169 FERC ¶ 61,048 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Before Commissioners: Neil Chatterjee, Chairman; 

 Richard Glick and Bernard L. McNamee. 

 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc. Docket Nos. ER19-460-000 

ER19-460-001 

ER19-460-002 

ER19-460-003 

EL19-101-000 

ORDER ON COMPLIANCE FILING AND 

INSTITUTING SECTION 206 PROCEEDING 

(Issued October 17, 2019) 

On December 3, 2018, Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (SPP) submitted proposed 

revisions to its Open Access Transmission Tariff (Tariff) in compliance with the 

requirements of Order No. 841,1

 which removes barriers to the participation of electric 

storage resources in the capacity, energy, and ancillary service markets operated by 

Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators (RTO/ISO). 

In this order, we accept in part, and reject in part, SPP’s compliance filing, subject 

to a further compliance filing, effective nine months from the date of issuance of this 

order, as discussed below. We also institute a proceeding pursuant to section 206 of the 

Federal Power Act (FPA)2

 to direct SPP to include its resource adequacy minimum runtime requirement in its Tariff. 

I. Background 

In Order No. 841, the Commission adopted reforms to remove barriers to the 

participation of electric storage resources in RTO/ISO markets.3

 The Commission 

 1 Electric Storage Participation in Markets Operated by Regional Transmission 

Organizations and Independent System Operators, Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 

(2018), order on reh’g, Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 (2019). 

2

 16 U.S.C. § 824e (2018). 

3

 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 1. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 2 - 

modified section 35.28 of its regulations4

 to require each RTO/ISO to revise its tariff to 

establish market rules that, recognizing the physical and operational characteristics of 

electric storage resources, facilitate their participation in the RTO/ISO markets. The 

Commission found that Order No. 841 will enhance competition and, in turn, help to 

ensure that the RTO/ISO markets produce just and reasonable rates, pursuant to the 

Commission’s legal authority under FPA section 206.5

Order No. 841 requires each RTO/ISO to revise its tariff to establish a 

participation model for electric storage resources consisting of market rules that, 

recognizing the physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources, will 

help facilitate their participation in the RTO/ISO markets.6

 Specifically, for each 

RTO/ISO, the tariff provisions for the participation model for electric storage resources 

must: (1) ensure that a resource using the participation model is eligible to provide all 

capacity, energy, and ancillary services that it is technically capable of providing in the 

RTO/ISO markets; (2) ensure that a resource using the participation model can be 

dispatched and can set the wholesale market clearing price as both a wholesale seller and 

wholesale buyer consistent with existing market rules that govern when a resource can set 

the wholesale price; (3) account for the physical and operational characteristics of electric 

storage resources through bidding parameters or other means; and (4) establish a 

minimum size requirement for participation in the RTO/ISO markets that does not exceed 

100 kW. Additionally, each RTO/ISO must specify that the sale of electric energy from 

the RTO/ISO markets to an electric storage resource that the resource then resells back to 

those markets must be at the wholesale locational marginal price (LMP).7

II. Compliance Filing 

On December 3, 2018, SPP submitted its Order No. 841 compliance filing. SPP 

proposed revisions to Part I, Part II, Attachment AE, Attachment AF, and Attachment 

AG of its Tariff to comply with the provisions of Order No. 841 and to create a 

participation model for electric storage resources, as discussed below. 

On February 6, 2019, SPP amended its Order No. 841 compliance filing and 

proposed additional revisions to Attachment AE of its Tariff. On February 28, 2019, SPP 

 4

 18 C.F.R. § 35.28 (2019). 

5

 16 U.S.C. § 824e (2018). 

6

 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 3. In Order No. 841, the Commission 

referred to a set of tariff provisions that are created for a particular type of resource as a 

participation model. Id. 

7 Id. P 4. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 3 - 

filed a request for deferral of the effective date of its Order No. 841 compliance filing. 

SPP requested an effective date of “12/31/9998” and committed to submit an additional 

filing with the Commission that specifies a precise effective date. 

On April 1, 2019, Commission staff issued a letter informing SPP that additional 

information was necessary to process its compliance filing (Data Request). On May 1, 

2019, SPP submitted a response to the Data Request (Data Request Response), which 

further amended its Order No. 841 compliance filing. 

III. Notices of Filings and Responsive Pleadings 

Notice of SPP’s December 3, 2018 filing was published in the Federal 

Register, 83 Fed. Reg. 63,498 (2018), with interventions and protests due on or before 

December 24, 2018. On December 14, 2018, the Commission extended the comment 

period until and including February 7, 2019.8

The Missouri Public Service Commission filed a notice of intervention. Timely 

motions to intervene were filed by: American Electric Power Service Corporation; 

Energy Storage Association; Xcel Energy Services Inc.; Advanced Energy Economy; 

Southwest Power Pool Market Monitoring Unit (SPP MMU); Electric Power Supply 

Association; Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, Inc.; Sunflower Electric Power 

Corporation; Westar Energy, Inc., Kansas City Power & Light Company, and KCP&L 

Greater Missouri Operations Company; Kansas Electric Power Cooperative, Inc.; MidKansas Electric Company, Inc., NextEra Energy Resources, LLC (NextEra); LS Power 

Associates, L.P.; Penn Oak Services, LLC; Exelon Corporation; Lincoln Clean Energy, 

LLC; Western Farmers Electric Cooperative; EDF Renewables, Inc.; Kansas Power Pool; 

Voith Hydro Inc. (Voith Hydro); American Public Power Association; National Rural 

Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA); GlidePath Development LLC. On February 

7, 2019, NextEra, Advanced Energy Economy, Energy Storage Association, and Tesla, 

Inc. (Tesla) filed comments. On February 15, 2019, the SPP MMU filed a response to 

Advanced Energy Economy’s comments. On February 22, 2019, NRECA filed a request 

for leave to answer and answer to Advanced Energy Economy’s and Tesla’s comments. 

Notice of SPP’s February 6, 2019 filing was published in the Federal Register, 

84 Fed. Reg. 3435 (2019), with interventions and protests due on or before February 27, 

2019. On March 1, 2019, Voith Hydro filed comments. 

Notice of SPP’s February 28, 2019 filing was published in the Federal Register, 

84 Fed. Reg. 3435 (2019), with interventions and protests due on or before March 21, 

 8

 Notice of Extension of Time, Docket Nos. ER19-460-000, ER19-462-000, 

ER19-465-000, ER19-467-000, ER19-468-000, ER19-469-000, and ER19-470-000 

(Dec. 14, 2018).
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 4 - 

2019. On March 11, 2019, Energy Storage Association filed comments. On March 19, 

2019, SPP filed a motion for leave to answer and answer to Energy Storage Association’s 

comments. 

Notice of SPP’s May 1, 2019 filing was published in the Federal Register, 84 Fed. 

Reg. 19,912 (2019), with interventions and protests due on or before May 22, 2019. 

None was filed. 

IV. Discussion 

A. Procedural Matters 

Pursuant to Rule 214 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, 

18 C.F.R. § 385.214 (2019), the notice of intervention and timely, unopposed motions to 

intervene serve to make the entities that filed them parties to this proceeding.9

 

Rule 213(a)(2) of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, 18 C.F.R. 

§ 385.213(a)(2) (2019), prohibits an answer to a protest and/or an answer unless 

otherwise ordered by the decisional authority. We accept NRECA’s, the SPP MMU’s, 

and SPP’s answers because they have provided information that assisted us in our 

decision-making process. 

B. Substantive Matters 

As discussed below, we accept in part, and reject in part, SPP’s compliance filing, 

subject to a further compliance filing to be submitted within 60 days of the date of 

issuance of this order. Further, we establish an effective date nine months from the date 

of issuance of this order for the Tariff changes accepted in this proceeding, as discussed 

below. We also institute an FPA section 206 proceeding to direct SPP to include its 

resource adequacy minimum run-time requirement in its Tariff. 

As a preliminary matter, we find that SPP has complied with the following 

requirements of Order No. 841: (1) inclusion of a definition of electric storage resource 

that encompasses electric storage resources capable of receiving electric energy from the 

grid and storing it for later injection of electric energy back to the grid, regardless of their 

storage medium, and includes electric storage resources located on the interstate 

 9

 Tesla filed comments but did not file a motion to intervene and, therefore, is not 

a party to this proceeding. 18 C.F.R. §§ 385.102(c)(3), 385.214(a)(3) (2019). Although 

we do not grant party status to Tesla, we address Tesla’s comments in this order. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 5 - 

transmission system, on a distribution system, or behind the meter;10 and (2) the 

requirement that each RTO/ISO has tariff provisions providing a participation model for 

electric storage resources that establishes a minimum size requirement for participation in 

the RTO/ISO markets that does not exceed 100 kW.11 SPP’s compliance with these 

requirements is not contested in this proceeding. We address all remaining compliance 

requirements and all comments and protests below. 

1. Creation of a Participation Model 

a. Participation Model 

Order No. 841 adds section 35.28(g)(9)(i) to the Commission’s regulations to 

require that each RTO/ISO have tariff provisions providing a participation model for 

electric storage resources consisting of market rules that, recognizing the physical and 

operational characteristics of electric storage resources, facilitate their participation in the 

RTO/ISO markets.12 Order No. 841 explains that establishing a participation model for 

electric storage resources does not preclude an RTO/ISO from structuring its markets 

based on the technical requirements that a resource must meet to provide needed services; 

it simply requires that each RTO/ISO establish a participation model that ensures 

eligibility to participate in the RTO/ISO markets in a way that recognizes the physical 

and operational characteristics of electric storage resources.13 Order No. 841 requires 

that resources using the participation model for electric storage resources be compensated 

for the wholesale services they provide in the same manner as other resources that 

provide these services. 

Separate participation models are not necessary for different types of electric 

storage resources (e.g., slower, faster, or aggregated) and, to the extent an RTO/ISO 

seeks to include in its tariff additional market rules that accommodate electric storage 

resources with specific physical and operational characteristics, the RTO/ISO may 

 10 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at PP 29-35; 18 C.F.R. § 35.28(b)(9) 

(2019). See SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 5-6; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Part I, section 1 (Definitions E). 

11 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at PP 270, 273, 276; Order No. 841-A, 

167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at PP 102-06. See SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 38 (citing 

SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1, Definitions –B 

(Bid) and Definitions – O (Offer)). 

12 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 51. 

13 Id. P 52. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 6 - 

propose such revisions to its tariff through a separate FPA section 205 filing.14 However, 

Order No. 841 states that, where an RTO/ISO already has a separate participation model

that electric storage resources may use (such as participation models for pumped-hydro 

resources or demand response), the RTO/ISO is not required to consolidate that 

participation model with the participation model for electric storage resources required by 

Order No. 841.15 To the extent that an RTO/ISO modifies existing participation models 

to comply with Order No. 841, it must ensure that those resulting participation models are 

available for all types of electric storage resources and comply with all of the Order No. 

841 requirements. 

Lastly, Order No. 841 explains that, while the participation model for electric 

storage resources should be designed to facilitate the participation of all types of electric 

storage technologies, the Commission is not requiring all electric storage resources to use 

that participation model.16 Under section 35.28(g)(9) of the Commission’s regulations, 

section 35.28(g)(9)(i) applies to resources using the participation model for electric 

storage resources and section 35.28(g)(9)(ii) applies to all electric storage resources that 

fall under the definition of electric storage resources. Therefore, electric storage 

resources that elect not to use the participation model for electric storage resources are 

still able to pay the wholesale LMP for the electric energy they purchase from the 

RTO/ISO markets and then resell back to those markets. This issue is discussed further 

in the Energy Used to Charge Electric Storage Resources section below. 

i. SPP Filing 

To comply with the Commission’s directive to create a participation model for 

electric storage resources, SPP proposes to add new language and modify existing 

language in Attachment AE of its Tariff to provide that Electric Storage Resources17 may 

 14 Id. P 54 (citing 16 U.S.C. § 824d). In Order No. 841-A, the Commission found 

that a single participation model can be designed to be flexible enough to accommodate 

any type of electric storage resource. Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 65. 

15 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 55. 

16 Id. P 56. 

17 SPP proposes to define an Electric Storage Resource as “[a] resource capable of 

receiving electric energy and storing it for later injection of electric energy to the grid. A 

resource that is either (1) physically incapable of injecting electric energy to the 

Transmission System due to its design or configuration or (2) contractually barred from 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 7 - 

either (1) register and participate in the Integrated Marketplace as any existing resource 

type under the SPP Tariff or (2) register and participate in the Integrated Marketplace 

under the new proposed Market Storage Resource18 registration type, which is a 

participation model exclusive to Electric Storage Resources.19 Specifically, under SPP’s 

proposed revisions to section 2.17 of Attachment AE, a Market Storage Resource may 

provide energy, regulation-up, regulation-down, spinning reserve, and supplemental 

reserve services upon meeting the technical and applicable requirements for these 

services.20 Market Storage Resources must also provide certain offer parameters, 

prescribed in section 4.1 of Attachment AE.21 SPP’s proposed Tariff language specifies 

that Market Storage Resource offer curves may include negative megawatt (MW) values 

to account for the entire dispatchable range of the Market Storage Resource.22 The 

proposed Tariff language also specifies that, as with other resources, the metering 

requirements for Market Storage Resources include real-time and settlement quality 

metering and that, for Market Storage Resources that are not directly connected to the 

transmission system, metering may include facilities used by the local distribution 

company.23 

SPP also proposes modifications to its Tariff which it states will include Electric 

Storage Resources in existing aggregation rules, delineate the aggregation of load 

reduction resources from other resources in order to distinguish between demand 

response and Electric Storage Resources and, as part of the participation model, ensure 

 

injecting electric energy to the Transmission System is excluded from this definition.” 

SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Part I, section 1 (Definitions E). 

18 SPP proposes to define a Market Storage Resource as “[a]n [Electric Storage 

Resource] that registers consistent with the requirements under Section 2.17 of this 

Attachment AE.” SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 

(Definitions M). 

19 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 7; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.2. 

20 SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1 Attachment AE, section 2.17. 

21 Id., section 4.1. 

22 Id., section 2.17. 

23 Id.
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 8 - 

that the proposed language is applicable to Electric Storage Resources that elect to 

aggregate.24

SPP proposes modifications to existing Tariff language in order to specify how the 

Day-Ahead Market Security Constrained Unit Commitment (SCUC) will initially 

consider the commitment of Market Storage Resources not specified for reliability-only 

use.25 SPP also states that, in the event of a capacity surplus, the SCUC may commit any 

Market Storage Resource that is designated for reliability use and capable of charging in 

order to eliminate the surplus.26 SPP also proposes that, in the event of a capacity 

shortage to meet fixed demand bids, fixed firm export interchange transactions, and 

resources’ charging MW in any hour, SPP will reduce, on a pro-rata basis, the fixed 

demand bids, fixed firm export interchange transactions, and the resources’ charging 

MW, and will implement scarcity pricing.27 In the event that generation exceeds cleared 

demand, SPP proposes to use a Market Storage Resource’s emergency ranges 

consistently with those of other resources.28

SPP also proposes several Tariff modifications related to the treatment of Electric 

Storage Resources in the reliability unit commitment (RUC) process. SPP proposes to 

add Tariff language to incorporate the physical and operational characteristics of Market 

Storage Resources in the Day-Ahead RUC execution, and to account for the commitment 

and de-commitment of charging resources in the SCUC algorithm.29 SPP states that, 

under its proposed revisions, the SCUC algorithm will respond to emergency conditions 

by expanding the operating limits of Market Storage Resources participating in the 

 24 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 8-9; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, sections 2.8, 2.8.1, 2.8.2, 2.8.3. 

25 SPP Amendment at 4; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment 

AE, section 5.1.2(1)(a). 

26 SPP Amendment at 4; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment 

AE, section 5.1.2(1)(a)(ii). 

27 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 9; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, section 5.1.2.1. 

28 SPP Amendment at 5; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment 

AE, section 5.1.2.2. 

29 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 10; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, sections 5.2.2, 5.2.2(2)(a), 5.2.2(2)(b).
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 9 - 

market into their emergency ranges when necessary.30 SPP states that its revisions also 

establish the relative priority order of commitment and de-commitment of Market 

Storage Resources during an emergency condition in the Day-Ahead Market SCUC.31 

Additionally, SPP proposes to add language to expand the conditions in which the 

transmission provider will notify affected market participants of a potential need to utilize 

the emergency capacity of any resource to include conditions applicable to Market 

Storage Resources.32 SPP proposes similar revisions to the Intra-Day RUC provisions.33 

In addition, SPP proposes to add language on pre-operating hour34 and intraoperating hour inputs to reflect the physical and operational characteristics of Electric 

Storage Resources and to add Real-Time State of Charge telemetry for Market Storage 

Resources.35 

SPP proposes to add language providing that during emergency conditions 

involving excess generation in the Real-Time Balancing Market (RTBM), any Market 

Storage Resource that is available for charging may be committed and may set LMP.36 

SPP also proposes Tariff modifications to incorporate Market Storage Resource 

 30 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 10. 

31 Id.; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, sections 5.2.2, 

5.2.2(2)(a), 5.2.2(2)(b). 

32 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 10; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, section 5.2.3. 

33 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 10; SPP Amendment at 5; SPP, OATT, 

Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, sections 6.1.2, 6.13. 

34 SPP Amendment at 50; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment 

AE, section 6.2.1.1. 

35 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 10; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, section 6.2.1.2. 

36 SPP Amendment at 6; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment 

AE, section 6.2.2.2. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 10 - 

parameters in the calculation of the Contingency Reserve Scarcity Factor37 and the 

Regulation Base Demand Price.38

Finally, SPP proposes several Tariff modifications related to market power 

mitigation. SPP proposes Tariff revisions that it states will allow mitigated energy offer 

curves to account for the physical and operational characteristics of Electric Storage 

Resources by including additional production efficiency ratios beyond a facility’s heat 

rate.39 SPP also proposes to add new Tariff language to specify that mitigated energy 

offer curves for Market Storage Resources will have at least two breakpoints (i.e., one for 

charging and another for discharging).40 Under SPP’s proposal, mitigated energy offer 

curves for Electric Storage Resources may include charging cost and opportunity cost, 

defined as the average profit in the next hour forgone by charging or discharging in the 

current hour, both adjusted for round-trip efficiency (the amount of energy lost from 

charge to discharge). SPP proposes to estimate the expected LMP for the next hour using 

the unweighted average LMP for the most recent 45 days for that hour. SPP also 

proposes modifications to specify that Electric Storage Resources are allowed to make 

intra-day changes to their mitigated energy offer curves,41 mitigated start-up, and 

mitigated no-load offers.42 

ii. Protests/Comments 

Energy Storage Association affirms that SPP’s proposed participation model 

meets the core requirements of Order No. 841.43 The SPP MMU supports SPP’s 

 37 SPP Amendment at 6; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment 

AE, section 8.3.4.3. 

38 SPP Amendment at 6; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment 

AE, section 8.3.4.4. 

39 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 11; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AF, section 3.2(D). 

40 SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AF, section 3.2(I). 

41 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 11; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AF, section 3.2(J). 

42 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 11; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AF, section 3.3(G). 

43 Energy Storage Association Comments at 4. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 11 - 

proposal, which it states modifies SPP’s market design to comply with Order No. 841.44 

The SPP MMU believes SPP’s proposal removes barriers to participation for Electric 

Storage Resources within the context of compliance with Order No. 841 and recommends 

that the Commission approve SPP’s proposal. 

The SPP MMU also supports SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions pertaining to the 

development of mitigated offers for Electric Storage Resources.45 The SPP MMU states 

that, like other resources, an Electric Storage Resource has both a fuel cost and an 

opportunity cost, and the inclusion of both elements in an Electric Storage Resource’s 

mitigated offer is appropriate to fully represent its short-run marginal cost.46 The SPP 

MMU further states that SPP’s proposal to base an Electric Storage Resource’s mitigated 

offer on the expected price of the next interval is reasonable,47 and provides several 

illustrative scenarios in support.48 In addition, the SPP MMU supports SPP’s proposal to 

calculate this expected price as the average of the locational energy prices for the next 

interval over the 45 most recent days.49 Finally, the SPP MMU supports the inclusion of 

round-trip efficiency in an Electric Storage Resource’s mitigated offer in order to 

represent the marginal cost of energy losses associated with charging and discharging.50

Although the SPP MMU supports SPP’s proposal, it cautions that additional Tariff 

revisions may be necessary in order to prevent a Market Storage Resource with charging 

capability from exercising market power in the downward direction.51 The SPP MMU 

explains that, absent such revisions, a Market Storage Resource may have the unique 

 44 SPP MMU Comments at 2. 

45 Id. at 4. 

46 Id. at 4-5. 

47 Id. at 8. 

48 Id. at 5-8. 

49 Id. at 9. 

50 Id. at 13. 

51 Id. at 14. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 12 - 

ability to profit by withholding its charging capability in order to artificially lower price, 

i.e., by charging at a negative price and subsequently discharging at a positive price.52

Advanced Energy Economy asserts that SPP’s proposed method for calculating an 

Electric Storage Resource’s mitigated offer based on forgone profit in the next hour may 

understate the Electric Storage Resource’s opportunity cost when prices several intervals 

ahead are expected to exceed the price in the next interval.53 Advanced Energy Economy 

additionally contends that an Electric Storage Resource’s opportunity cost should also 

include opportunity costs associated with demand charge management of any co-located 

load because the co-located load could face higher demand charges if the Electric Storage 

Resource’s State of Charge falls below the level required to manage the co-located load’s 

demand charge.54

Energy Storage Association states that electric storage resources are increasingly 

likely to be co-located with generation at a shared point of interconnection, and that 

SPP’s compliance filing does not address the myriad ways in which Order No. 841 

compliance affects the market participation of resources that are co-located with electric 

storage resources.55 Energy Storage Association argues that this is a shared issue across 

RTOs’/ISOs’ compliance filings and, therefore, Energy Storage Association recommends 

that the Commission open a new docket to address this matter, either by issuing a notice 

of inquiry to RTOs/ISOs on how they intend to treat the market participation of colocated resources or by convening a technical conference on the same topic.56

iii. Answers 

In response to Advanced Energy Economy’s comments regarding SPP’s proposed 

mitigation provisions, the SPP MMU contends that Advanced Energy Economy has 

overlooked the opportunities that an Electric Storage Resource may have to recharge 

before the expected high price interval.57 The SPP MMU provides illustrative examples 

to demonstrate that an Electric Storage Resource’s profit is maximized when it is 

 52 Id. at 15. 

53 Advanced Energy Economy Comments at 8. 

54 Id. at 9. 

55 Energy Storage Association Comments at 3. 

56 Id. at 4. 

57 SPP MMU Reply Comments at 2. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 13 - 

indifferent to charging or discharging at its next opportunity.58 In addition, the SPP 

MMU contends that any verifiable costs that fit within SPP’s proposed definition of an 

Electric Storage Resource’s opportunity cost should be submitted as part of an Electric 

Storage Resource’s mitigated offer. According to the SPP MMU, existing SPP Integrated 

Marketplace Protocols also allow for any relevant cost that does not fit within the 

proposed structure to be submitted to the SPP MMU for verification and approval.59

iv. Data Request Response 

In response to Commission staff’s request for additional information, SPP clarifies 

that proposed section 2.8.3 of Attachment AE, entitled “Aggregators of Other 

Resources,” is intended to apply to all generation resources that a market participant 

wants to aggregate into a single resource in the Integrated Marketplace, and not only to 

Electric Storage Resources.60 SPP notes that Order No. 841 allows storage connected to 

distribution lines to be registered as resources, as long as they meet the minimum size 

requirement of 0.1 MW, and states that the minimum size may require aggregation to 

achieve.61 SPP states that, with the addition of the language in proposed section 2.8.3 of 

Attachment AE, aggregators may also aggregate and register any behind-the-meter 

generation as any resource type in the Integrated Marketplace. 

v. Commission Determination 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions partially comply with the 

requirement of Order No. 841 to create a participation model for electric storage 

resources that ensures the eligibility of such resources to participate in SPP’s markets in a 

way that recognizes their physical and operational characteristics, as discussed below. In 

accordance with Order No. 841, SPP has proposed a participation model that all 

resources that meet the definition of Electric Storage Resources are eligible to use and 

that recognizes the physical and operational characteristics of Electric Storage Resources 

and facilitates their participation in the SPP market. 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions pertaining to market power 

mitigation are consistent with the requirements of Order No. 841. Advanced Energy 

 58 Id. at 3-7. 

59 Id. at 7. 

60 SPP Data Request Response at 3. 

61 Id. (citing Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at n.16 (“(4) opportunities for 

distribution-level and aggregated electric storage resources to participate in the RTO/ISO 

markets”)). 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 14 - 

Economy has not shown why SPP’s proposed mechanism for estimating opportunity 

costs as the expected forgone profit in the next hour in the calculation of an Electric 

Storage Resource’s mitigated offer is inaccurate or otherwise unreasonable. We agree 

with the SPP MMU that Advanced Energy Economy’s suggestion to base opportunity 

cost on the expected forgone profit for an unspecified interval several hours into the 

future, rather than on the next hour as proposed by SPP, does not account for the 

opportunity to recharge before the next price peak several hours ahead. 

In response to Advanced Energy Economy, we find that electric storage resources 

participating in RTO/ISO markets under the participation model should be able to reflect 

relevant opportunity costs in their energy market offers and bids, similar to other market 

participants, when appropriate. For example, for electric storage resources to effectively 

self-manage their State of Charge, RTOs’/ISOs’ electric storage resource participation 

models may need to allow electric storage resources to account for opportunity costs 

associated with services provided to another entity outside the RTO/ISO markets.62 We 

note that determining whether a resource should be allowed to use opportunity costs and 

how such opportunity costs may be calculated can be complex and case-specific. While 

SPP’s proposed Tariff provisions outline the calculation of mitigated energy offers for 

Electric Storage Resources as including an opportunity cost that is based on average 

profit forgone by charging or discharging in the current hour based on the expected LMP 

in the next hour, we note that SPP’s existing Integrated Marketplace Protocols contain a 

process by which market participants may submit a request to the SPP MMU for 

consideration of other costs.63 As Electric Storage Resources can use this process to 

request consideration of other costs, which could include relevant opportunity costs, we 

find that SPP’s proposal to modify its mitigation rules to facilitate the participation of 

electric storage resources is appropriate because it allows mitigated energy offer curves to 

account for the physical and operational characteristics of Electric Storage Resources. 

The SPP MMU cautions that additional Tariff modifications may be necessary to 

prevent manipulation or to address market power in the downward direction. We find 

that the SPP MMU’s concern is beyond the scope of this proceeding because Order 

No. 841 does not require RTOs/ISOs to make changes to market power mitigation rules 

and no such proposals are before us at this time. Thus, the lack of such Tariff changes 

 62 See Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at PP 251, 256-57. Order No. 841 

recognizes that some RTOs/ISOs rely on opportunity costs in incremental energy offer 

reference levels, allowing for a resource to reflect its energy-limited nature through high 

offers in the energy market that make it unlikely to be dispatched. Order No. 841 

requires each RTO/ISO to demonstrate how such rules are applicable to resources using 

the participation model. Id. P 101. 

63 SPP Integrated Marketplace Protocols, Appendix G, G.1.5. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 15 - 

does not make SPP’s compliance filing deficient. However, to the extent the SPP MMU 

has concerns, it can work with SPP to consider Tariff changes in the stakeholder process 

for a future FPA section 205 filing. 

We find that Energy Storage Association’s comments regarding electric storage 

resources co-located with generation are beyond the scope of this proceeding. We note 

that, in Order No. 841, the Commission did not address co-location of electric storage 

resources with other resources. 

Finally, we find that SPP’s proposed revisions to sections 2.8, 2.8.1, 2.8.2, and 

2.8.3 of Attachment AE related to the aggregation of all resources are outside the scope 

of this proceeding because Order No. 841 does not address the aggregation of Electric 

Storage Resources or other resources.64 Accordingly, we reject the proposed Tariff 

revisions to sections 2.8, 2.8.1, 2.8.2, and 2.8.3 of Attachment AE. 

b. Qualification Criteria for the Participation Model 

To ensure that the electric storage resource participation model will accommodate 

both existing and future technologies, and to implement the new requirement in section 

35.28(g)(9)(i) of the Commission’s regulations, Order No. 841 requires each RTO/ISO to 

define in its Tariff the criteria that a resource must meet to use the participation model 

(i.e., qualification criteria).65 These criteria must: (1) be based on the physical and 

operational characteristics of electric storage resources, such as their ability to both 

receive and inject electric energy; (2) not limit participation under the electric storage 

resource participation model to any particular type of electric storage resource or other 

technology; and (3) ensure that the RTO/ISO is able to dispatch a resource in a way that 

recognizes its physical and operational characteristics and optimizes its benefits to the 

RTO/ISO. 

Order No. 841 provides each RTO/ISO with flexibility to propose qualification 

criteria that best suit its participation model for electric storage resources.66 However, the 

qualification criteria should not create barriers to the participation of any electric storage 

 64 See Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at PP 30, 143, 155. 

65 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 61. 

66 Id. P 63. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 16 - 

resource in the RTO/ISO markets and should be inclusive of, at a minimum, those 

resources set forth under the definition of electric storage resources in Order No. 841.67

i. SPP Filing 

SPP proposes to require Electric Storage Resources of at least 0.1 MW that are 

capable of Transmission System Injection or directly connected to the SPP Transmission 

System to register as described in the proposed section 2.17 of Attachment AE, which 

provides that Electric Storage Resources may register as any valid resource type under 

the Tariff and are subject to the same service provision rules as any other resource within 

that type, or may register as a Market Storage Resource.68 SPP explains that it proposes 

to add the defined term Transmission System Injection to allow its Tariff to differentiate 

between generating activity that ultimately is injected to the SPP Transmission System, 

and therefore required to register in the Integrated Marketplace, and generating activity 

that does not exceed the amount of load it is serving behind the bus and does not inject on 

the SPP Transmission System, and therefore not required to register in the Integrated 

Marketplace.69

Under SPP’s proposal, Electric Storage Resources that are exclusively used as 

transmission facilities with recovery through transmission rates are not required to 

register.70 In addition, SPP proposes that, if an Electric Storage Resource is not 

registered as a Market Storage Resource, its energy withdrawals from the transmission 

 67 Id. P 64. 

68 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 12; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, sections 2.2(19), 2.17. 

69 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 7; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions T). SPP proposes to 

define Transmission System Injection as: “Injecting energy to the Transmission System, 

or providing other services under the Tariff that support the delivery of energy to the 

Transmission System, at a Discrete Delivery Point including a generator that is collocated 

with the load and exceeds the load that it is contractually permitted to supply at such 

Discrete Delivery Point. This does not include generators that are acting as transmission 

facilities.” 

70 SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.2(19)(a). 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 17 - 

system must be included in a load settlement location and be subject to the same rules as 

other load.71 

SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions further clarify that market participants registering 

Electric Storage Resources that are not required to register under the SPP Tariff must 

include in their application and registration a certification that the resource’s participation 

in the Energy and Operating Reserve Markets is not precluded under the laws or 

regulations of the relevant electric retail regulatory authority.72 The Electric Storage 

Resource must also meet all application, registration, and technical requirements 

applicable to the Energy and Operating Reserve Markets.73

ii. Commission Determination 

We find that the qualification criteria provided in the SPP Tariff partially comply 

with the requirements of Order No. 841. SPP has complied in part with the directives of 

Order No. 841 regarding qualification criteria because SPP’s qualification criteria is 

based on the physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources and 

ensures that SPP is able to dispatch a resource in a way that recognizes its physical and 

operational characteristics and optimizes its benefits to SPP, does not create barriers to 

the participation of any electric storage resource in the RTO/ISO markets, and is 

inclusive of those resources set forth under the definition of Electric Storage Resources. 

However, we understand SPP’s proposed section 2.2(19)(b) of Attachment AE 

related to Application and Asset Registration74 to apply to Electric Storage Resources 

under 0.1 MW that choose to aggregate pursuant to proposed revisions to section 2.8 of 

Attachment AE. As we find above that SPP’s proposed revisions to sections 2.8, 2.8.1, 

2.8.2, and 2.8.3 of Attachment AE are outside the scope of this compliance filing because 

Order No. 841 does not address the aggregation of Electric Storage Resources or other 

resources, we similarly reject SPP’s proposed section 2.2(19)(b), to the extent that it 

relates to aggregations, as outside the scope of this proceeding. Accordingly, we direct 

SPP to file, within 60 days of the date of issuance of this order, a further compliance 

 71 Id., section 2.17. 

72 Id., section 2.2(19)(b). 

73 Id.

74 Section 2.2(19)(b) of Attachment AE states that “a Market Participant 

registering an [Electric Storage Resource] that is not required to register under this Tariff 

must include in its application and registration a certification that the Resource’s 

participation in the Energy and Operating Reserve Markets is not precluded under the 

laws or regulations of the relevant electric retail regulatory authority . . . .” 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 18 - 

filing with revisions to remove proposed section 2.2(19)(b) or provide support for section 

2.2(19)(b) if it does not relate to aggregations. 

c. Relationship between Electric Storage Resource 

Participation Model and Existing Market Rules 

To provide certainty to resources using the electric storage resource participation 

model about the market rules that will govern their participation in each RTO/ISO 

market, and to implement the new requirement in section 35.28(g)(9)(i) of the 

Commission’s regulations, Order No. 841 requires each RTO/ISO to propose any 

necessary additions or modifications to its existing Tariff provisions to specify: 

(1) whether resources that qualify to use the participation model will participate in the 

RTO/ISO markets through existing or new market participation agreements; and 

(2) whether particular existing market rules apply to resources participating under the 

electric storage resource participation model.75 Order No. 841 allows the use of one or 

more existing market participation agreements so long as the agreement(s) complies(y) 

with the terms of Order No. 841.76

i. SPP Filing 

SPP proposes Tariff revisions providing that Electric Storage Resources may 

either (1) register as any valid resource type, subject to the same service provision rules 

as any other resource within that type, or (2) register as Market Storage Resources to 

access the participation model proposed in this filing.77

ii. Commission Determination 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions comply with the requirements of 

Order No. 841 because SPP has made the necessary modifications to its Tariff to specify: 

(1) whether resources that qualify to use the participation model will participate in 

the RTO/ISO markets through existing or new market participation agreements and 

(2) whether particular existing market rules apply to resources participating under the 

electric storage resource participation model. SPP’s proposed Tariff language details 

registration options for Electric Storage Resources which, in turn, require certain market 

participant agreements under existing Tariff language. 

 75 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 68. 

76 Id. P 69. 

77 SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.17. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 19 - 

2. Eligibility of Electric Storage Resources to Participate in the

RTO/ISO Markets 

a. Eligibility to Provide all Capacity, Energy, and Ancillary 

Services 

Order No. 841 adds section 35.28(g)(9)(i)(A) to the Commission’s regulations to 

require that each RTO/ISO have tariff provisions allowing a resource using the 

participation model for electric storage resources to be eligible to provide all capacity, 

energy, and ancillary services that it is technically capable of providing, including 

services that the RTOs/ISOs do not procure through an organized market, such as 

blackstart, primary frequency response, and reactive power services.78 Where an 

RTO/ISO has developed a standard set of technical requirements that all resources must 

meet to provide a given service, such requirements would also apply to a resource using 

the electric storage resource participation model if it wants to provide that service.79 

A resource is “technically capable” of providing a service if the resource can meet 

all of the technical, operational, and/or performance requirements that are necessary to 

reliably provide that service, such as minimum run-times to provide energy, or the ability 

to respond to automatic generation control to provide frequency regulation.80 The 

Commission is not considering in this proceeding the requirements that determine 

whether resources are technically capable of providing individual wholesale services. To 

the extent that an RTO/ISO seeks to revise its tariff provisions setting forth the technical 

requirements for providing any specific wholesale service, the RTO/ISO may propose 

such revisions to its tariff through a separate FPA section 205 filing.81 Each individual 

electric storage resource must still meet the technical requirements of providing any 

specific service, which would be determined by the RTO/ISO on a case-by-case basis.82 

In Order No. 841, the Commission encouraged each RTO/ISO to consider whether any 

modifications or additions to the existing technical requirements, testing protocols, or 

 78 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at PP 76, 80. 

79 Id. P 77. 

80 Id. P 78. 

81 Id. n.106. 

82 Id. P 79. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 20 - 

other qualification procedures are necessary to facilitate the participation of electric 

storage resources in its markets.83 

Order No. 841-A clarifies that an RTO/ISO that does not have a capacity product 

in its markets is not required to create such a product to comply with Order No. 841. To 

the extent that an RTO/ISO has a resource adequacy construct, the RTO/ISO must 

demonstrate on compliance that the existing market rules governing its resource 

adequacy construct provide a means for electric storage resources to participate in that 

construct if electric storage resources are technically capable of doing so.84

i. SPP’s Filing 

SPP proposes that Electric Storage Resources registering as Market Storage 

Resources are eligible to provide any available market service as long as the Electric 

Storage Resource meets the existing technical requirements for providing the service.85 

Similarly, it states that Electric Storage Resources registering as a resource type other 

than Market Storage Resource are also eligible to provide any market service available to 

that resource type as long as they meet the existing technical requirements for providing 

the service. SPP states that such resources will be subject to the same rules as other load 

when withdrawing energy from the transmission system.86 SPP also proposes that an 

Electric Storage Resource that meets the technical requirements may apply to SPP to be 

certified as a qualified generator in order to provide reactive supply and voltage control 

under Schedule 2, which is the only Tariff-based service not procured through the 

market.87

SPP states that its Tariff does not prohibit load serving entities from designating 

Electric Storage Resources to satisfy their obligations under SPP’s resource adequacy 

 83 Id. P 81. 

84 Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 68 (citing Order No. 841, 162 FERC 

¶ 61,127 at PP 76, 100). 

85 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 12; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.17. 

86 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 12; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, sections 2.2(19), section 2.17. 

87 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 12. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 21 - 

construct, as long as the Electric Storage Resources meet the continuous run-time 

requirement applicable to all resources used to satisfy this obligation.88

ii. Protests/Comments 

Energy Storage Association supports SPP’s capacity qualification and 

accreditation of Electric Storage Resources for resource adequacy purposes.89 Energy 

Storage Association explains that SPP’s capacity qualification and accreditation of 

Electric Storage Resources acts like a gating mechanism for eventual market entry and 

participation in SPP’s energy and ancillary services markets.90 Energy Storage 

Association supports SPP’s 4-hour capacity duration requirement for Electric Storage 

Resources qualifying for resource adequacy.91 However, Energy Storage Association 

warns that SPP stakeholder discussions may lead to alterations of the technical 

requirements of Electric Storage Resources, placing the participation model at risk, 

causing uncertainty, and creating barriers to Electric Storage Resource participation. 

NextEra states that, although it is encouraged that Electric Storage Resources may 

be used to meet SPP’s resource adequacy requirement, it believes SPP’s compliance 

filing is inconsistent with the directives of Order No. 841 because SPP has not provided 

Tariff revisions explaining how Electric Storage Resources would be used to meet the 

resource adequacy requirement.92 NextEra asks the Commission to direct SPP to provide 

further detail regarding: (1) any criteria to de-rate capacity; (2) applicable performance 

requirements; (3) testing of operating capabilities; and (4) operational eligibility 

requirements.93

Voith Hydro urges the Commission and the RTOs/ISOs to take into account the 

technical capability of pumped-hydro resources in providing a number of services in the 

RTO/ISO markets. For example, it states that pumped-hydro resources have the ability 

to: (1) provide reliable, long duration generation capacity; (2) deliver energy from all 

sources (e.g., pumped-hydro resources can store excess energy generated by nuclear 

 88 Id. at 16; SPP Data Request Response at 4. 

89 Energy Storage Association Comments at 2. 

90 Id. at 2-3. 

91 Id. at 3. 

92 NextEra Comments at 3-4. 

93 Id. at 3. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 22 - 

plants during off-peak hours and then release the energy back to the grid during peak 

hours); (3) provide spinning and non-spinning reserves; (4) provide black start 

capabilities; and (5) set the wholesale market clearing price.94

iii. Data Request Response 

SPP elaborates that a load serving entity may designate an Electric Storage 

Resource as a capacity resource to satisfy its resource adequacy requirement as long as 

the resource meets the 4-hour continuous run-time requirement applicable to all resource 

types, as stated in the SPP Planning Criteria.95 SPP states that section 7.0 of Attachment 

AA of its Tariff further provides that load serving entities or generator owners must 

submit operational test results and capability test results in accordance with the SPP 

Planning Criteria, and that all technical, operational, and performance requirements for 

the tests are specified in section 7.1 of the Planning Criteria. 

iv. Commission Determination 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions comply with the requirement of 

Order No. 841 to ensure that Electric Storage Resources are eligible to provide all 

capacity, energy, and ancillary services that they are technically capable of providing. 

SPP has demonstrated that its market rules provide a means for Electric Storage 

Resources to provide services under the Tariff. Additionally, SPP has demonstrated how 

its resource adequacy rules are applicable to resources using the participation model to 

provide capacity. 

We also find Energy Storage Association’s concern that future SPP stakeholder 

developments may put the proposed participation model at risk to be unsubstantiated and 

premature. As to Voith Hydro’s comments about the capabilities of pumped-hydro 

resources, we note that SPP has demonstrated that all Electric Storage Resources, 

including pumped-hydro resources, are eligible to provide all capacity, energy, and 

ancillary services that they are technically capable of providing. 

NextEra requests that the Commission direct SPP to provide further details about 

the criteria for de-rating capacity and the operational and performance requirements for 

resources to be eligible to meet resource adequacy requirements. In Order No. 841, the 

Commission stated that it was not considering in this proceeding the requirements that 

determine whether resources are technically capable of providing individual wholesale 

 94 Voith Hydro Comments at 2-7. 

95 SPP Data Request Response at 4-5. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 23 - 

services.96 The Commission did not require RTOs/ISOs to make specific changes to 

minimum run-time or must-offer requirements associated with providing capacity.97 

Thus, we find that details regarding operational and performance requirements generally 

may be located in the SPP Planning Criteria. Nevertheless, we find that SPP’s resource 

adequacy minimum run-time requirement, which currently is included only in SPP’s 

Planning Criteria, must be included in the SPP Tariff. 

Decisions as to whether an item should be placed in a tariff or in a business 

practice manual are guided by the Commission’s rule of reason policy,98 under which 

provisions that “significantly affect rates, terms, and conditions” of service, are readily 

susceptible of specification, and are not generally understood in a contractual agreement 

must be included in the tariff, while items better classified as implementation details may 

be included only in the business practice manual.99 As SPP’s 4-hour continuous run-time 

requirement determines whether a resource is eligible to be used to satisfy a resource 

adequacy requirement, this requirement significantly affects rates, terms, and conditions 

of service. Although SPP’s resource adequacy minimum run-time requirement 

significantly affects rates, terms, and conditions of service, its current Tariff does not 

include this requirement. Therefore, we institute an FPA section 206 proceeding to direct 

SPP to include its rules and practices regarding minimum run-time requirements in its 

Tariff. 

Accordingly, no later than 45 days after the publication of notice in the Federal 

Register of the Commission’s initiation of this section 206 proceeding in Docket No. 

 96 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 78. 

97 Id. P 100. 

98 See, e.g., Energy Storage Ass’n v. PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., 162 FERC 

¶ 61,296, at P 103 (2018) (Energy Storage Ass’n v. PJM) (citing Midcontinent Indep. Sys. 

Operator, Inc., 158 FERC ¶ 61,003, at P 69 (2017); PacifiCorp, 127 FERC ¶ 61,144, at 

P 11 (2009); City of Cleveland v. FERC, 773 F.2d 1368, 1376 (D.C. Cir. 1985) (finding 

that utilities must file “only those practices that affect rates and service significantly, that 

are reasonably susceptible of specification, and that are not so generally understood in 

any contractual arrangement as to render recitation superfluous”); Pub. Serv. Comm’n of 

N.Y. v. FERC, 813 F.2d 448, 454 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (holding that the Commission properly 

excused utilities from filing policies or practices that dealt with only matters of “practical 

insignificance” to serving customers)). 

99 See id. (citing Cal. Indep. Sys. Operator Corp., 122 FERC ¶ 61,271, at P 16 

(2008)). 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 24 - 

EL19-101-000, SPP must submit Tariff provisions reflecting its resource adequacy 

minimum run-time requirement. Because we are instituting a separate FPA section 206 

proceeding regarding SPP’s minimum run-time requirement, SPP’s relevant filing and all 

responsive pleadings should be filed only in new Docket No. EL19-101-000. 

In cases where, as here, the Commission institutes a section 206 investigation on 

its own motion, section 206(b) of the FPA requires that the Commission establish a 

refund effective date that is no earlier than the date of publication by the Commission of 

notice of its intention to initiate such proceeding nor later than five months after the 

publication date. In such cases, in order to give maximum protection to customers, and 

consistent with our precedent, we have historically tended to establish the section 206 

refund effective date at the earliest date allowed by section 206, and we do so here as 

well.100 That date is the date of publication of notice of initiation of the section 206 

proceeding in Docket No. EL19-101-000 in the Federal Register.

Section 206(b) of the FPA also requires that, if no final decision is rendered by the 

conclusion of the 180-day period commencing upon initiation of the section 206 

proceeding, the Commission shall state the reason why it has failed to render such a 

decision and state its best estimate as to when it reasonably expects to make such a 

decision. We expect to issue a final order in this proceeding within 6 months of receiving 

reply briefs. 

b. Ability to De-Rate Capacity to Meet Minimum Run-Time 

Requirements 

To implement section 35.28(g)(9)(i)(A) of the Commission’s regulations, Order 

No. 841 requires that each RTO/ISO have tariff provisions providing that resources using 

the participation model for electric storage resources can de-rate their capacity to meet 

minimum run-time requirements.101 Electric storage resources that participate in an 

RTO/ISO capacity market are not exempt from meeting the performance metrics and 

criteria that apply to all other resources that participate in that market and are not exempt 

from any applicable penalties for non-performance.102 

Order No. 841 states that an electric storage resource de-rating its capacity to 

provide capacity or other services is not engaging in physical withholding if it is de-rating 

 100 See, e.g., Idaho Power Co., 145 FERC ¶ 61,122 (2013); Canal Elec. Co., 

46 FERC ¶ 61,153, order on reh’g, 47 FERC ¶ 61,275 (1989). 

101 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 94. 

102 Id. P 95. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 25 - 

to meet minimum run-time requirements. However, each RTO/ISO may request that its 

market monitor verify whether an electric storage resource de-rated its capacity to meet a 

minimum run-time requirement to ensure that such resource is not engaging in physical 

withholding, as defined by the Commission.103 Additionally, to the extent that market 

power concerns arise as a result of electric storage resources de-rating capacity to provide 

capacity or other services, each RTO/ISO may consider whether it is appropriate to 

update and/or apply existing market power mitigation processes to electric storage 

resources to alleviate market power concerns.104 Further, electric storage resources may 

provide services in RTO/ISO markets without de-rating so long as they meet the 

requirements to provide the particular service that they seek to provide.105

Order No. 841 provides each RTO/ISO with flexibility to either use its existing 

rules for must-offer quantities or to modify its existing rules as necessary to reflect the 

physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources.106 However, if an 

electric storage resource elects to de-rate its capacity, it must not de-rate its capacity 

below any capacity obligations that it has assumed, such as any applicable must-offer 

requirement. Also, the de-rated quantity should be based on the quantity of energy that 

an electric storage resource can discharge continuously over the minimum run-time set by 

the RTO/ISO.

Order No. 841 did not require RTOs/ISOs to make specific changes to minimum 

run-time or must-offer requirements associated with providing capacity.107 However, 

each RTO/ISO must demonstrate on compliance that its market rules provide a means for 

electric storage resources to provide capacity, including how its capacity market rules are 

applicable to resources using the participation model.108 Where an RTO/ISO does not 

have existing tariff provisions that enable electric storage resources to provide capacity, 

the RTO/ISO must propose such rules.109 

 103 Id. P 96. 

104 Id. P 97. 

105 Id. P 98. 

106 Id. P 99. 

107 Id. P 100. 

108 Id. PP 100, 101. 

109 Id. P 100. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 26 - 

i. SPP’s Filing 

SPP proposes to exempt Market Storage Resources from being deemed to be 

physically withholding if the market participant is reducing the magnitude of the Market 

Storage Resource’s maximum charging or discharging capability from its true and 

verifiable physical or environmental limitations in order to provide that capability for the 

duration of its commitment period.110 

Under SPP’s existing Tariff, a resource is allocated a portion of the RUC makewhole payment costs in any dispatch interval where the resource’s uninstructed resource 

deviation is outside of its operating tolerance, unless that resource has been exempted 

from this allocation.111 SPP states that it will account for Market Storage Resource 

behavior consistent with other resource registration types while reflecting the physical 

and operational characteristics of Market Storage Resources.112 SPP’s proposed Tariff 

revisions expand the existing design for uninstructed resource deviations and make-whole 

payments to include Market Storage Resources.113 Specifically, SPP proposes to add 

language to its existing guidelines on calculating operating tolerance to explain the 

operating tolerances relevant to Market Storage Resources, which SPP proposes to 

calculate as the greater of the absolute value of its maximum emergency charge limit and 

the maximum emergency discharge limit multiplied by five percent.114

ii. Protests/Comments 

The SPP MMU supports SPP’s proposal to expand the scope of Tariff language on 

physical withholding and uneconomic production to include the charging ability of 

Market Storage Resources.115 The SPP MMU explains that these Tariff sections 

previously only considered physical withholding and uneconomic production of 

injections of energy to the grid, but not withdrawals from the grid. The SPP MMU 

 110 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 13-14; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AG, section 4.6.4(2)(d). 

111 SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 6.4.1(2). 

112 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 13-14. 

113 SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 6.4.1(2)(f). 

114 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 13-14; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 6.4.1(2)(f). 

115 SPP MMU Comments at 3. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 27 - 

claims that the modified Tariff language on physical withholding and uneconomic 

production will protect the market from potential abuses in the charging direction. 

Tesla recommends that RTOs/ISOs with centralized wholesale capacity markets: 

(1) calculate the effective load carrying capability of electric storage resources with 

various runtimes at the forecasted level of system load; (2) establish limits on the 

maximum amount of capacity that electric storage resources can provide, based on 

resource runtimes and forecasted load; and (3) limit performance penalties to the physical 

energy capacity in MW hours (MWh) committed to the capacity market by the electric 

storage resource.116 Tesla argues that granting this treatment would ensure just and 

reasonable results from capacity markets by preventing undue discrimination against 

electric storage resources, allowing electric storage resources to provide all of the 

capacity service of which they are technically capable, and accounting for electric storage 

resources’ physical and operational characteristics, as required by Order No. 841.117

iii. Commission Determination 

We find that SPP’s filing complies with the requirement of Order No. 841 to 

revise its Tariff to allow electric storage resources to de-rate capacity to meet minimum 

run-time requirements because the SPP Tariff will allow a Market Storage Resource to 

reduce the magnitude of its maximum charging or discharging capability from its true 

and verifiable physical or environmental limitations in order to provide that capability for 

the duration of its commitment period and will not consider such resources to be 

physically withholding in that instance.118 Further, we find that SPP’s proposal to extend 

its existing uninstructed resource deviation construct to Electric Storage Resources will 

ensure that Electric Storage Resources that de-rate their capacity for reasons other than 

providing the required capability for the duration of the minimum clearable commitment 

period are treated the same as all other resources under the Tariff. 

We find that Tesla’s recommendations in this proceeding regarding Electric 

Storage Resource capacity valuation, limits, and performance penalties are inapposite 

because SPP does not operate a centralized capacity market. Moreover, we find Tesla’s 

recommendations beyond the scope of this compliance proceeding.

 116 Tesla Comments at 8-12. 

117 Id. at 8-9. 

118 See SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AG, section 

4.6.4(2)(d). 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 28 - 

3. Participation in the RTO/ISO Markets as Supply and Demand 

a. Eligibility to Participate as a Wholesale Seller and 

Wholesale Buyer 

Order No. 841 adds section 35.28(g)(9)(i)(B) to the Commission’s regulations to 

require that each RTO/ISO have tariff provisions to ensure that a resource using the 

participation model for electric storage resources can be dispatched and can set the 

wholesale market clearing price as both a wholesale seller and wholesale buyer, 

consistent with rules that govern the conditions under which a resource can set the 

wholesale price.119 For a resource using the participation model for electric storage 

resources to be able to set prices in the RTO/ISO markets as either a wholesale seller or a 

wholesale buyer, it must be available to the RTO/ISO as a dispatchable resource.120 

Order No. 841 requires that: (1) resources using the participation model for 

electric storage resources be able to set the price in the capacity markets, where 

applicable; (2) RTOs/ISOs accept wholesale bids from resources using the participation 

model for electric storage resources to buy energy, consistent with the rules related to 

wholesale purchasers of energy in each RTO/ISO; and (3) resources using the 

participation model for electric storage resources be allowed to participate in the 

RTO/ISO markets as price takers, consistent with the existing rules for self-scheduled 

resources.121 To ensure that electric storage resources are treated consistently with selfscheduled load resources and traditional generation resources that participate in the 

RTO/ISO markets, electric storage resources must be allowed to self-schedule when they 

participate in the RTO/ISO markets as supply or demand, consistent with rules governing 

how other resources self-schedule.122

 119 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 142. 

120 Order No. 841-A modifies section 35.28(g)(9)(i)(B) of the Commission’s 

regulations to clarify that, to the extent electric storage resources are dispatchable, the 

RTO/ISO is required to allow them to participate as dispatchable resources and to set the 

clearing price in the RTO/ISO markets as part of the participation model. Order No. 841-

A clarifies that not all electric storage resources that seek to use the electric storage 

resource participation model need to be dispatchable to use that participation model. 

Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at PP 74-77. 

121 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 142. 

122 Id. PP 144, 148. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 29 - 

While Order No. 841 does not require RTOs/ISOs to change any participation 

models that they may already have that apply to pumped-hydro resources,123 it does 

require each RTO/ISO to establish means by which all electric storage resources, 

including pumped-hydro resources, can participate as wholesale sellers and wholesale 

buyers in the RTO/ISO markets using a participation model.124 Lastly, Order No. 841 

explains that the Commission does not consider electric storage resources in charging 

mode to be negative demand response. Order No. 841 requires an electric storage 

resource to be eligible to participate in the RTO/ISO markets as a wholesale buyer and 

required each RTO/ISO to be able to dispatch them as such; such a mechanism would 

entail participation in the energy markets, and not the provision of a new service.125

Order No. 841-A denies SPP’s request for clarification that it need not revise its 

market rules to allow for dispatchable load.126 Order No. 841-A clarifies for SPP that 

Order No. 841 provides flexibility for each RTO/ISO to develop a participation model for 

electric storage resources consistent with its existing market design constructs; however, 

Order No. 841 does not provide each RTO/ISO with flexibility to propose its own 

timeline for developing and implementing any aspect of the participation model for 

electric storage resources, including the requirement that RTOs/ISOs must ensure a 

resource using the participation model for electric storage resources can be dispatched as 

a wholesale buyer. 

i. SPP’s Filing 

SPP’s proposed participation model allows Market Storage Resources to 

participate in the SPP Energy and Operating Reserve Markets as a wholesale seller and 

wholesale buyer.127 As such, SPP proposes to revise its Tariff to state that Electric 

Storage Resources registered as Market Storage Resources may provide energy, 

regulation-up, regulation-down, spinning reserve, and supplemental reserve services upon 

meeting the applicable requirements for those services.128 SPP clarifies that Market 

 123 See id. P 55. 

124 Id. P 149. 

125 Id. P 150. 

126 Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 80. 

127 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 15; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.17. 

128 SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.17(2)(a). 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 30 - 

Storage Resources may submit offer curves that include positive and negative MW values 

to account for their entire dispatchable range.129 As such, SPP proposes to calculate 

LMPs pursuant to its existing section 8.3 of Attachment AE accounting for both the 

positive and negative MW values of the energy offer curves submitted for Market 

Storage Resources.130 

SPP proposes that Market Storage Resources may participate in the day-ahead 

market and must participate in the RUC and the RTBM, consistent with other 

resources.131 Further, SPP states that all resources, including Market Storage Resources, 

are eligible to set price when they are available for dispatch and not constrained by their 

physical or operational characteristics.132 However, SPP notes that unlike other 

resources, under SPP’s proposed participation model, a Market Storage Resource may 

submit financial and operational offers to both inject and withdraw energy in the dayahead and RTBM. SPP also modifies sections of its Tariff pertaining to day-ahead, RUC, 

and RTBM resource offer parameters to clarify which resource offer parameters do and 

do not apply to Market Storage Resources.133

SPP proposes Tariff modifications to its must-offer requirements in the day-ahead 

market that it states will account for Electric Storage Resources participating in the 

market as self-scheduled demand.134 SPP further explains that, if a market participant 

with load self-schedules a Market Storage Resource as demand, the market participant 

must ensure it has enough available generation to cover the additional demand or offer all 

of its generation.135

 129 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 15; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.17. 

130 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 15; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, sections 2.17(2), 8.3. 

131 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 15. 

132 Id. at 16. 

133 SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(9). 

134 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 16; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.11.1(A). 

135 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 16; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.11.1(A). 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 31 - 

As SPP does not operate a capacity market, SPP proposes no Tariff changes to 

meet the requirement of Order No. 841 that resources using the participation model for 

electric storage resources be able to set the price in capacity markets. However, SPP 

states that its current rules do not preclude a load serving entity from designating an 

Electric Storage Resource to meet the resource adequacy requirements provided it meets 

the continuous run-time requirement applicable to all resource types.136

ii. Commission Determination 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions comply with the requirements of 

Order No. 841 because they allow a resource using the participation model for Electric 

Storage Resources to be dispatched and set the wholesale market clearing price as both a 

wholesale seller and wholesale buyer, consistent with the rules that govern the conditions 

under which a resource can set the wholesale price. Further, we find that SPP’s proposal 

to allow Market Storage Resource bids to include negative MW values meets the 

requirement of Order No. 841 that RTOs/ISOs accept wholesale bids from resources 

using the participation model to buy energy, consistent with the RTO’s/ISO’s rules 

related to wholesale purchasers of energy. 

We note that all market participants currently have the ability to designate their 

resource’s commitment status as self-committed when submitting their resource offer,137

and SPP proposes no Tariff revisions that would prevent market participants from selfcommitting a Market Storage Resource like any other resource. Therefore, we find that 

SPP’s proposal complies with the requirement of Order No. 841 to permit resources using 

the participation model to participate in the RTO markets as price takers, consistent with 

the existing rules for self-scheduled resources. 

b. Mechanism to Prevent Conflicting Dispatch Signals 

To implement the new requirement in section 35.28(g)(9)(i)(B) of the 

Commission’s regulations, Order No. 841 requires each RTO/ISO to either 

(1) demonstrate that its market design will not allow for conflicting supply offers and 

demand bids from the same resource for the same market interval or (2) modify its 

market rules to prevent conflicting supply offers and demand bids from the same resource 

for the same market interval.138 Order No. 841 does not require a specific approach to 

prevent conflicting dispatch, but provides that the RTO/ISO is responsible for preventing 

 136 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 16. 

137 SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(10)(a). 

138 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 162. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 32 - 

conflicting dispatch and therefore it would not be the responsibility of the market monitor 

to review bids to address conflicting dispatch.139 While each RTO/ISO should allow 

resources using the participation model for electric storage resources to participate as 

supply and demand simultaneously (i.e., submit bids to buy and offers to sell during the 

same market interval), consistent with the opportunities available to other market 

participants, the RTOs/ISOs should not require them to do so simultaneously.140

i. SPP’s Filing 

SPP proposes to allow resources using the Market Storage Resource participation 

model to submit energy offer curves that include both positive and negative MW values, 

as long as the energy offer curve consists of monotonically non-decreasing price/MW 

pairs.141 Given that a single energy offer curve will represent both a Market Storage 

Resource’s discharging and charging capability, SPP states that a conflicting dispatch 

signal would not be possible.142 However, SPP states that Market Storage Resources that 

are not continuously dispatchable across zero MW would have to choose between 

offering supply or bidding in demand for each market hour, which SPP states would also 

prevent conflicting dispatch signals. 

SPP notes that the existing Electric Storage Resources registered in its market are 

pumped storage and not continuously dispatchable across zero MW.

143 SPP explains that 

the physical and operational characteristics of these existing resources require they 

remain in a “charge” mode for hours, extending beyond the dispatch horizon, in order to 

build up a water reservoir. As a result, SPP states that these Electric Storage Resources 

do not intend to utilize the Market Storage Resource registration type. SPP further states 

that, based on the Electric Storage Resources currently in its generation interconnection 

queue, SPP does not anticipate future Market Storage Resources that will not be 

dispatchable across zero MW. 

SPP argues that it would have to make “significant and fundamental changes to its 

market clearing software” to accommodate simultaneous participation as supply and 

 139 Id. P 163. 

140 Id. P 165. 

141 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 17; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.17(2)(c). 

142 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 17. 

143 Id. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 33 - 

demand by Market Storage Resources that cannot be dispatched continuously along the 

energy offer curve, and that “[t]he expected rarity of the situation cannot justify the 

expense.”144 Instead, SPP proposes that such Market Storage Resources would have to 

choose between offering supply and bidding demand for a given market interval.145 SPP 

further states that, based on its review of current Electric Storage Resource technology 

and its interconnection queue, SPP believes that storage resources that will be willing to 

be in a withdrawal and injection mode during an hour would be continuously 

dispatchable across its range. Therefore, SPP states that its language on noncontinuously dispatchable storage is provided in an abundance of caution with the 

expectation that it will not be needed. 

ii. Protests/Comments 

The SPP MMU claims that the treatment of electric storage resources that are not 

dispatchable across zero MW in SPP’s proposal is inefficient.146 The SPP MMU explains 

that some electric storage resources cannot charge and discharge within a commitment 

period if they have a minimum charge or discharge time greater than zero minutes or a 

minimum charge or discharge limit greater than zero MW. The SPP MMU claims that 

SPP’s proposal to require operators of such resources to choose between charging and 

discharging during an interval is inefficient because such operators do not have 

knowledge of system conditions. Rather, the SPP MMU suggests that it is more efficient 

for SPP to optimize the decision for the resource to charge or discharge. 

iii. Data Request Response 

SPP states that a Market Storage Resource that is not continuously dispatchable is 

one that is not linearly dispatchable from the discharge side to the charge side, or vice 

versa, during a single dispatch interval.147 SPP explains that this limitation occurs when 

any of the following parameters are not equal to zero during the dispatch interval: 

minimum charge time, minimum discharge time, minimum charge limit, and minimum 

discharge limit.148 SPP explains that, if any of the aforementioned parameters are non-

 144 Id. at 17-18. 

145 Id. at 18. 

146 SPP MMU Comments at 17. 

147 SPP Data Request Response, Transmittal at 6. 

148 Id. at 7. SPP states that a Market Storage Resource that is not continuously 

dispatchable across zero MW is described in the SPP Integrated Marketplace Market 

Protocols 20, section 4.2.2.3(10). 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 34 - 

zero, the unit commitment decision becomes more complex because the system must 

determine when to ignore the parameter in order to modify the resource’s charging 

behavior. SPP states that implementing the required commitment logic would cost a 

minimum of $365,000, require major modifications to other related market systems, and 

significantly extend SPP’s implementation timeline. Further, SPP asserts that more 

substantial and complex changes to its economic dispatch process and market software 

would be required. 

iv. Commission Determination 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions comply with the requirement of 

Order No. 841 because the proposed market design will prevent conflicting supply offers 

and demand bids from the same Electric Storage Resource for the same market interval. 

Further, the proposed revisions allow continuously dispatchable resources using the 

participation model to be able to participate simultaneously as supply and demand in the 

same market interval.

Despite the SPP MMU’s concern that SPP’s proposal to require resources that are 

not continuously dispatchable across zero MW to choose between offering as supply or 

demand for a given market interval is not efficient, as discussed above, we find that 

SPP’s proposal allows a resource using the participation model for Electric Storage 

Resources to be dispatched and set the wholesale market clearing price as both a 

wholesale seller and wholesale buyer, consistent with the rules that govern the conditions 

under which a resource can set the wholesale price and complies with the requirement of 

Order No. 841 that RTOs/ISOs accept wholesale bids from resources using the 

participation model to buy energy consistent with the RTO’s/ISO’s rules related to 

wholesale purchasers of energy. 

 However, we note that although SPP explains that the proposed market design 

reflected in the SPP Integrated Marketplace Protocols will require resources that are not 

continuously dispatchable across zero MW to choose between offering as supply or 

demand for a given market hour,149 the proposed Tariff language does not include this 

requirement or the criteria defining these resources. Decisions regarding whether an item 

should be placed in a tariff or in a business practice manual are guided by the 

Commission’s rule of reason policy, under which provisions that “significantly affect 

rates, terms, and conditions” of service, are readily susceptible of specification, and are 

not generally understood in a contractual agreement must be included in a tariff, while 

items better classified as implementation details may be included only in the business 

 149 Id. at 6-7. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 35 - 

practice manual.150 We find that these practices significantly affect rates, terms, and 

conditions and should be included in the Tariff.151 Further, we find that the lack of 

proposed Tariff language regarding this bidding restriction may result in unnecessary 

uncertainty and lack of clarity for market participants. Therefore, we direct SPP to file, 

within 60 days of the date of issuance of this order, a further compliance filing with 

proposed Tariff language that includes the criteria defining resources that are not 

continuously dispatchable across zero MW as well as the requirement for such resources 

to choose to participate as supply or demand for a given market interval. 

c. Make-Whole Payments 

Given the unique capability of electric storage resources to serve as both a supply 

of, and demand for, energy and to implement the new requirement in section 

35.28(g)(9)(i)(B) of the Commission’s regulations, Order No. 841 requires that each 

RTO/ISO have tariff provisions to ensure that resources available for manual dispatch as 

a wholesale buyer and wholesale seller under the participation model for electric storage 

resources are held harmless for manual dispatch by being eligible for make-whole 

payments.152 Specifically, Order No. 841 requires that the participation model for electric 

storage resources allow make-whole payments when a resource is dispatched as load and 

the wholesale price is higher than the resource’s bid price and when it is dispatched as 

supply and the wholesale price is lower than the resource’s offer price. Any such makewhole payments must be consistent with the rules for make-whole payments for other 

dispatchable resources, and such payments should only be provided to resources using 

the participation model for electric storage resources to the extent that such payments are 

already provided to other market participants.153 Order No. 841 did not require a specific 

method for make-whole payments and provided the RTOs/ISOs with flexibility to 

 150 Energy Storage Ass’n v. PJM, 162 FERC ¶ 61,296 at P 103; see also City of 

Cleveland v. FERC, 773 F.2d at 1376 (finding that utilities must file “only those practices 

that affect rates and service significantly, that are reasonably susceptible of specification, 

and that are not so generally understood in any contractual arrangement as to render 

recitation superfluous”). 

151 Energy Storage Ass’n v. PJM, 162 FERC ¶ 61,296 at P 103; see also City of 

Cleveland v. FERC, 773 F.2d at 1376. 

152 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 174. 

153 Id. PP 174, 177. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 36 - 

establish a methodology under which resources using the participation model can receive 

make-whole payments.154

Order No. 841 also stated that make-whole payments should only be available to 

resources using the electric storage resource participation model if the system operator 

dispatches that resource in a way that is inconsistent with its bids to buy and offers to sell 

energy.155 Because one of the requirements of Order No. 841 is that each RTO/ISO have 

the ability to dispatch electric storage resources as load, it is necessary for each RTO/ISO 

to establish a methodology under which resources using the participation model for 

electric storage resources that participate as load are able to receive make-whole 

payments.156 Because electric storage resources must be able to be dispatched as load, 

their eligibility to receive make-whole payments when dispatched as load needs to be 

consistent with other dispatchable resources but does not need to be consistent with the 

eligibility of other load resources that are not dispatchable by the RTO/ISO. 

i. SPP’s Filing 

SPP proposes to modify the settlement calculations in its Tariff to ensure that 

Market Storage Resources are eligible for cost recovery for the entire commitment period 

and that make-whole payments will apply to the entire dispatchable range of Market 

Storage Resources.157 SPP proposes to modify several settlement calculations to apply to 

Market Storage Resources withdrawing charging energy. These proposed Tariff 

revisions include changes to settlement calculations involving the amount of energy in 

the day-ahead market and RTBM,158 make-whole payments related to the day-ahead 

market and RUC,159 the carve-out of grandfathered agreements,160 the Federal service 

 154 Id. P 174. 

155 Id. P 178. 

156 Id. P 179. 

157 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 19-20. 

158 SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, sections 8.5.1, 

8.6.1. 

159 Id., sections 8.5.9, 8.5.10, 8.6.5, 8.6.7. 

160 Id., sections 8.5.21, 8.5.22, 8.5.23. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 37 - 

exemption for government entities,161 demand reduction in the day-ahead and RTBM,162

distribution of over-collected losses,163 and adjustment to regulation service deployment 

in RTBM.164

SPP also proposes to modify several settlement calculations to apply to Market 

Storage Resources injecting energy or providing a market service to ensure comparable 

treatment to other resource types. These revisions include changes to settlement 

calculations involving the amount of energy in the day-ahead market and RTBM,165

make-whole payments in the day-ahead market and RUC,166 distribution of excess 

losses,167 and adjustment to regulation service deployment in RTBM.168 

Further, SPP proposes changes to its existing Tariff provisions related to real-time 

out-of-merit payments in order to account for both the charging and discharging range of 

Electric Storage Resources that register as Market Storage Resources in determining 

payments for out-of-merit energy (i.e., manual dispatch) to ensure Electric Storage 

Resources are treated consistently with other resource types.169

ii. Commission Determination 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions comply with the requirements of 

Order No. 841 because they make resources using the participation model eligible for 

make-whole payments when the resource is dispatched as load and the wholesale price is 

higher than the resource’s bid price, as well as when it is dispatched as supply and the 

 161 Id., sections 8.5.21, 8.5.22, 8.5.23. 

162 Id., sections 8.5.25, 8.6.22. 

163 Id., section 8.6.16. 

164 Id., section 8.6.15. 

165 Id., sections 8.5.1, 8.6.1. 

166 Id., sections 8.5.9, 8.6.5. 

167 Id., section 8.6.16. 

168 Id., section 8.6.15. 

169 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 21; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, section 8.6.6. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 38 - 

wholesale price is lower than the resource’s offer price, consistent with existing rules for 

make-whole payments for other dispatchable resources. 

4. Physical and Operational Characteristics of Electric Storage 

Resources 

Order No. 841 adds section 35.28(g)(9)(i)(C) to the Commission’s regulations to 

require that each RTO/ISO have tariff provisions providing a participation model for 

electric storage resources that accounts for the following physical and operational 

characteristics of electric storage resources through bidding parameters or other means: 

State of Charge, Maximum State of Charge, Minimum State of Charge, Maximum 

Charge Limit, Minimum Charge Limit, Maximum Discharge Limit, Minimum Discharge 

Limit, Maximum Charge Time, Minimum Charge Time, Maximum Run Time, Minimum 

Run Time, Discharge Ramp Rate, and Charge Ramp Rate.170 Each RTO/ISO must 

demonstrate how its proposed or existing tariff provisions account for each of these 

specific physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources, which are 

described further below. Order No. 841 provides that, to the extent that an RTO/ISO 

proposes to comply with the requirement to account for any of the physical and 

operational characteristics of electric storage resources enumerated herein through its 

existing bidding parameters or other existing market mechanisms, it must demonstrate in 

its compliance filing how its existing market rules already account for that particular 

physical and operational characteristic.171 This requirement will improve the ability of 

electric storage resources to provide all of the services that they are technically capable of 

providing and allow RTOs/ISOs to procure these services more efficiently, which will 

enhance competition and, in turn, help to ensure that RTO/ISO markets produce just and 

reasonable rates. 

Order No. 841 does not require RTOs/ISOs to mandate that a resource 

owner/operator submit any information, but instead, provided flexibility to each 

RTO/ISO to determine whether resources using the participation model for electric 

storage resources are required to submit information regarding their physical and 

operational characteristics, or whether resources using the participation model should be 

allowed to submit such information at their discretion.172 This flexibility may help 

prevent resources using the participation model for electric storage resources from having 

to submit information that is not applicable given their physical, operational, or 

 170 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 191. 

171 Id. PP 211, 220, 229. 

172 Id. P 192. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 39 - 

commercial circumstances. If an RTO/ISO adopts bidding parameters to account for the 

physical and operational characteristics set forth in Order No. 841, as specified below, it 

must permit a resource using the participation model for electric storage resources to 

submit those bidding parameters in both the day-ahead and the real-time markets.173 

Further, Order No. 841 allows each RTO/ISO to propose, in its compliance filing, 

bidding parameters or other means to account for physical and operational characteristics 

of electric storage resources besides those set forth in Order No. 841.174 To the extent 

that an RTO/ISO includes such a proposal in its compliance filing, it must demonstrate 

that such bidding parameters or other mechanisms do not impose barriers to the 

participation of electric storage resources in its markets. 

Order No. 841-A clarifies that the requirement that each RTO/ISO establish tariff 

provisions providing a participation model for electric storage resources that accounts for 

the physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources through bidding 

parameters or other means allows for regional flexibility.175

State of Charge 

Order No. 841 provides that State of Charge represents the amount of energy 

stored by an electric storage resource in proportion to the limit on the amount of energy 

that it can store, typically expressed as a percentage.176 The State of Charge as a bidding 

parameter is the level of energy that an electric storage resource is anticipated to have 

available at the start of the market interval rather than the end. Order No. 841 provides 

each RTO/ISO the flexibility to propose telemetry requirements for such resources in its 

compliance filing and allows the RTOs/ISOs to implement the requirements of Order 

No. 841 consistent with the telemetry requirements for different services and other 

market participants in each RTO/ISO.177 

 173 Id. P 193. 

174 Id. P 235. 

175 Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 93. 

176 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 213. 

177 Id. P 214. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 40 - 

Maximum State of Charge and Minimum State of Charge 

Maximum State of Charge represents the State of Charge that should not be 

exceeded (i.e., gone above) when the electric storage resource is receiving electric energy 

from the grid.178 This value may either be a static value based on manufacturer

specifications or a dynamic value depending on the operational characteristics of the 

resource (e.g., if it is providing multiple services and needs to reserve part of its State of 

Charge for another service). 

Minimum State of Charge represents the State of Charge that should not be 

exceeded (i.e., gone below) when an electric storage resource is injecting electric energy 

onto the grid.179 This value may be either a static value based on manufacturer

specifications or a dynamic value depending on the operational characteristics of the 

resource (e.g., if it is providing multiple services and needs to reserve part of its State of 

Charge for another service). 

Maximum Charge Limit and Minimum Charge Limit 

The Maximum Charge Limit for a resource using the electric storage resource 

participation model is the maximum MW quantity of electric energy that it can receive 

from the grid.180 The Minimum Charge Limit represents the minimum MW level that the 

resource can receive from the grid.181 

Maximum Discharge Limit and Minimum Discharge Limit 

The Maximum Discharge Limit is the maximum MW quantity that the resource 

can inject onto the grid.182 The Maximum Discharge Limit is analogous to, and could be 

represented by, the economic maximum that traditional generation resources can 

 178 Id. P 215. 

179 Id.

180 Id. P 216. 

181 Id. P 231. 

182 Id. P 216. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 41 - 

generally submit with their offers. The Minimum Discharge Limit represents the 

minimum MW output level that the resource can inject onto the grid.183 

Maximum Charge Time and Minimum Charge Time 

The Maximum Charge Time represents the maximum duration that a resource 

using the participation model for electric storage resources is able to be dispatched by the 

RTO/ISO to receive electric energy from the grid (e.g., for four hours).184 If the 

RTO/ISO is not managing the State of Charge of the electric storage resource in real 

time, then the Maximum Charge Time will prevent it from dispatching the resource to 

charge for a duration that would exceed the resource’s Maximum State of Charge. 

The Minimum Charge Time represents the shortest duration that a resource using 

the participation model for electric storage resources is able to be dispatched by the 

RTO/ISO to receive electric energy from the grid.185 Minimum Charge Time is similar to 

the Minimum Run Time for traditional generation resources but represents the minimum 

time the resource can receive electric energy from the grid, rather than provide electric 

energy to the grid. 

Maximum Run Time and Minimum Run Time 

The Maximum Run Time reflects the maximum amount of time that a resource 

using the participation model for electric storage resources is able to inject electric energy 

to the grid due to physical or operational constraints, such as its State of Charge or 

potential obligations to provide other services.186 The Minimum Run Time allows the 

resource to identify the minimum amount of time the resource is physically able to 

discharge electric energy onto the grid. 

Discharge Ramp Rate and Charge Ramp Rate 

The Discharge Ramp Rate represents the speed at which electric storage resources 

can move from zero output to full output, or Maximum Discharge Limit.187 The Charge 

 183 Id. P 231. 

184 Id. P 223. 

185 Id. P 222. 

186 Id. P 224. 

187 Id. P 234. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 42 - 

Ramp Rate represents the speed at which electric storage resources can move from zero 

output to fully charging, or the resource’s Maximum Charge Limit. 

Additional Physical and Operational Characteristics 

Order No. 841 allows each RTO/ISO to propose in its compliance filing bidding 

parameters or other means to account for physical and operational characteristics of 

electric storage resources in addition to those set forth in Order No. 841.188 If an 

RTO/ISO includes such a proposal in its compliance filing, the RTO/ISO must 

demonstrate that such bidding parameters or other mechanisms do not impose barriers to 

the participation of electric storage resources in its markets.

a. SPP’s Filing 

Under the proposed Market Storage Resource participation model, SPP proposes 

that Market Storage Resources account for their physical and operational characteristics 

by submitting specific resource offer parameters.189 SPP explains that the proposed offer 

parameters applicable to Market Storage Resources include a mix of existing and new 

offer parameters.190

SPP proposes to require market participants with a resource registered as a Market 

Storage Resource to communicate the State of Charge through a new resource offer 

parameter called State of Charge Forecast, as well as via real-time telemetry.191 SPP 

proposes to define the State of Charge offer parameter as the amount of energy stored at a 

given time in MWh,192 and to define State of Charge Forecast as “the projected State of 

Charge for the beginning of each market interval used in the Day-Ahead Market and the 

RUC.”193 SPP proposes to require Market Storage Resources to submit a State of Charge 

 188 Id. P 235. 

189 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 23-25; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.17(2)(b). Under SPP’s Tariff, bidding 

parameters are referred to as Resource Offer Parameters. 

190 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 23-25; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(9). 

191 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26. 

192 Id. at 26-27. 

193 Id.; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 43 - 

Forecast for use in the Day-Ahead Market and Day-Ahead RUCs to determine the 

Market Storage Resources’ State of Charge at the start of the forward-looking dispatch 

interval.194 For RTBM dispatch decisions, SPP proposes that Market Storage Resources 

must provide their real-time State of Charge via telemetry.195

SPP proposes to revise its Tariff to account for the Maximum State of Charge of 

Market Storage Resources through a Maximum State of Charge resource offer 

parameter.196 SPP proposes Tariff revisions to define Maximum State of Charge as “the 

maximum State of Charge that should not be exceeded.”197 SPP also proposes to revise 

its Tariff to account for the Minimum State of Charge of Market Storage Resources 

through a Minimum State of Charge resource offer parameter.198 SPP proposes to define 

Minimum State of Charge as “the minimum State of Charge that should be 

maintained.”199

SPP proposes to require Market Storage Resources to submit Maximum Charge 

Limit and Maximum Emergency Charge Limit resource offer parameters.200 SPP 

explains that the two separate resource offer parameters allow Market Storage Resources 

to submit different charge limits for normal (i.e., Maximum Charge Limit) and 

emergency market operations (i.e., Maximum Emergency Charge Limit), which SPP 

clarifies is consistent with the abilities for other resource types.201 SPP also proposes to 

 194 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(9). 

195 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26-27. 

196 Id.; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(9). 

197 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 

198 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(9). 

199 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 

200 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(9). 

201 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 44 - 

define Maximum Charge Limit and Maximum Emergency Charge Limit.202 SPP 

proposes to define Maximum Charge Limit as “the maximum MW level that a Market 

Storage Resource is able to withdraw from the grid during normal operating 

conditions.”203 SPP proposes to define Maximum Emergency Charge Limit as “the

maximum MW level that a Market Storage Resource is able to withdraw from the grid 

during an Emergency Condition.”204

SPP proposes to require Market Storage Resources to submit Minimum Charge 

Limit and Minimum Emergency Charge Limit resource offer parameters. SPP explains 

that the two separate resource offer parameters allow Market Storage Resources to submit 

different charge limits for normal (i.e., Minimum Charge Limit) and emergency market 

operations (i.e., Minimum Emergency Charge Limit), which SPP clarifies is consistent 

with the abilities for other resource types. SPP proposes revisions to Attachment AE to 

define Minimum Charge Limit and Minimum Emergency Charge Limit.205 SPP proposes 

to define Minimum Charge Limit as “[t]he minimum MW level a [Market Storage 

Resource] is able to withdraw from the grid during normal operating conditions.”206 SPP 

proposes to define Minimum Emergency Charge Limit as “[t]he minimum MW level that 

a [Market Storage Resource] is able to withdraw from the grid during an Emergency 

Condition.”207 

 202 Id. at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, 

section 1.1(Definitions M). 

203 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1(Definitions M). 

204 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1(Definitions M). 

205 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 

206 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 

207 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 45 - 

SPP proposes to require Market Storage Resources to submit Maximum Discharge 

Limit and Maximum Emergency Discharge Limit resource offer parameters.208 SPP 

explains that the two separate resource offer parameters would allow Market Storage 

Resources to submit different discharge limits for normal (i.e., Maximum Discharge 

Limit) and emergency market operations (i.e., Maximum Emergency Discharge Limit), 

which SPP clarifies is consistent with the abilities for other resource types.209 SPP also 

proposes revisions to Attachment AE to define Maximum Discharge Limit and 

Maximum Emergency Discharge Limit.210 SPP proposes to define Maximum Discharge 

Limit, as “[t]he maximum MW level that a [Market Storage Resource] is able to inject 

into the grid used during normal operating conditions.”211 SPP proposes to define 

Maximum Emergency Discharge Limit, as “[t]he maximum MW level that a [Market 

Storage Resource] is able to inject into the grid during an Emergency Condition.”212

SPP proposes to require Market Storage Resources to submit Minimum Discharge 

Limit and Minimum Emergency Discharge Limit resource offer parameters.213 SPP 

explains that the two separate resource offer parameters would allow Market Storage 

Resources to submit different discharge limits for normal (i.e., Minimum Discharge 

Limit) and emergency market operations (i.e., Minimum Emergency Discharge Limit), 

which SPP clarifies is consistent with the abilities for other resource types. SPP proposes 

revisions to Attachment AE to define Minimum Discharge Limit and Minimum 

Emergency Discharge Limit.214 SPP proposes to represent Minimum Discharge Limit as 

the minimum MW level that a Market Storage Resource is able to inject into the grid 

 208 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(9). 

209 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26. 

210 Id. at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, 

section 1.1 (Definitions M). 

211 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 

212 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 

213 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 26-27; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(9). 

214 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 46 - 

during normal operating conditions.215 SPP proposes to represent Minimum Emergency 

Discharge Limit as “the minimum MW level that a Market Storage Resource is able to 

inject into the grid during an Emergency Condition.”216 SPP proposes to require Market 

Storage Resources to submit a Maximum Charge Time resource offer parameter.217 SPP 

proposes revisions to Attachment AE to define Maximum Charge Time as “the maximum 

duration of time that a Market Storage Resource is able to withdraw from the grid.”218

SPP proposes to require Market Storage Resources to submit the Minimum 

Charge Time resource offer parameter.219 SPP proposes revisions to Attachment AE to 

define Minimum Charge Time as “the minimum duration of time a Market Storage 

Resource is able to withdraw from the grid.”220

SPP proposes to require Market Storage Resources to submit a Maximum 

Discharge Time resource offer parameter.221 SPP proposes revisions to Attachment AE 

to define Maximum Discharge Time as “the maximum duration of time that a Market 

Storage Resource is able to inject into the grid.”222

 215 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 

216 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 

217 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(9). 

218 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 

219 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(9). 

220 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 

221 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(9). 

222 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 47 - 

SPP proposes to require Market Storage Resources to submit a Minimum 

Discharge Time resource offer parameter.223 SPP proposes revisions to Attachment AE 

to define Minimum Discharge Time as “the minimum duration of time that a Market 

Storage Resource is able to inject into the grid.”224

SPP states that the existing Ramp-Rate-Up and Ramp-Rate-Down offer 

parameters will sufficiently account for Discharge Ramp Rate and Charge Ramp rate, 

respectively, without additional Tariff modifications.225 SPP states that market 

participants are currently able to submit up to 10 segments of MW/minute ramp-rate 

segments for their ramping offers, which should also be sufficient to allow a resource 

using the Market Storage Resource participation model to represent its ramp-rate for both 

supply and demand for Market Storage Resources.226 Although it lists Ramp-Rate-Up 

and Ramp-Rate-Down as resource offer parameters, SPP does not define Ramp-Rate-Up 

or Ramp-Rate-Down in its Tariff. 

SPP also proposes to require resources using the Market Storage Resource 

participation model to submit an Electric Storage Resource Loss Factor resource offer 

parameter. SPP explains that this offer parameter will represent the resource’s round-trip 

efficiency.227 SPP states that it would use the Electric Storage Resource Loss Factor offer 

parameter in forward-looking studies, such as the Day-Ahead Market and RUC Studies, 

to account for the efficiency losses inherent with Electric Storage Resources that charge 

and subsequently discharge.228 SPP states this parameter is necessary for capacity 

assurance in forward-looking unit commitment processes and for ensuring Market 

Storage Resources do not receive a Day-Ahead Market position they could not fulfill in 

real time. Lastly, to account for system needs, SPP proposes to add a definition to its 

Tariff for its existing parameter Min-To-Off-Time in order to expand the original concept 

 223 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 4.1(9). 

224 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 27-29; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions M). 

225 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 30; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 (Definitions R). 

226 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 30. 

227 Id.; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1, 

Definitions. 

228 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 30. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 48 - 

to include the time required for a Market Storage Resource to shut down from either an 

injection or withdrawal state.229

b. Protests/Comments 

Tesla asserts that the Commission should require SPP to allow Electric Storage 

Resources to submit separate round-trip efficiency levels for summer and winter.230 

According to Tesla, the level of round-trip efficiency can be highly dependent on 

temperature. Tesla contends that seasonal round-trip efficiency levels are sufficient for 

all uses, including planning processes and determination of cost bases. However, Tesla 

states requiring more granular updates to round-trip efficiency would become too onerous 

for Electric Storage Resource operators to calculate and submit and would not improve 

the processes for which RTOs/ISOs utilize that information. 

c. Commission Determination 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions partially comply with Order No. 841. 

SPP has demonstrated that its proposed and existing Tariff provisions account for each of 

the specific physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources 

enumerated in Order No. 841,231 with one exception, as discussed below. SPP also 

complies with the requirement of Order No. 841 that RTOs/ISOs allow a resource using 

the participation model to submit its physical and operational characteristics in both dayahead and real-time markets. Further, as required by Order No. 841, to the extent that 

SPP proposes to comply with the requirement to account for certain parameters through 

its existing bidding parameters or other existing market mechanisms, SPP has 

demonstrated how its existing market rules already account for that particular physical 

and operational characteristic.232 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions comply with the requirement of 

Order No. 841 to account for State of Charge (through the proposed State of Charge and 

State of Charge Forecast parameters), Maximum State of Charge and Minimum State of 

Charge, Maximum Charge Limit and Minimum Charge Limit, Maximum Discharge 

Limit and Minimum Discharge Limit, Maximum Charge Time and Minimum Charge 

Time, and Maximum Run Time and Minimum Run Time (through the use of Maximum 

 229 Id.; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 

(Definitions M). 

230 Tesla Comments at 23. 

231 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 211.

232 Id. PP 211, 220, 229. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 49 - 

Discharge Time and Minimum Discharge Time parameters) of resources using the 

participation model. 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions partially comply with the 

requirement of Order No. 841 to account for the Discharge Ramp Rate and Charge Ramp 

Rate of resources using the participation model. SPP explains that its existing RampRate-Up and Ramp-Rate-Down offer parameters account for these characteristics by 

allowing Market Storage Resources to account for both the Discharge Ramp Rate and 

Charge Ramp Rate in both the day-ahead and real-time markets, and for the submission 

of up to 10 segments of MW/minute ramp-rate segments. However, we find that SPP 

does not fully comply with Order No. 841 because its Tariff does not define the RampRate-Up and Ramp-Rate-Down parameters. Accordingly, we direct SPP to file, within 

60 days of the date of issuance of this order, a further compliance filing that defines 

Ramp-Rate-Up in the Tariff and that incorporates, in that definition, the rate at which an 

Electric Storage Resource can move from zero output to Maximum Discharge Limit. 

Further, the compliance filing should define Ramp-Rate-Down in the Tariff and 

incorporate, in that definition, the rate at which an Electric Storage Resource can move 

from zero output to Maximum Charge Limit. If SPP cannot incorporate these concepts 

into the definitions for the Ramp-Rate-Up or Ramp-Rate-Down offer parameters, we 

direct SPP to propose new Discharge Ramp Rate and Charge Ramp Rate offer parameters 

that align with these definitions, in order to comply with the Order No. 841 requirements 

to account for Discharge Ramp Rate and Charge Ramp Rate through bidding parameters 

or other means. 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions to include a participation model that 

uses the Electric Storage Resource Loss Factor bidding parameter to account for physical 

and operational characteristics of electric storage resources, besides those set forth in 

Order No. 841, do not impose barriers to the participation of electric storage resources in 

its markets, and do not conflict with Order No. 841. Additionally, we find Tesla’s 

request that the Commission require SPP to allow Electric Storage Resources to submit 

separate round-trip efficiency levels for summer and winter to be outside the scope of this 

compliance proceeding. Although Order No. 841 affords the RTOs/ISOs flexibility to 

propose additional bidding parameters to account for the physical and operational 

characteristics of electric storage resources, it does not prescribe any criteria for 

compliance except that the parameters must not impose barriers to participation. SPP’s 

proposed Electric Storage Resource Loss Factor bidding parameter satisfies this 

minimum criterion to comply with Order No. 841, and the existence of alternatives as 

suggested by Tesla does not render the proposal non-compliant. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 50 - 

5. State of Charge Management 

Order No. 841 requires each RTO/ISO to allow resources using the participation 

model for electric storage resources to self-manage their State of Charge.233 Order No. 

841 provides that a resource using the participation model for electric storage resources 

that self-manages its State of Charge will be subject to any applicable penalties for 

deviating from a dispatch schedule to the extent that the resource deviates from the 

dispatch schedule in managing its State of Charge. Order No. 841 further provides that, 

to the extent that the provision of a particular wholesale service, such as frequency 

regulation, requires a resource providing that service to follow a dispatch signal that has 

the effect of maintaining the resource’s ability to provide the service, an electric storage 

resource that is managing its own State of Charge would still be required to follow such a 

dispatch signal, just as all other resources providing that same service.

RTOs/ISOs are not required as part of Order No. 841 to manage the State of 

Charge for resources using the participation model for electric storage resources.234 

While RTOs/ISOs must permit resources to manage their own State of Charge, 

RTOs/ISOs may provide an option for the RTO/ISO to manage an electric storage 

resource’s State of Charge for any particular service or circumstance as they deem 

appropriate in their markets with the consent of the electric storage resource.235 If an 

RTO/ISO already has a mechanism to manage a resource’s State of Charge, then the 

RTO/ISO must make it optional for the electric storage resource owner/operator to use 

such mechanism so that the electric storage resource is able to manage its own State of 

Charge if it elects to do so.236 Order No. 841 further provides that, where an electric 

storage resource has the option to allow the RTO/ISO to manage its State of Charge, the 

electric storage resource is the default manager of the resource’s State of Charge. 

Order No. 841 states that RTOs/ISOs should be able to dispatch resources using 

the participation model for electric storage resources in the same manner as any other 

market participant to address any reliability challenges and should know that the 

resources have an adequate State of Charge to perform the service to which they have 

committed.237 RTOs/ISOs are not precluded from establishing telemetry or other 

communication requirements necessary to determine the capabilities of an electric storage 

 233 Id. P 246. 

234 Id. P 254. 

235 Id. n.300. 

236 Id. P 254. 

237 Id. P 255. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 51 - 

resource in real time. Self-managing electric storage resources, just like all market 

participants, are subject to any non-performance penalties in the RTO/ISO tariff. 

Order No. 841 recognizes that the energy limitations of electric storage resources 

will need to be factored into their market offers and that misrepresenting those limitations 

could constitute manipulation if an electric storage resource has an obligation to 

participate in an RTO/ISO market. However, as discussed in the Ability to De-Rate 

Capacity to Meet Minimum Run-Time Requirements section above, Order No. 841 

requires each RTO/ISO to demonstrate how its existing market rules provide a means for 

energy-limited resources, including electric storage resources, to provide capacity, 

including ways to represent their energy limitations through their offer prices, which, if 

allowed by the RTO/ISO, would not constitute economic withholding.238 As with other 

resources, market monitors have the ability to review the bids from electric storage 

resources to detect economic or physical withholding.239 If an RTO/ISO determines that 

additional rules are needed to ensure electric storage resources are not managing their 

State of Charge in a way that could manipulate market outcomes through withholding, 

then the RTO/ISO may propose such rules in its compliance filing or through a separate 

FPA section 205 filing.240

a. SPP’s Filing 

SPP states that it does not have a mechanism to explicitly manage the State of 

Charge for Electric Storage Resources and that it does not propose to add any such 

mechanism.241 SPP states that it presumes the market participant is the default manager 

for the Electric Storage Resource’s State of Charge. 

SPP states that it is proposing to modify Attachment AE of its Tariff to ensure 

that, where the market participant is acting as the manager of State of Charge, Electric 

Storage Resources are settled consistent with non-Electric Storage Resources displaying 

similar behavior when the necessary charging and discharging deviate from SPP 

direction.242 More specifically, SPP proposes modifications to settlement equations in 

Attachment AE to expand charge-types applicable to load to include Market Storage 

 238 Id. P 256. 

239 Id. P 257. 

240 Id. (citing 16 U.S.C. § 824d). 

241 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 32. 

242 Id.
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 52 - 

Resources charging outside of SPP direction (i.e., managing the Electric Storage 

Resource State of Charge). Additionally, SPP proposes modifications to settlement 

equations so that any uninstructed discharge of Electric Storage Resources, regardless of 

resource registration type, is settled consistent with other resource registration types, and 

language establishing a Market Storage Resource’s operating tolerance in each dispatch 

interval so that Electric Storage Resources that self-manage State of Charge will be 

subject to applicable penalties for deviating from a dispatch schedule. 243

SPP states that existing language in Attachment AE of its Tariff provides 

mechanisms for energy-limited resources, including Electric Storage Resources, to reflect 

those limitations in forward-looking studies such as Day-Ahead Market and RUC and 

that the existing resource offer parameters, various operating limits, and run time 

parameters provide flexibility for a market participant to reflect the unique physical and 

operating characteristics of the resource resulting in the energy limitation. SPP also 

states that the market participant has the flexibility to reflect a resource’s energy 

limitation through the various operating limits in the RTBM.244

Further, SPP proposes modifications to its Market Monitoring Plan to provide an 

exemption to market participants from being deemed to be physically withholding for 

reducing the capability of an Electric Storage Resource in order to meet minimum runtime requirements to provide a service.245 SPP also states that it proposes conforming 

changes to its Market Power Mitigation Plan to include the Market Storage Resourcespecific offer parameters in the existing list of resource offer parameters, expressed in 

units other than dollars, for use in resource offer parameter mitigation. 

b. Protests/Comments 

Tesla asserts that “energy neutral” frequency regulation signals represent 

RTO/ISO management of electric storage resources’ State of Charge and limit the 

amount of frequency response an electric storage resource can provide.246 Tesla requests 

that the Commission require all RTOs/ISOs to allow electric storage resources to selfmanage their State of Charge when providing frequency regulation and to submit offer 

 243 Id. at 34; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 

6.1.4. 

244 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 32-33. 

245 Id. at 33; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AG, section 

4.6.4. 

246 Tesla Comments at 22. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 53 - 

curves that are asymmetric between regulation up and regulation down.247 Tesla further 

states that electric storage resources typically operate, “in a state somewhere between 

being fully charged or fully discharged,” and these specific provisions are necessary for 

electric storage resources to operate at full capacity when providing frequency regulation 

service, regardless of their level of State of Charge.248

c. Data Request Response 

In response to Commission staff’s request to clarify the circumstances in which 

SPP would consider Market Storage Resources to be “self-charging,” SPP states that it 

will consider Market Storage Resources to be “self-charging” when the Market Storage 

Resource charges without market direction, which includes any intervals when the 

Market Storage Resource: (1) self-schedules and charges in real-time or (2) is not able to 

follow dispatch instructions and is charging.249 

SPP further states that Market Storage Resources may “self-charge” through their 

offer parameters, which it notes can be changed hourly, or through their telemetered realtime Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) operating status. SPP also 

states that Market Storage Resources have the ability to self-commit in the Day-Ahead 

Market or RUC processes through the commitment status offer parameter as specified in 

section 4.1(10)(a) of Attachment AE of the Tariff. In addition, SPP states that Market 

Storage Resources also have the ability to set charge and discharge maximum and 

minimum parameters in order to communicate their dispatchable range as specified in 

section 4.1(9) of Attachment AE of its proposed Tariff revisions. Further, SPP clarifies 

that in real-time, Market Storage Resources also have the ability to utilize the telemetered 

operating status to communicate that the Market Storage Resource is not currently 

dispatchable by SPP and that, in this case, the market clearing engine will echo the 

current output of the Market Storage Resource.250 SPP states that this is part of the 

SCADA data in section 6.2.1.2(2) of Attachment AE of the Tariff. 

In response to Commission staff’s question as to whether SPP’s proposed 

provisions to “de-commit self-committed charging Resources” to address insufficient 

capacity in the Day-Ahead and Intra-Day RUC processes apply to all Electric Storage 

Resources or only to Market Storage Resources, SPP explains that the proposed 

 247 Id. at 22-23. 

248 Id. at 22. 

249 SPP Data Request Response, Transmittal at 9. 

250 Id. at 10. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 54 - 

provisions apply to only Market Storage Resources because “self-charging” Electric 

Storage Resources registered as another resource type “self-charge” through a 

corresponding registered Load Settlement Location.251 SPP further explains that the 

Transmission Provider only commits or de-commits Resources while load is never 

committed or de-committed. SPP further clarifies that the terms “self-committed 

charging Resources” and “Self-Charging” both apply only to Market Storage Resources. 

SPP asserts that the difference between the two terms is that Self-Charging can be 

accomplished without self-committing by using the previously described telemetered 

operating status, while a self-committed charging Resource is one that has self-committed 

into the Market through the offer parameter described in section 4.1(10)(a) of Attachment 

AE of the Tariff. 

d. Commission Determination 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff revisions allowing Electric Storage Resources 

using the participation model to self-manage their State of Charge comply with the 

requirements of Order No. 841 because: (1) SPP will allow Electric Storage Resources to 

manage their State of Charge; (2) SPP will subject Electric Storage Resources to 

applicable penalties for deviating from a dispatch schedule; (3) SPP will be able to 

sufficiently monitor Electric Storage Resources to determine their capabilities in real 

time; and (4) SPP proposes additional rules to ensure Electric Storage Resources are not 

managing their State of Charge in a way that could manipulate market outcomes through 

withholding. 

As to Tesla’s concerns with respect to frequency regulation, we note that Order 

No. 841 addresses this issue by explaining that, to the extent that the provision of a 

particular wholesale service, such as frequency regulation, requires a resource providing 

that service to follow a dispatch signal that has the effect of maintaining the resource’s 

ability to provide the service, an electric storage resource that is managing its own State 

of Charge would still be required to follow such a dispatch signal, just as all other 

resources providing that same service.252 Moreover, we find that proposals to establish 

asymmetrical offer curves for regulation are beyond the scope of this proceeding. As 

explained above, we find that SPP’s proposal complies with Order No. 841’s requirement 

to allow resources to self-manage their State of Charge. 

 251 Id.

252 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 253. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 55 - 

6. Energy Used to Charge Electric Storage Resources 

a. Price for Charging Energy 

Order No. 841 adds section 35.28(g)(9)(ii) to the Commission’s regulations to 

require that the sale of electric energy from the RTO/ISO markets to an electric storage 

resource that the resource then resells back to those markets be at the wholesale LMP.253 

This provision applies regardless of whether the electric storage resource is using the 

electric storage resource participation model or participates in RTO/ISO markets through 

other means, as long as the resource meets the definition of an electric storage resource 

set forth in Order No. 841. An electric storage resource’s wholesale energy purchases 

should take place at the applicable nodal LMP, and not the zonal price.254 

The Commission found that, when an electric storage resource is charging to resell 

energy at a later time, then its behavior is similar to other load-serving entities and 

applicable transmission charges should apply.255 However, the Commission found that 

electric storage resources should not be charged transmission charges when they are 

dispatched by an RTO/ISO to provide a service (such as frequency regulation or a 

downward ramping service).256 Order No. 841-A clarifies that the Commission’s use of 

the phrase “applicable transmission charges” was intended to convey that an RTO/ISO 

may propose to apply its existing rate structure for transmission charges to an electric 

storage resource that is charging at wholesale but is not being dispatched by the RTO/ISO 

to provide a service in the RTO/ISO markets.257 Order No. 841-A further clarifies that, 

on compliance, each RTO/ISO may propose that any electric storage resource that is 

charging for the purpose of participating in an RTO/ISO market but is not being 

dispatched by the RTO/ISO to provide a service should be assessed charges consistent 

with how the RTO/ISO assesses transmission charges to wholesale load under its existing 

rate structure. Order No. 841-A also states that if an RTO/ISO proposes not to apply 

 253 Id. P 294. 

254 Id. P 296. 

255 Id. P 297. To the extent that load resources located at a single node pay 

different transmission charges than load resources located across multiple nodes, each 

RTO/ISO must apply those transmission charges for single-node resources to electric 

storage resources that are located at a single pricing node, as long as they are not being 

dispatched to provide an ancillary service by an RTO/ISO. 

256 Id. P 298. 

257 Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 121. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 56 - 

transmission charges to an electric storage resource that is charging at wholesale but is 

not being dispatched by the RTO/ISO to provide a service, then the RTO/ISO must 

demonstrate that exempting such a resource from these charges is reasonable given its 

existing rate structure for transmission charges. 

With respect to the meaning of a “service,” Order No. 841-A acknowledges that 

the participation of electric storage resources in RTO/ISO markets may convey a range of 

benefits, particularly under certain system conditions, but declines to grant clarification 

that charging pursuant to economic dispatch always qualifies as a service.258 However, 

Order No. 841-A does clarify that services do not need to be limited to ancillary services 

and that they can include any service defined in an RTO/ISO tariff. Order No. 841-A 

explains that to the extent that an RTO/ISO seeks to create a new service that would 

involve charging pursuant to economic dispatch under certain system conditions, the 

RTO/ISO may propose such revisions to its tariff through a separate FPA section 205 

filing. 

Order No. 841 does not require that electric storage resources purchase all electric 

energy for future use from RTO/ISO markets, and does not address whether they can pay 

some other rate, such as a retail rate, for charging of co-located generation.259 Regarding 

electric storage resources’ use of the distribution system, the Commission found that it 

may be appropriate, on a case-by-case basis, for distribution utilities to assess a wholesale 

distribution charge to an electric utility participating in the RTO/ISO markets.260 Order 

No. 841-A clarifies that the Commission will consider any proposal to establish a rate for 

providing wholesale distribution service to an electric storage resource for its charging on 

a case-by-case basis (e.g., a facility-specific rate, a wholesale distribution service rate that 

applies to all or some subset of electric storage resources, a generally applicable 

wholesale distribution service tariff, or any other rate mechanism).261

Additionally, the Commission found that efficiency losses are charging energy and 

therefore not a component of station power load. Thus, charging energy lost to 

conversion inefficiencies should be settled at the LMP as long as those efficiency losses 

are an unavoidable component of the conversion, storage, and discharge process that is 

used to resell energy back to RTO/ISO markets and are not a component of what an 

 258 Id. P 120. 

259 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 299. 

260 Id. P 301. 

261 Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 123. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 57 - 

RTO/ISO considers onsite load.262 With respect to directly integrated and other ancillary 

loads, Order No. 841 provides RTOs/ISOs flexibility to determine whether they are a 

component of charging energy or a component of station power. 

Order No. 841-A denies Pacific Gas and Electric’s request to clarify that states 

have jurisdiction to determine how power flowing from the distribution grid into the 

electric storage resource located behind the customer meter is split between retail 

consumption and wholesale charging for later discharge into the wholesale markets. 

Order No. 841-A further reiterates that the Commission’s finding regarding charging 

energy did not address payment of the retail rate for energy and therefore Order No. 841 

does not authorize electric storage resources to bypass retail rates for its on-site electricity 

consumption, as Pacific Gas & Electric suggested.263

Order No. 841-A denies CAISO’s request for clarification that electric storage 

resources participating as transmission resources, as described in the Commission’s 

Policy Statement,264 should not incur transmission charges for charging demand and 

stated that it is appropriate to address CAISO’s concerns related to resources that might 

seek to recover their costs through both regulated transmission rates and the wholesale 

markets in the context of a specific proposal involving resources that provide multiple 

services and seek to recover their costs through both cost-based and market-based rates 

concurrently. 

i. SPP’s Filing 

SPP states that all energy purchases for charging of an Electric Storage Resource 

will take place at the applicable nodal LMP regardless of resource registration type.265 

Further, for Electric Storage Resources registered as Market Storage Resources, SPP 

proposes that a single nodal settlement location will be established for both the injections 

and withdrawals. SPP also proposes a definition for Discrete Delivery Point to denote 

the finest granularity of injection and withdrawal from the transmission system modeled 

within the market.266 SPP further states that, in order to accommodate generation less 

 262 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 302. 

263 Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 119 (citing Order No. 841, 

162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at PP 323-24). 

264 Id. P 122 (citing Utilization of Electric Storage Resources for Multiple Services 

When Receiving Cost-Based Rate Recovery, 158 FERC ¶ 61,051 (2017)). 

265 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 40. 

266 Id.; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 1.1 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 58 - 

than 0.1 MW on the distribution system, aggregation is permitted and that this 

aggregation is limited to the Discrete Delivery Point in order to ensure that aggregated 

resources are priced at the applicable nodal LMP.267 SPP further clarifies that the energy 

withdrawals will settle as negative generation at the resource settlement location, which 

will be a single pricing node where the Market Storage Resource is located.268

SPP explains that efficiency losses will be accounted for in the settlement of 

energy purchases and sales because they are inherently included in the purchase MW 

quantity.269 SPP also clarifies that station service is required to be registered 

separately.270 

SPP proposes to modify Attachment AE to exclude charges for transmission 

service when a Market Storage Resource is issued a dispatch instruction from SPP to 

provide a wholesale service that incidentally results in the Market Storage Resource 

charging.271 SPP explains that a Market Storage Resource will have to request 

transmission service under the Tariff to cover self-charging activities and charging 

beyond the amount instructed by SPP, while Electric Storage Resources registered as a 

resource type other than Market Storage Resource must reserve either Network 

Integration Transmission Service or Point-To-Point Transmission Service.272

ii. Data Request Response 

SPP clarifies that all withdrawals from the transmission system are priced at LMP 

regardless of how they are modeled. SPP states that it settles energy injections and 

withdrawals on the transmission system at LMP, and that all withdrawals are calibrated 

 

(Definitions D). 

267 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 41. 

268 Id. at 40. 

269 Id.

270 Id.; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.2(2). 

271 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 40; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume 

No. 1, Attachment AE, sections 2.17(2)(f)(ii), 13.7(c),14.5. 

272 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 40-41; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised 

Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 2.17. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 59 - 

with the injections in order to assure that the reported load is neither deficient nor over 

reported.273 

SPP states that Electric Storage Resources that are not registered as Market 

Storage Resources and that withdraw energy from the transmission system must be 

included in a Load Settlement Location and will pay the LMP calculated at that Load 

Settlement Location for the withdrawal from the transmission system. As for Electric 

Storage Resources that do register as Market Storage Resources, SPP states that the 

metering process will be similar to that of Electric Storage Resources that are not 

registered as Market Storage Resources except that the withdrawal will be at the 

Resource Settlement Location. SPP therefore asserts that all withdrawals from the 

transmission system are always priced at LMP regardless of how they are modeled.274

SPP further clarifies that, to the extent that an Electric Storage Resource is capable 

of injecting and withdrawing for both retail and wholesale purposes, it is the 

responsibility of the meter agent275 to report the meter values reflecting the amount of 

energy withdrawn from and then injected into the transmission system separate from the 

reduction or increase of the retail load resulting from the withdrawal and injection for 

retail purposes. SPP notes that this can only occur when the load is located at the same 

injection/withdrawal location. Otherwise, SPP states that, as with any other resource, the 

Electric Storage Resource is withdrawing from and injecting to the transmission 

system.276

iii. Commission Determination 

We find that SPP’s filing complies with the requirements of Order No. 841 that 

the sale of electric energy from the RTO/ISO markets to an electric storage resource that 

the resource then resells back to those markets be at the wholesale LMP because all 

energy purchases for charging of an Electric Storage Resource will take place at the 

applicable nodal LMP regardless of resource registration type. We also find that SPP’s 

proposal complies with Order No. 841’s requirement that charging energy lost to 

 273 SPP Data Request Response, Transmittal at 12. 

274 Id.

275 SPP explains that it does not directly meter any facility and that meter agents 

submit settlement meter values directly to SPP. SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 

42. 

276 SPP Data Request Response, Transmittal at 12. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 60 - 

conversion inefficiencies be settled at the LMP, because purchased MW quantity and 

station load inherently include such efficiency losses and are settled at the LMP. 

However, although SPP proposes to exempt Market Storage Resources from 

transmission service charges when a Market Storage Resource is issued a dispatch 

instruction to provide a wholesale service that incidentally results in the Market Storage 

Resource charging, SPP does not specify the wholesale services that will be subject to 

this exemption. Accordingly, we direct SPP to file, within 60 days of the date of issuance 

of this order, revisions to its Tariff to specify the wholesale services that will be subject 

to the exemption, consistent with the Commission’s clarification in Order No. 841-A.277 

Further, we note that SPP’s proposal to permit aggregation of resources is addressed 

elsewhere in the body of this order.278 

b. Metering and Accounting Practices for Charging Energy 

To help implement the new requirement in section 35.28(g)(9)(ii) of the 

Commission’s regulations, Order No. 841 requires each RTO/ISO to implement metering 

and accounting practices as needed to address the complexities of implementing the 

requirement that the sale of electric energy from RTO/ISO markets to an electric storage 

resource that the resource then resells back to those markets be at the wholesale LMP.279 

Order No. 841 requires each RTO/ISO to directly meter electric storage resources,280 but 

offers flexibility for each RTO/ISO to propose alternative approaches that may not entail 

direct metering but nonetheless address the complexities of implementing the 

requirement that the sale of electric energy from RTO/ISO markets to an electric storage 

resource that the resource then resells back to those markets be at the wholesale LMP.281 

Order No. 841 acknowledges that metering and accounting rules may need to differ based 

 277 See Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at PP 120-21. 

278 See supra P 39. 

279 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 322. 

280 In Order No. 841-A, the Commission clarified that the RTO/ISO itself does not 

need to be the entity that directly meters electric storage resources. Order No. 841-A, 

167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 138. 

281 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 322. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 61 - 

on whether the resource is located on the transmission system, the distribution system, or 

behind-the-meter.282 

The Commission rejected the suggestion that electric storage resources must 

choose to participate in either wholesale or retail markets due to the complexity of the 

metering and accounting practices.283 The Commission found that it is possible for 

electric storage resources that are selling retail services also to be technically capable of 

providing wholesale services, and it would adversely affect competition in the RTO/ISO 

markets if these technically capable resources were excluded from participation. In 

response to concerns that not requiring electric storage resources to choose to participate 

exclusively in either wholesale or retail markets will allow resources using the 

participation model for electric storage resources to evade the distribution utility’s retail 

service or to simultaneously buy electricity at the retail rate and sell it at the wholesale 

LMP, Order No. 841-A states that each RTO/ISO can address these issues by developing 

its metering and accounting requirements in cooperation with the distribution utilities and 

relevant electric retail regulatory authorities in its footprint, as the Commission 

recognized in Order No. 841.284 Order No. 841-A also notes that, when Order No. 841 

found that the sale of electric energy from the RTO/ISO markets to an electric storage 

resource that the resource then resells back to those markets must be at the wholesale 

LMP, it was referring to the sale of energy from the grid that is used to charge electric 

storage resources for later resale into the energy or ancillary service markets.285 

Order No. 841 also requires RTOs/ISOs to prevent electric storage resources from 

paying twice for the same charging energy (i.e., they should not have to pay both the 

wholesale and retail price for the same charging energy).286 To the extent that the host 

distribution utility is unable—due to a lack of the necessary metering infrastructure and 

accounting practices—or unwilling to net out any energy purchases associated with an 

electric storage resource’s wholesale charging activities from the host customer’s retail 

bill, the Commission found that RTOs/ISOs would be prevented from charging that 

 282 Id. P 324. 

283 Id. P 325. 

284 Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 142 (citing Order No. 841, 

162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 324). 

285 Id. (citing Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 294). 

286 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 326. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 62 - 

resource wholesale rates for the charging energy for which it is already paying retail 

rates.287 

Order No. 841-A clarifies that an RTO/ISO could require verification from the 

host distribution utility that it is unable or unwilling to net wholesale demand from retail 

settlement before the RTO/ISO ceases to settle an electric storage resource’s wholesale 

demand at the wholesale LMP.288 Order No. 841-A clarifies further that the Commission 

would consider on compliance each RTO’s/ISO’s proposal to identify whether a 

distribution utility is unable or unwilling to net out from a host customer’s retail bill the 

wholesale energy purchases associated with charging an electric storage resource that is 

participating in the RTO/ISO market.289 However, Order No. 841-A denies CAISO’s 

request for clarification that when an RTO/ISO cannot verify the host distribution 

utility’s inability or unwillingness to net out wholesale charging energy, the RTO/ISO 

can require the electric storage resource to use a participation model designed for retail 

customer participation. Order No. 841-A states that, while Order No. 841 provides 

flexibility with respect to how each RTO/ISO implements the requirement to prevent 

electric storage resources from paying twice for the same charging energy, it would be 

inappropriate for an RTO/ISO to meet that requirement by requiring an electric storage 

resource to use a participation model designed for retail customer participation.290 

i. SPP’s Filing 

SPP states that it does not have retail open access and therefore does not directly 

meter any facility.291 SPP explains that meter agents and market participants submit the 

settlement meter values and real-time meter data directly to SPP, regardless of whether 

 287 Paragraph 326 of the preamble of Order No. 841 used the term “resources using 

the participation model for electric storage resources” with respect to the requirements set 

forth therein (e.g., “we require each RTO/ISO to prevent resources using the participation 

model for electric storage resources from paying twice for the same charging energy”). 

However, section 35.28(g)(9)(ii) of the Commission’s regulations (as modified by Order 

No. 841), which these requirements are intended to implement, specifies that it applies to 

electric storage resources. Thus, the Commission used the incorrect term in paragraph 

326 of Order No. 841. In this order, we use the correct term throughout. 

288 Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 138. 

289 Id.

290 Id. P 139 (citing Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 326). 

291 SPP Compliance Filing, Transmittal at 42. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 63 - 

the resource is on the distribution or transmission system.292 SPP explains that the actual 

meter values of distribution sited Market Storage Resources may be split among the retail 

and wholesale use by the meter agent in both real-time and for settlement. SPP proposes 

to modify Attachment AE to specify that the metering requirements for Market Storage 

Resources include real-time and settlement quality metering to comply with the metering 

requirements for the sale and purchase of electric energy by electric storage resources.293

SPP also proposes Tariff provisions stating that, in the event that a Market Storage 

Resource is not directly connected to the transmission system and the distribution 

company is unable or unwilling to separate the charging activity from other retail service, 

the Market Storage Resource will not be subject to settlement by the transmission 

provider for either the transmission charge or the energy consumption.294

ii. Protests/Comments 

Advanced Energy Economy asserts that SPP’s compliance filing does not contain 

any actual metering and accounting practices or methodologies. Advanced Energy 

Economy argues that, although SPP describes the responsibilities of meter agents to 

submit settlement values directly to SPP, it does not otherwise state how these practices 

and any other accompanying accounting practices will meet Order No. 841’s 

requirements. Specifically, Advanced Energy Economy argues that SPP fails to show 

that it will ensure that the sale of electric energy from the SPP markets to an Electric 

Storage Resource that the resource then resells back to the wholesale market will be at 

the wholesale LMP or how its proposed practices ensure that an Electric Storage 

Resource will not be charged twice (at both wholesale and retail) for charging energy. 

Advanced Energy Economy also notes that SPP’s compliance filing does not indicate 

whether any additional metering or accounting practices will be developed outside of the 

tariff in business practice manuals or with individual Electric Storage Resources. 

Advanced Energy Economy suggests that, to comply with all of these 

requirements, SPP should include in the SPP Tariff a workable methodology or 

framework to guide the development of individual metering and accounting 

methodologies.295 Advanced Energy Economy further notes that many Electric Storage 

 292 Id. at 42-43. 

293 Id.; SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section

2.17(2)(d). 

294 SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 

2.17(2)(g)(i). 

295 Advanced Energy Economy Comments at 7. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 64 - 

Resources connected to the distribution grid or behind-the-meter will have unique 

configurations that require flexibility in the implementation of metering and accounting 

practices and methodologies. Advanced Energy Economy argues that inclusion of Tariff 

provisions regarding metering and accounting practices and methodologies should 

provide guidance and accountability (as well as a means for resolving disputes) as these 

practices are developed without limiting flexibility. 

In addition, Advanced Energy Economy argues that SPP has not fully shown how 

its proposed Tariff revisions and participation model will fully permit Electric Storage 

Resources on the distribution grid or behind-the-meter to inject and withdraw energy and 

otherwise fully provide all of the wholesale services that they are technically capable of 

providing.296 It argues that the Commission should make clear that full compliance with 

Order No. 841 requires a clear path for Electric Storage Resources located on the 

distribution grid or behind the meter to be able to inject energy onto the wholesale grid 

(provided they are technically and contractually able to do so) and provide all wholesale 

services that they are technically capable of providing. Advanced Energy Economy also 

argues that the Commission should direct SPP and the other RTOs/ISOs to ensure that 

their electric storage resource participation models provide this clear path.297 However, it 

does not believe that the remainder of SPP’s compliance proposal should be delayed 

pending resolution of the “uncertainty” in the filing regarding the participation of 

resources located on the distribution grid or behind-the-meter and believes that the 

Commission can provide direction to SPP, and the other RTOs/ISOs, to address these 

issues while implementing the other parts of their proposals.298

Tesla urges the Commission to require SPP to describe how behind-the-meter 

electric storage resources may provide market services.299 Tesla states that the location 

of an electric storage resource does not justify different treatment and that any 

discrimination against behind-the-meter electric storage resources must be removed. 

Tesla further emphasizes that market rules must allow behind-the-meter electric storage 

resources to seamlessly switch between serving onsite demand and injecting power onto 

the grid. 

 296 Id. at 3. 

297 Id. at 7. 

298 Id. n.20. 

299 Tesla Comments at 18. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 65 - 

iii. Answers 

In response to Advanced Energy Economy’s comments, NRECA argues that 

Order No. 841’s findings, and the remedial regulations that it adopts, are exclusively 

addressed to Commission-regulated RTOs/ISOs and that Order No. 841 and the 

Commission’s regulations do not require an RTO/ISO to adopt market rules that clear a 

new path through non-RTO/ISO local distribution facilities, retail meters, or retail 

electric regulation more generally.300

NRECA raises concerns with Tesla’s comments on behind-the-meter electric 

storage resources and notes that Order No. 841 provides that a storage resource must be 

both physically and contractually able to inject energy onto the wholesale grid before it 

may participate in wholesale markets.301 NRECA also states that Order No. 841 does not 

use the phrase “seamlessly transitioning” or authorize behind-the-meter storage to operate 

in contravention of state or local law.302 NRECA argues that nothing in Order No. 841 

disturbs state and local regulation of retail metering, retail net metering, or storage use on 

local distribution systems, including behind-the-meter storage. Accordingly, NRECA 

argues that these compliance proceedings should be limited to RTO/ISO market rules and 

should not become a vehicle for unbundling retail services, asserting jurisdiction over 

retail net metering, or limiting state and local regulation of distribution and retail storage 

uses. NRECA asserts that such matters are beyond the scope of this proceeding.303 

NRECA also argues that Tesla’s comments regarding behind-the-meter storage are 

unsupported and beyond the scope of this proceeding.304

iv. Data Request Response 

SPP states that its metering process – wherein the meter agent is responsible for 

reporting the meter values reflecting the amount of energy withdrawn from and then 

injected into the transmission system separate from the reduction or increase in retail load 

resulting from withdrawals and injections for retail purposes – will ensure that the 

Electric Storage Resource only pays either the retail or wholesale price for the metered 

amount submitted to SPP. If the Electric Storage Resource is registered as a Market 

 300 NRECA Answer at 4. 

301 Id.

302 Id. at 5. 

303 Id. at 5-6. 

304 Id. at 6 (citing Tesla Comments at 19). 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 66 - 

Storage Resource and the local distribution company is unable or unwilling to separate 

the charging activity from other retail service, the Market Storage Resource will not be 

subject to settlement by SPP. If the Electric Storage Resource is not registered as a 

Market Storage Resource and the local distribution company is unable or unwilling to 

separate the charging activity from other retail service, the Electric Storage Resource’s 

withdrawal would be included in the retail load and settled by the retail provider. 305 

SPP also clarifies its reference to the handling of metering and accounting for 

distribution-sited Market Storage Resources as “consistent with the handling of pseudotie resources” by explaining that pseudo-tied resources may be pseudo-tied for less than 

their full capacity and it is the responsibility of the meter agent to split the output 

reporting of the resource among the balancing authorities because they know the intent at 

the time in both real-time and in settlement data. SPP states that the meter agent for the 

storage device is the only party aware of the intent of the injection and bears the 

responsibility for appropriately reporting the data.306

v. Commission Determination 

We find that SPP’s proposed Tariff provisions partially comply with the 

requirements of Order No. 841 pertaining to metering and accounting practices for 

electric storage resources and require SPP to file, within 60 days of the date of issuance 

of this order, a further compliance filing as discussed below. 

We find that the proposed SPP Tariff provisions comply with Order No. 841’s 

requirement that electric storage resources be prevented from paying twice for the same 

charging energy by requiring that, in the event a Market Storage Resource is not directly 

connected to the transmission system and the distribution company is unable or unwilling 

to separate charging activity from other retail service, the resource will not be subject to 

settlement by the transmission provider for either the transmission charges or the energy 

consumption.307 

As discussed above, SPP has demonstrated that its Tariff provides that Electric 

Storage Resources will be charged wholesale LMP for charging energy purchased from 

SPP’s markets to be resold back to those markets. However, with respect to the 

necessary metering and accounting practices to implement that Tariff requirement, we are 

concerned that SPP’s compliance filing does not include sufficient information about its 

 305 SPP Data Request Response, Transmittal at 12. 

306 Id. at 13. 

307 SPP, OATT, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE, section 

2.17(2)(g)(i). 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 67 - 

metering and accounting practices in its Tariff. We find that the SPP Tariff should 

include a basic description of SPP’s proposed metering methodology and accounting 

practices for Electric Storage Resources as well as references to specific documents 

containing further details. Decisions regarding whether an item should be placed in a 

tariff or in a business practice manual are guided by the Commission’s rule of reason 

policy, under which provisions that “significantly affect rates, terms, and conditions” of 

service, are readily susceptible of specification, and are not generally understood in a 

contractual agreement must be included in a tariff, while items better classified as 

implementation details may be included only in the business practice manual.308 The 

unique physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources require 

unique metering and accounting practices to ensure that these resources are charged the 

LMP for charging energy, as required by Order No. 841. We find that these practices 

significantly affect rates, terms, and conditions and should be included in the Tariff.309 

Further, we find that the Tariff should reference the specific documents that contain the 

implementation details for SPP’s metering methodology and accounting practices for 

Electric Storage Resources so that market participants may plan and manage their 

participation accordingly. Therefore, we direct SPP to file, within 60 days of the date of 

issuance of this order, revisions to its Tariff to include a basic description of SPP’s 

metering methodology and accounting practices for Electric Storage Resources, as well 

as references to the specific documents in SPP’s business practice manuals or other 

documents that contain the implementation details. 

As to concerns regarding the ability of Electric Storage Resources located on the 

distribution system or behind the meter to participate in SPP’s markets,310 we reiterate 

that SPP’s definition of Electric Storage Resource and Market Storage Resource are 

inclusive of those resources located on a distribution system or behind the meter.311 As 

described above, we find that SPP has demonstrated that its proposed market rules 

 308 Energy Storage Ass’n v. PJM, 162 FERC ¶ 61,296 at P 103; see also City of 

Cleveland v. FERC, 773 F.2d at 1376 (finding that utilities must file “only those practices 

that affect rates and service significantly, that are reasonably susceptible of specification, 

and that are not so generally understood in any contractual arrangement as to render 

recitation superfluous”). 

309 Energy Storage Ass’n v. PJM, 162 FERC ¶ 61,296 at P 103; City of Cleveland 

v. FERC, 773 F.2d at 1376. 

310 See, e.g., Advanced Energy Economy Comments at 3; Tesla Comments at 18. 

311 See supra P 16. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 68 - 

provide a means for all Electric Storage Resources, including those located on the 

distribution system or behind the meter, to provide services under the Tariff.312

Additionally, we find that it is unclear how and to what extent SPP’s proposed 

Tariff provisions allow Electric Storage Resources to use the participation model if they 

also participate in retail markets. In Order No. 841, the Commission stated that it was not 

persuaded by commenters’ suggestion that electric storage resources must choose to 

participate in either wholesale or retail markets due to the complexity of the metering and 

accounting practices that would be necessary to distinguish between retail and wholesale 

activity.313 The Commission found that electric storage resources that provide retail 

services may also be technically capable of providing wholesale services, and that 

excluding these resources from wholesale market participation would adversely affect 

competition in RTO/ISO markets.314 On rehearing, the Commission stated that, while it 

agreed with petitioners that appropriate metering and accounting practices will be 

necessary to distinguish between wholesale and retail activity, it disagreed that these 

practices would be prohibitively complex or costly to develop and implement given the 

flexibility provided to the RTOs/ISOs to propose reasonable approaches. 315 

The SPP Tariff does not explicitly state that Electric Storage Resources are 

allowed to participate in both retail and wholesale markets. Accordingly, we direct SPP 

to file, within 60 days of the date of issuance of this order, a further compliance filing to 

explain how its Tariff allows for Electric Storage Resources to participate in both 

wholesale and retail markets, or alternatively, revise its Tariff to allow Electric Storage 

Resources that provide retail services to also participate in SPP’s markets, as required by 

Order No. 841. 

7. Effective Date 

Order No. 841 requires each RTO/ISO to file tariff changes needed to implement 

the requirements of Order No. 841 within 270 days of its publication in the Federal 

Register, and allows a further 365 days from that date to implement the tariff 

 312 See supra P 59. 

313 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 325; see also Order No. 841-A, 

167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 140 (denying rehearing of the decision to decline to require 

electric storage resources to choose to participate exclusively in either wholesale or retail 

markets). 

314 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 325. 

315 Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 140. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 69 - 

provisions.316 The Commission declined to allow the RTOs/ISOs to develop their own 

implementation schedules, finding that the compliance and implementation schedule set 

forth in the Final Rule is appropriate.317 The Commission stated that the regional 

flexibility allowed in the Final Rule will assist the RTOs/ISOs in meeting the compliance 

and implementation deadlines.318 Order No. 841-A reiterates that Order No. 841’s 

compliance and implementation schedule is reasonable, and declines to permit the 

individual RTOs/ISOs to propose their own timeframes.319 

a. SPP’s Filing 

On February 28, 2019, SPP notified the Commission of the need to delay the 

effective date for the provisions filed in this proceeding, and requested that the 

Commission issue an order no later than July 1, 2019 accepting SPP’s compliance filings 

in this proceeding. SPP explains that, subsequent to the submission of its compliance 

filing, SPP learned that its new Settlement Management System, upon which Order 

No. 841 changes must be built, will not go live on May 1, 2019 as had been expected and 

is instead expected to go live in the fourth quarter of 2019. SPP states that it cannot 

begin work on much of the underlying software necessary to effectuate the changes 

required by Order No. 841 until after the Settlement Management System goes live.320 

SPP estimates that it will need a further six to 12 months after the Settlement 

Management System goes live for software implementation.321 SPP further notes that a 

nine-month lead time between issuance of a Commission order and the effective date is 

necessary to accommodate software design, testing, and implementation, as well as 

internal and external training.322 In light of this situation, SPP requests an effective date 

of “12/31/9998” for the Tariff records submitted in Docket Nos. ER19-460-000 and 

ER19-460-001, and SPP commits to submit a filing with the Commission specifying a 

precise effective date at a later time. SPP further states that, upon Commission 

 316 Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 348. 

317 Id. P 349. 

318 Id. P 350. 

319 Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 154. 

320 SPP Request for Deferral of Effective Date, Transmittal at 3-4, Docket 

No. ER19-460-002 (filed Feb. 28, 2019). 

321 Id. at 4. 

322 Id. n.4. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 70 - 

acceptance of SPP’s compliance filing and the completion of the Settlement Management 

System, SPP will work as quickly as practicable to implement the necessary changes to 

its systems.323

b. Protests/Comments 

Energy Storage Association states that SPP has modified its timing estimate for 

installation of its settlement system on March 5, 2019, now stating that the installation 

would be completed in the first quarter of 2020.324 Energy Storage Association asserts 

that, assuming that SPP would need six to 12 months from that installation date, SPP’s 

Tariff provisions would not become effective until March 2021.325 Energy Storage 

Association also asserts that, even if SPP cannot ascertain definitively when its settlement 

system will be up and running, a moving and open-ended target date is detrimental to the 

storage industry. Energy Storage Association states that, based on the Commission’s 

mandated Order No. 841 implementation date of December 3, 2019, many storage 

resources have already prepared to begin participating in SPP’s markets or are in the 

process of financing anticipated projects. Energy Storage Association argues that any 

delay in implementing the Tariff provisions could result in significant financial hardship 

on developers and operators of these projects and that the impact of an undetermined 

delay on the markets, such as those proposed by SPP in its most recent filings on this 

issue, could result in the loss of project funding. 

Energy Storage Association requests that the Commission require SPP to submit 

quarterly updates on the progress it is making to migrate to its new Settlement 

Management System in order to mitigate the impact of an unknown Tariff 

implementation date.326 Energy Storage Association believes the quarterly reports are

necessary to ensure that SPP is working diligently to maintain its installation schedule 

and testing protocol and to allow transparency into SPP’s decision making with respect to 

implementing Order No. 841 Tariff provisions. Energy Storage Association also requests 

that the Commission direct SPP to make the Tariff provisions effective no later than 

December 31, 2020. 

 323 Id. at 4. 

324 Energy Storage Association Comments on SPP Request for Deferral at 1. 

325 Id. at 2. 

326 Id. at 3. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 71 - 

c. Answer 

SPP argues that quarterly reporting on the status of the migration to its new 

Settlement Management System is unnecessary and would not be timely because this 

status is already discussed on a monthly basis at SPP’s Change Working Group and the 

group’s monthly meeting materials and minutes are available along with other relevant 

information on SPP’s website.327 In addition, SPP states that Energy Storage 

Association’s requested effective date of December 31, 2020 is arbitrary and not justified 

because the Commission has yet to issue an order on SPP’s compliance filing and the 

settlement system has yet to be completed.328 SPP argues that, until the Commission 

issues an order from which SPP can fully design the final version of software effectuating 

the Order No. 841 changes and the new Settlement Management System goes live, 

neither SPP nor the Commission can know whether Energy Storage Association’s 

requested December 31, 2020 date is feasible.329

d. Commission Determination 

In Order Nos. 841 and 841-A, the Commission declined to provide the RTOs/ISOs 

with additional time for implementation; however, we find here that SPP’s request to 

implement the requirements of Order No. 841 after the deadline established in Order 

No. 841 is reasonable based on the specific circumstances outlined in its compliance 

filing. Specifically, based on SPP’s filing, we understand that the software changes 

necessary to effectuate the changes required by Order No. 841 cannot be implemented 

until after SPP’s Settlement Management System goes live, which SPP states will occur 

in the fourth quarter of 2019. However, SPP’s request to submit a filing with the 

Commission specifying a precise effective date at a later time is unreasonable because it 

creates uncertainty for prospective and existing market participants expecting to 

participate in SPP’s markets using the Electric Storage Resource participation model. As 

discussed above, SPP states that its Settlement Management System will go live in the 

fourth quarter of 2019 and estimates that it will need a further six to 12 months for 

software implementation. In addition, SPP notes that a nine-month lead time between 

issuance of a Commission order and the effective date is necessary to accommodate 

software design, testing, and implementation, as well as internal and external training. 

Therefore, as discussed above, we accept SPP’s tariff revisions in part, effective nine 

months from the date of issuance of this order. As we are accepting certain of SPP’s 

 327 SPP Answer at 3-4. 

328 Id. at 4. 

329 Id. at 5. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 72 - 

tariff revisions effective nine months from the date of issuance of this order, we decline 

to require SPP to submit quarterly updates, as requested by Energy Storage Association. 

The Commission orders: 

 (A) SPP’s compliance filing is hereby accepted in part, as modified, subject to a 

further compliance filing, effective nine months from the date of issuance of this order, 

and rejected in part, as discussed in the body of this order. 

 (B) SPP is hereby directed to submit a further compliance filing in Docket 

No. ER19-460-000, within 60 days of the date of issuance of this order, as discussed in 

the body of this order. 

(C) Pursuant to the authority contained in and subject to the jurisdiction 

conferred upon the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by section 402(a) of the 

Department of Energy Organization Act and the FPA, particularly section 206 thereof, 

and pursuant to the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure and the regulations 

under the FPA (18 C.F.R. Chapter I), the Commission hereby institutes a proceeding in 

Docket No. EL19-101-000, concerning the justness and reasonableness of SPP’s resource 

adequacy minimum run-time requirement, as discussed in the body of this order. 

(D) SPP is hereby directed to submit tariff provisions reflecting its resource 

adequacy minimum run-time requirement, in a new ER docket, no later than 45 days after 

the publication of notice in the Federal Register of the Commission’s initiation of the 

section 206 proceeding in Docket No. EL19-101-000, as discussed in the body of this 

order. 

 (E) Any interested person desiring to be heard in Docket No. EL19-101-000 

must file a notice of intervention or motion to intervene, as appropriate, with the Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, 

in accordance with Rule 214 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, 

18 C.F.R. § 385.214 (2019), within 21 days of the date of issuance of this order. The 

Commission encourages electronic submission of interventions in lieu of paper using the 

“eFiling” link at http://www.ferc.gov. Persons unable to file electronically should submit 

an original and three copies of the protest or intervention to the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426. 

(F) The Secretary shall promptly publish in the Federal Register a notice 

of the Commission’s initiation of the proceeding under section 206 of the FPA in Docket 

No. EL19-101-000. 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 73 - 

(G) The refund effective date in Docket No. EL19-101-000 established 

pursuant to section 206 of the FPA shall be the date of publication in the Federal Register

of the notice discussed in Ordering Paragraph (F) above. 

By the Commission. Commissioner McNamee is concurring with a separate statement 

 attached. 

( S E A L ) 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 74 - 

Appendix – eTariff Designations 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Definitions E, 1 Definitions E, 3.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Definitions M, 1 Definitions M, 4.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Section 13.7, 13.7 Classification of Firm 

Transmission Service, 4.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Section 14.5, 14.5 Classification of Non-Firm PointTo-Point Trans..., 3.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AE (MPL), Attachment AE Integrated 

Marketplace, 10.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 1.1 A, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 1.1 A, 4.0.0 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 1.1 C, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 1.1 C, 6.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 1.1 D, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 1.1 D, 5.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 1.1 E, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 1.1 E, 3.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 1.1 M, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 1.1 M, 6.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 1.1 N, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 1.1 N, 3.0.0 
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 75 - 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 1.1 R, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 1.1 R, 6.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 1.1 S, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 1.1 S, 8.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 1.1 T, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 1.1 T, 5.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 2.2, Attachment AE (MPL) Section 

2.2, 12.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 2.8, Attachment AE (MPL) Section 

2.8, 1.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 2.8.1, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 2.8.1, 1.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 2.8.2, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 2.8.2, 1.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 2.8.3, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 2.8.3, 0.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 2.11.1, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 2.11.1, 3.0.0. 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 2.11.2, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 2.11.2, 3.1.0. 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 2.12, Attachment AE (MPL) Section 

2.12, 3.0.0
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 76 - 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 2.17, Attachment AE (MPL) Section 

2.17, 0.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 4.1, Attachment AE (MPL) Section 

4.1, 10.0.0 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 4.5.2, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 4.5.2, 3.0.0. 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 5.1.2, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 5.1.2, 7.1.0. 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 5.2.2, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 5.2.2, 6.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 5.2.3, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 5.2.3, 3.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 6.1.2, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 6.1.2, 7.1.0.

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No., Att. AE (MPL) 6.1.3, Attachment AE (MPL) Section 

6.1.3, 2.0.0. 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 6.2.1, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 6.2.1, 2.1.0.

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 6.2.2, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 6.2.2, 3.0.0. 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 6.4.1, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 6.4.1, 5.0.0
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 77 - 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.1, Attachment AE (MPL) Section 

8.1, 1.0.0 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.3.4, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.3.4, 6.0.0. 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.5.1, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.5.1, 1.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.5.9, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.5.9, 8.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.5.10, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.5.10, 3.0.0 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.5.21, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.5.21, 2.0.0 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.5.22, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.5.22, 2.0.0 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.5.23, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.5.23, 2.0.0 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.5.25, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.5.25, 1.0.0 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.6.1, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.6.1, 2.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.6.5, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.6.5, 9.0.0
Docket No. ER19-460-000, et al. - 78 - 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.6.6, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.6.6, 6.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.6.7, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.6.7, 6.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.6.15, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.6.15, 3.0.0 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.6.16, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.6.16, 5.0.0 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Att. AE (MPL) 8.6.22, Attachment AE (MPL) 

Section 8.6.22, 1.0.0 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AF Section 3, Attachment AF Section 3, 

14.0.0

Southwest Power Pool, Inc., FERC FPA Electric Tariff, Open Access Transmission 

Tariff, Sixth Revised Volume No. 1, Attachment AG Section 4, Attachment AG Section 

4, 5.0.0
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Southwest Power Pool, Inc. Docket Nos. ER19-460-000 

ER19-460-001 

ER19-460-002 

ER19-460-003 

EL19-101-000 

(Issued October 17, 2019) 

McNAMEE, Commissioner, concurring: 

I concur with today’s order insofar as it finds that Southwest Power Pool, Inc. 

(SPP) complies in part with Order Nos. 8411

 and 841-A2 (together, the Storage Orders) as 

issued and the Commission’s regulations.3

 I write separately, however, to express my 

continuing concern that the Commission exceeded its statutory authority under the 

Federal Power Act,4

 and should have, at the very least, provided states the opportunity to 

opt-out of the participation model created by the Storage Orders.5

 

On February 15, 2018,6 the Commission issued Order No. 841 to remove barriers 

to the participation of electric energy storage resources (ESRs) in the capacity, energy, 

and ancillary service markets operated by Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) 

 1 Elec. Storage Participation in Mkts. Operated by Reg’l Transmission Orgs. & 

Indep. Sys. Operators, Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127 (2018) (Order No. 841). 

2 Elec. Storage Participation in Mkts. Operated by Reg’l Transmission Orgs. & 

Indep. Sys. Operators, Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 (2019) (Order No. 841-A). 

3

 18 C.F.R. §§ 35.28(b)(9), 35.28(g)(9) (2019). 

4

 16 U.S.C. §§ 791a-825r (2018). 

5 See generally Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 (McNamee, Comm’r 

concurring in part and dissenting in part) (McNamee Separate Statement). 

6

 This order was later amended by an errata issued on February 28, 2018. Elec. 

Storage Participation in Mkts. Operated by Reg’l Transmission Orgs. & Indep. Sys. 

Operators, Docket Nos. RM16-23-000 and AD16-20-000, Errata Notice (Feb. 28, 2018). 
Docket Nos. ER19-460-000, et al. - 2 - 

and Independent System Operators (ISOs).7

 In Order No. 841, the Commission denied 

requests to allow states to decide whether distribution-level ESRs or those resources 

located behind a retail meter could participate in RTO or ISO markets.8

 On rehearing, in 

Order No. 841-A, a majority of the Commission affirmed these findings and declined to 

provide the states with an opt-out.9

I was not a member of the Commission at the time Order No. 841 was issued, but I 

concurred in part and dissented in part when Order 841-A was issued. Specifically, I 

stated my support for ESRs and my belief that they have the potential to transform the 

electricity industry. But to the extent the Commission’s Storage Orders exercised 

authority over the distribution system and behind-the-meter, I concluded: 

[T]he majority has exceeded the Commission’s jurisdictional 

authority by depriving the states of the ability to determine 

whether distribution-level ESRs may use distribution 

facilities so as to access the wholesale markets. By doing so,

in my view, the Commission claimed jurisdiction over 

functions and assets reserved by statute to the states. Further, 

even if the majority thought they could rightly exercise 

jurisdiction in this matter, I think they should have furthered

the path of “cooperative federalism” by permitting the states 

to choose whether or not behind-the-meter and distributionconnected ESRs may participate in the wholesale markets 

through an opt-out provision.10

Therefore, I concluded that the Commission exceeded its statutory authority in the 

Storage Orders and stated that I would have granted rehearing to reconsider the 

Commission’s assertion of jurisdiction and its failure to provide states the opportunity to 

opt-out of the participation model created by the Storage Orders.11

 7 See generally Order No. 841, 162 FERC ¶ 61,127. 

8 Id. P 35. 

9

 Order No. 841-A, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at PP 30-56. 

10 McNamee Separate Statement, 167 FERC ¶ 61,154 at P 3 (footnotes & citations 

omitted). 

11 Id. PP 2-24. 
Docket Nos. ER19-460-000, et al. - 3 - 

While I approve SPP’s compliance filing today to the extent it complies with the 

Commission’s Storage Orders, I note that the Storage Orders are presently pending 

judicial review,12 and I reiterate my concern with the Commission’s assertion of 

jurisdiction over ESRs interconnecting either to a distribution system or behind-themeter. Further, I continue to believe the Commission should have included in the Storage 

Orders an opt-out provision for states. 

 For these reasons, I respectfully concur. 

______________________________ 

Bernard L. McNamee 

Commissioner 

 12 See Nat’l Ass’n of Regulatory Comm’rs v. FERC, Nos. 19-1142 and 19-1147 

(D.C. Cir. filed July 11, 2019).