ERCOT Test Exam UPDATED ACTUAL
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
When was the first ERCOT system connection and who was involved? - CORRECT
ANSWER 1924 between Texas Power & Light and West Texas Systems
List the major NERC Interconnections & Loading - CORRECT ANSWER ERCOT - 70-80K
MW, Eastern - 600K MW, Western - 125K MW, Quebec - 30K MW
How much of total Texas load does ERCOT cover? - CORRECT ANSWER 85%
How does ERCOT connect to other entities? - CORRECT ANSWER 5 AC-DC-AC Ties (DC
Ties) - Monticello & Oklaunion to SPP, Eagle Pass, Mcallen, & Laredo to CFE
How many entities make up the Eastern Interconnection - CORRECT ANSWER 6:
FRCC - Florida Reliability Coordinating Council
MRO - Midwest Reliability Organization
NPCC - Northeast Power Coordinating Council
RFC - Reliability First Corporation
SERC - Southeast Reliability Corporation
SPP - Southwest Power Pool Reliability Utility
True or False: Municipally Owned Utilities must opt into retail competition - CORRECT
ANSWER False
How much of the ERCOT energy market is made up of Bi-Lateral transactions? - CORRECT
ANSWER 90-95%
What makes up Ancillary Services? - CORRECT ANSWER Regulation Reserve, Responsive
Reserve (RRS), Non-spinning Reserve (Non-spin)
,Define Transmission Congestion - CORRECT ANSWER System is approaching limits (thermal
or load based) & at risk
List the market participants - CORRECT ANSWER QSE - Qualified Scheduling Entity
RE - Resource Entity
LSE - Load Serving Entity
CR - Competitive Retailer
TDSP - Transmission and Distribution Service Provider
NOIE - Non Opt-In Entity
Other - Power Marketers (Buy and sell energy), Aggregators (Represent 1 or more retail customers)
What subcommittees make up the technical advisory committee? - CORRECT ANSWER PRS -
Protocol Revision Subcommittee
WSS - Wholesale Market Subcommittee
RSS - Retail Market Subcommittee
ROS - Reliability & Operations Subcommittee
COPS - Commercial Operations Subcommittee
What is the purpose of ERCOT? - CORRECT ANSWER To maintain continuous surveillance
of status of operating conditions and act as the central information collection and dissemination point
for the market participants for system security purposes.
List ERCOT Responsibilities - CORRECT ANSWER 1. Coordinate system-wide response to
unusual operating conditions like short supply, initiation of EEA & load shedding.
2. Manage ancillary services & anticipating shortages.
3. Monitor/coordinate transmission facility operations
4. Analysis of planned outage effect on bulk electric systems.
5. Monitor/control information for daily planning, hourly reporting, minute-by-minute operations.
6. Reporting for significant events to market participants
7. Reporting & adjusting accumulated time error.
, List the ERCOT Core Processes - CORRECT ANSWER Registration, Market operations,
Power operations, Load profiling, Data Acquisition & Aggregation, Settlements, Billing and Financial
Transfer
What makes up the Day-Ahead Operations? - CORRECT ANSWER The Day-Ahead Market
(DAM) from 0600-1430 and Day-Ahead Reliability Unit Committment (DRUC) from 1430-1800.
What is the purpose of the DRUC? - CORRECT ANSWER Ensure reliability for the ERCOT
grid.
What is the Adjustment Period? - CORRECT ANSWER From 1800 to beginning of operating
hour of following day for each operating hour
What can QSEs and ERCOT do during the Adjustment Period? - CORRECT ANSWER QSEs
can:
- submit/update offers, trades, and schedules
- request resource de-commitments
ERCOT can:
-implement the Supplemental Ancillary Services Market (SASM)
What are the difference levels of transmission voltages and how many miles of transmission line does
ERCOT own for each level? - CORRECT ANSWER 69 KV - Greater than 11,000 miles
138 KV - 20,000 miles
345 KV - 9,500 miles
Total - Greater than 40,000 miles
Describe the transmission system reliability criteria - CORRECT ANSWER Power system
operated such that a credible single contingency (i.e. outage of two generating units in a short period
of time or loss of 345 KV line) will not cause:
- Uncontrolled Breakup (Cascading Outage)
- Uncontrolled System Overloads
- Customer Outages
- Unacceptable Voltages
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
When was the first ERCOT system connection and who was involved? - CORRECT
ANSWER 1924 between Texas Power & Light and West Texas Systems
List the major NERC Interconnections & Loading - CORRECT ANSWER ERCOT - 70-80K
MW, Eastern - 600K MW, Western - 125K MW, Quebec - 30K MW
How much of total Texas load does ERCOT cover? - CORRECT ANSWER 85%
How does ERCOT connect to other entities? - CORRECT ANSWER 5 AC-DC-AC Ties (DC
Ties) - Monticello & Oklaunion to SPP, Eagle Pass, Mcallen, & Laredo to CFE
How many entities make up the Eastern Interconnection - CORRECT ANSWER 6:
FRCC - Florida Reliability Coordinating Council
MRO - Midwest Reliability Organization
NPCC - Northeast Power Coordinating Council
RFC - Reliability First Corporation
SERC - Southeast Reliability Corporation
SPP - Southwest Power Pool Reliability Utility
True or False: Municipally Owned Utilities must opt into retail competition - CORRECT
ANSWER False
How much of the ERCOT energy market is made up of Bi-Lateral transactions? - CORRECT
ANSWER 90-95%
What makes up Ancillary Services? - CORRECT ANSWER Regulation Reserve, Responsive
Reserve (RRS), Non-spinning Reserve (Non-spin)
,Define Transmission Congestion - CORRECT ANSWER System is approaching limits (thermal
or load based) & at risk
List the market participants - CORRECT ANSWER QSE - Qualified Scheduling Entity
RE - Resource Entity
LSE - Load Serving Entity
CR - Competitive Retailer
TDSP - Transmission and Distribution Service Provider
NOIE - Non Opt-In Entity
Other - Power Marketers (Buy and sell energy), Aggregators (Represent 1 or more retail customers)
What subcommittees make up the technical advisory committee? - CORRECT ANSWER PRS -
Protocol Revision Subcommittee
WSS - Wholesale Market Subcommittee
RSS - Retail Market Subcommittee
ROS - Reliability & Operations Subcommittee
COPS - Commercial Operations Subcommittee
What is the purpose of ERCOT? - CORRECT ANSWER To maintain continuous surveillance
of status of operating conditions and act as the central information collection and dissemination point
for the market participants for system security purposes.
List ERCOT Responsibilities - CORRECT ANSWER 1. Coordinate system-wide response to
unusual operating conditions like short supply, initiation of EEA & load shedding.
2. Manage ancillary services & anticipating shortages.
3. Monitor/coordinate transmission facility operations
4. Analysis of planned outage effect on bulk electric systems.
5. Monitor/control information for daily planning, hourly reporting, minute-by-minute operations.
6. Reporting for significant events to market participants
7. Reporting & adjusting accumulated time error.
, List the ERCOT Core Processes - CORRECT ANSWER Registration, Market operations,
Power operations, Load profiling, Data Acquisition & Aggregation, Settlements, Billing and Financial
Transfer
What makes up the Day-Ahead Operations? - CORRECT ANSWER The Day-Ahead Market
(DAM) from 0600-1430 and Day-Ahead Reliability Unit Committment (DRUC) from 1430-1800.
What is the purpose of the DRUC? - CORRECT ANSWER Ensure reliability for the ERCOT
grid.
What is the Adjustment Period? - CORRECT ANSWER From 1800 to beginning of operating
hour of following day for each operating hour
What can QSEs and ERCOT do during the Adjustment Period? - CORRECT ANSWER QSEs
can:
- submit/update offers, trades, and schedules
- request resource de-commitments
ERCOT can:
-implement the Supplemental Ancillary Services Market (SASM)
What are the difference levels of transmission voltages and how many miles of transmission line does
ERCOT own for each level? - CORRECT ANSWER 69 KV - Greater than 11,000 miles
138 KV - 20,000 miles
345 KV - 9,500 miles
Total - Greater than 40,000 miles
Describe the transmission system reliability criteria - CORRECT ANSWER Power system
operated such that a credible single contingency (i.e. outage of two generating units in a short period
of time or loss of 345 KV line) will not cause:
- Uncontrolled Breakup (Cascading Outage)
- Uncontrolled System Overloads
- Customer Outages
- Unacceptable Voltages
