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NOTICE DATE:  April 17, 2017
NOTICE TYPE:  W-B041717-01 Operations
SHORT DESCRIPTION:  Biennial "Winter Storm Drill"
INTENDED AUDIENCE:  QSEs with Resources, Transmission Service Providers and other interested Market Participants
DAY AFFECTED:  June 16, 2017 and October 18 - 19, 2017
LONG DESCRIPTION:  The biennial "Winter Storm Drill" will be conducted October 18th and 19th, 2017. Participation in this drill is required for all TOs and all QSEs that represent generation resources, as specified by Nodal Operating Guide, Section 1.5.4. Participation can also be used towards meeting ERCOT's annual 32-hour reliability training requirement.
This year's drill will simulate a massive cold air mass quickly moving into Texas in a 72-hour time frame, with associated conditions including:

*         Freezing temperatures and icing in the West Texas region.

*         High winds and icing in the Panhandle region.

*         Extreme cold weather throughout the ERCOT Interconnection.

*         Natural Gas restrictions.



The goals of this year's training exercise will be to:

1.    Recognize and respond to various transmission and resource events.

2.    Recognize and respond to a localized blackout event.

3.    Recognize and respond to a Capacity Emergency/EEA event.
The schedule of the training will be as follows:
Wednesday, October 18th
*         0730-1200: Communication testing and simulator access verification.
*         1300-1630: Simulated Hotline calls to participants and 5-, 3-, and next-day preparation discussions for approaching Extreme cold weather.

Thursday, October 19th
*         0730-1630: Simulated Winter Storm Drill training exercise.

ACTION REQUIRED:  To register your organization for this event, email [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> with the subject: 'WSD planning' by Friday, June 16th, 2017. Include the following required information in your email:
1.    The name and contact information of the primary drill coordinator for your entity.
2.    A completed event spreadsheet for the exercise.

To complete the event spreadsheet:

  1.  Save the attached Winter Storm_Grid Ex Event Planning excel file as 'WSD_Events_<your company name>'.
  2.  Under the 'Planned Outages' tab, identify:
*         All transmission equipment that you want removed from service prior to drill start.
*         All resources you want out of service prior to drill start.

  1.  Under the 'Simulation Events' tab, identify:
*         All transmission equipment event that will occur.
*         Any resource event that may occur or that may cause the resource to go offline, be de-rated, or any fuel curtailments that may affect generation (indicate which generators and the anticipated affect) etc.
*         Any additional generation that is available to come online and estimated times to synchronization.
*         The expected operator/participant response for all simulated events.
This year's simulation will utilize the ERCOT simulator through remote access.  Each Market Participant will be issued a single user login and password to access the Macomber Map through Citrix utilizing your company's digital certificate. User logins for Macomber Map will only be issued to Market Participants that respond spreadsheet by the stated deadline.
Note: No event spreadsheets/drill scripts will be accepted after Friday, June 16th, 2017.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:  A more detailed planning timeline of events and deadlines will be sent after the Friday, June 16th, 2017 registration deadline.
CONTACT:  If you have any questions, please contact Erik Johnson at (512) 248-4619 or via email at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>.
If you are receiving email from an ERCOT distribution list that you no longer wish to receive, please follow this link in order to unsubscribe from this list: http://lists.ercot.com.




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