NOTICE DATE: April 16, 2025

NOTICE TYPE: M-A041625-01 Operations

SHORT DESCRIPTION: RTC+B Market trials begin May 5, 2025

INTENDED AUDIENCE: All Qualified Scheduling Entities (QSEs) with Resources

DAYS AFFECTED: May 5, 2025

LONG DESCRIPTION:  Mandatory Real-Time Co-optimization plus Batteries (RTC+B) Market trials for QSEs with Resources begin on May 5, 2025.

In preparation for implementing RTC+B on Operating Day (OD) December 5, 2025, ERCOT and stakeholders have agreed to a series of required activities to ramp-up from initial connectivity testing to parallel operations ahead of go-live.  These required activities begin on May 5, 2025 and proceed through to go-live in December 2025.  These activities are required for all QSEs with Resources that are currently qualified for Real-Time dispatch through Security-Constrained Economic Dispatch (SCED) or to provide Ancillary Services, including Load Resources that are not Controllable Load Resources (CLRs).

Weekly meetings will be held with impacted QSEs during the market trials to communicate the progression and coordinate activities. The first weekly meeting for the RTC+B Market trials is posted on the ERCOT calendar for May 5, 2025 at 10:00 AM and will continue each week thereafter.

At the highest level, the progression of the market trials can be summarized as:

• May-June 2025: Establish initial connectivity testing in which QSE and ERCOT establish the capability to exchange data in terms of Market submissions and new telemetry points.
• July-August 2025: Begin real-time Market execution tests in which QSE provides parallel Market offers/bids and production-quality telemetry into the Market trials test systems each week.  Although QSEs will not follow RTC+B awards and dispatch, each QSE must schedule individual testing and demonstrate the ability to follow RTC+B dispatch signals from ERCOT for a subset of Resources.
• September-October 2025: Conduct brief periods of system-wide “closed-loop tests” in which ERCOT and QSEs will temporarily switch production systems to follow RTC+B dispatch for two to four hours to ensure load frequency control systems are working for QSEs and ERCOT.  QSEs will be required to switch systems for their entire portfolio of Resources for these tests.
• These cumulative required activities will be completed by the end of October 2025 to provide assurance for go-live to support transitional activities in November, including the 30-day Market Notice being sent by November 5, 2025 to confirm the RTC+B go-live date for OD December 5, 2025.

These activities are summarized in the RTC+B Market Trials Plan endorsed by the ERCOT Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) in October 2024.  ERCOT will publish weekly scorecards reflecting the progress for each QSE beginning after May 16, 2025. 

ERCOT looks forward to partnering with the impacted QSEs on this progression and will support questions on the weekly Market calls and via email using RTCB@ercot.com.

ACTION REQUIRED: All QSEs with Resources are expected to support the required activities of the RTC+B implementation outlined above and detailed in the TAC- endorsed RTC+B Market Trials Plan beginning May 5, 2025 and through RTC+B go-live. 

CONTACT: If you have any questions, please contact your ERCOT Account Manager. You may also call the general ERCOT Client Services phone number at (512) 248-3900 or contact ERCOT Client Services via email at ClientServices@ercot.com.

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dg/dsl