category for each hour of the operating day). The penalty rate calculated for each product type and reserve zone is the maximum of 2.25 multiplied by the forward reserve payment rate or the applicable nodal locational marginal price (LMP).
Participants offer products, quantities, and prices at reserve zones in the auction. Each day, before the close of the reoffer period the day before the operating day, the participants assign assets from their portfolios to meet the obligations procured in the auction or traded for bilaterally. See Section 3 of Manual 36.
This is done daily using the Settlements Market System (SMS) Forward-Reserve Assignment application, which is located on the SMD home page with all other market applications. The user of this application must be the lead participant of the resource and have a valid digital certificate.
Participation in the Forward Reserve Market begins by clearing a portfolio of megawatts in the forward-reserve auction in a reserve category (30-minute operating reserve [TMOR] or 10-minute nonspinning reserve [TMNSR]) to meet either zonal or systemwide reserve requirements. Once the offer has cleared, the participant must meet the reserve obligation by assigning megawatts to a specific unit(s). Market Rule 1 (MR 1), Section III.9.5.1, describes the criteria for eligibility for both on-line and off-line units to be designated to cover FRM obligations. An on-line unit must have a dispatchable range of megawatts available within the timeframe of the assigned FRM obligation. An off-line unit must be a fast-start generator with established claim 10 or claim 30 values.
Claim 10 refers to the generation output level, expressed in megawatts, that a resource can reach within 10 minutes from an off-line state after receiving a dispatch instruction. (It also is the amount of reduced consumption, expressed in megawatts, a dispatchable demand resource can reach within 10 minutes after receiving a dispatch instruction.) Claim 30 refers to the generation output level, expressed in megawatts, that a resource can reach within 30 minutes from an off-line state after receiving a dispatch instruction. (Likewise, it also refers to the amount of reduced consumption, expressed in megawatts, a dispatchable demand resource can reach within 30 minutes after receiving a dispatch instruction.)
A fast-start generator is a generating unit that the ISO may dispatch within the hour through electronic dispatch and that meets the following criteria: (i) it has a minimum run time that does not exceed one hour; (ii) it has a minimum down time that does not exceed one hour; (iii) its time to start does not exceed 30 minutes; (iv) it is available for dispatch and staffed or has automatic, remote dispatch capability; (v) it is capable of receiving and acknowledging a start-up or shut-down dispatch instruction electronically (vi); and it has satisfied its minimum down time.
Market Rule 1, Section III.9.5.2, contains guidelines regarding the eligibility requirements of resources. First, a participant must submit an Ask ISO Issue, requesting fast-start status and either or both claim 10 or claim 30 eligibility. Once the ISO has made the proper administrative changes and the unit has been assigned fast-start eligibility, the participant must request a demonstration of its generator to establish a specific value for claim 10 and claim 30 capability. The ISO control room will then conduct an audit using the target megawatts and timeframe the participant provided. Market Rule 1, Section III.9.5.3, contains guidelines on how a resource’s claim 10 and claim 30 values are established and calculated. At this point, the participant can then assign megawatts, up to the demonstrated capability value of the unit, to cover its hourly FRM obligation.
During the asset’s start up and minimum run time, the ISO treats the asset as a self-scheduled generator. At the end of the minimum run time, the dispatch software can dispatch the generator economically, to permit the unit to remain on line or to request the unit to shut down.
Note: Any time after the demonstration period (usually 30 minutes), the generator operator may opt to do any of the following: remain on line for the remainder of the minimum run time, waive the minimum run time, or request a self-schedule for the generator to remain on line. The generator operator’s request for a self-schedule can be with the intention of performing a seasonal claimed capability audit (CCA). In this situation, if the ISO’s Control Room operator has accepted the self-scheduling request, the lead participant must ensure that the generator meets the CCA requirements. These requirements include remaining self-scheduled, if necessary, and on line for the time required for a CCA test and for any reporting requirements of a CCA test.
Yes. The participant decides at the beginning of a CCA test the type of seasonal-claimed-capability audit it wants. The beginning of either the claim 10 or claim 30 audit must be unannounced, but once the generator is on line, the participant can decide to demonstrate its seasonal claimed capability.
Yes. The claim 10 and claim 30 audits are treated as a self-scheduled activity until the end of the minimum run time, unless the participant notifies the generation coordinator that it wishes to waive its minimum run time.
For a generator, the lead participant can download the following workbook from Operating Procedure 23.
For a DRR, the lead participant is to submit the request via the Demand-Response Audit and Testing Tool located on the SMD Applications Homepage.
Additional reference is located in OP-23.
A participant can update these values daily using the eMarket user interface. These daily offer values, however, will not be sufficient to ensure that the ISO will recognize the offered off-line reserves; the ISO will consider the offer values in conjunction with other indications of the asset's ability to provide these reserves. These other indicators include the asset's registration, NX-12 information, hourly operating limits, conformance to the definition of a fast-start generator, and the capability limits previously demonstrated to the ISO.
Yes. forward reserve bilateral transactions can be uploaded to the SMS using the file format described here.
Note: Buyers must enter internal bilateral transactions for forward reserve, which the sellers subsequently confirm through the Market User Interface, before 5:00 p.m. on the second business day after the operating day.
Reference: User Guide for Submitting Internal Bilateral Transactions Using SMS
Yes, megawatts are qualified for the locational Forward Reserve Market using real-time offer parameters, as noted in Market Rule 1, Section III.9.6.4. An on-line qualifying megawatt is the capability greater than the ecomin limit and less than or equal to the ecomax limit that an on-line generating resource offers at or above the applicable forward-reserve threshold price.
Here's an example of this calculation:
Qualifying MW = Qualifying MW upper limit (ecomax bid parameter) − Qualifying MW lower limit (ecomin bid parameter).
Failure-to-Reserve Penalty = Forward-Reserve Obligation − Qualifying MW.
So, if the Forward-Reserve Obligation = 15 MW, and the Qualifying MW = 47 MW (ecomax) − 37 MW (ecomin) = 10.0 MW, then the Failure-to-Reserve Penalty = 15 MW Forward-Reserve Obligation − 10 Qualifying MW = 5 MW.
