page_title: Black start
section_title: Procurement of black start services
hierarchical_section_title: Black start / Procurement of black start services
caption_attribution_description: English: Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) control room operator (dispatcher)
context_page_description: A black start is the process of restoring an electric power station or a part of an electric grid to operation without relying on the external electric power transmission network to recover from a total or partial shutdown.
  Normally, the electric power used within the plant is provided from the station's own generators. If all of the plant's main generators are shut down, station service power is provided by drawing power from the grid through the plant's transmission line. However, during a wide-area outage, off-site power from the grid is not available. In the absence of grid power, a so-called black start needs to be performed to bootstrap the power grid into operation.
  To provide a black start, some power stations have small diesel generators, normally called the black start diesel generator, which can be used to start larger generators, which in turn can be used to start the main power station generators. Generating plants using steam turbines require station service power of up to 10% of their capacity for boiler feedwater pumps, boiler forced-draft combustion air blowers, and for fuel preparation.
context_section_description: In the United Kingdom, the grid operator has commercial agreements in place with some generators to provide black start capacity, recognising that black start facilities are often not economic in normal grid operation. It is typical of power stations from the CEGB era to have a number of open-cycle gas turbines (i.e. no heat recovery modules attached) that can run the entirety of the plant necessary to operate a full generating unit; these would normally be started by diesel generators, fed in turn by battery backups. Once up to speed, these gas turbines are capable of running the entire plant associated with the rest of the power station, negating the need to bring power in from other sources.
  In the North American independent system operators, the procurement of black starting varies somewhat. Traditionally, black-start capability was provided by integrated utilities and the costs were rolled into a broad tariff for cost recovery from ratepayers. In those areas which are not part of organized electricity markets, this is still the usual procurement mechanism.  In the deregulated environment, this legacy of cost-based provision has persisted, and even recent overhauls of black-start procurement practices, such as that by the ISO New England, have not necessarily shifted to competitive procurement, even though deregulated jurisdictions have a bias for market solutions rather than cost-of-service (COS) solutions.
  In the United States, there are currently three methods of procuring black start. The most common is cost-of-service, as it is the simplest and is the traditional method. It is currently used by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), the PJM Interconnection and the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO). Although the exact mechanisms differ somewhat the same approach is used, namely that units are identified for black start and their documented costs are then funded and rolled into a tariff for cost recovery. The second method is a new method used by the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO-NE). The new methodology is a flat-rate payment which increases black-start remuneration to encourage provision. The monthly compensation paid to a generator is determined by multiplying a flat rate (in $/KWyr and referred to as the $Y value) by the unit's Monthly Claimed Capability for that month. The purpose of this change was to simplify procurement and encourage  provision of the black start service. 
  The final method of procurement is competitive procurement as used by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Under this approach, ERCOT runs a market for black-start services. Interested participants submit an hourly standby cost in $/hr (e.g. $70 per hour), often termed an availability bid, that is unrelated to the capacity of the unit. Using various criteria, ERCOT evaluates these bids and the selected units are paid as bid, presuming an 85% availability. Each black-start unit must be able to demonstrate that it can start another unit in close proximity, in order to begin the islanding and synchronization of the grid.
  In other jurisdictions there are differing methods of procurement. The New Zealand System Operator procures the blackstart capability via competitive tender. Other jurisdictions also appear to have some sort of competitive procurement, albeit perhaps not as structured as that of ERCOT. These include the Alberta Electric System Operator, as well as Independent Electric System Operator of Ontario, both of which use a long-term "request for proposals" approach similar to New Zealand and ERCOT.
  The first black start on a Germany's grid was tested in 2017 at WEMAG battery power station in Schwerin on a disconnected, isolated grid. The WEMAG battery plant proved that it can restore the power grid after major disruption or blackout.
caption: An operator at ERCOT
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