OPERATING IN THE EAGLE
FORD SHALE
Henry Wood
South Texas Electric Cooperative
OBJECTIVES
• Identify the types of reactive resources to regulate
transmission voltage and reactive flow as
necessary
• Identify entities a transmission operator is required
to contact under TOP-001-R5
• Identify the purpose of ERCOT’s evaluation of
requests for approval of Transmission Facility
outages
• Identify importance of coordinating Remedial
Action Plans
• Identify a purpose of NERC COM-002-2
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What is the Eagle Ford?
Operating in Eagle Ford
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Shale oil extraction and hydraulic fracking
•
First oil from shale - 10th Century in Europe
•
Increased interest with shale extraction in
2003 with an Energy Policy Act that followed
in 2005
•
2010 is considered the beginning of the first
large scale underground extraction of oil
from shale
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What is the Eagle Ford?
•
The first commercial wells drilled using hydraulic fracturing were completed in
1949
•
Pressures and flow rates for fracking vary but may reach as high as 15,000 PSI
and 100 barrels per minute
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What is the Eagle Ford?
•
It is estimated 40% of location production
occurs in the first 5 years
•
Production may last as long as 30 years
•
As production slows processes change
and may include a dry gas injection
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Background
•
Eagle Ford Shale
exploration and production
is rapidly increasing in
South Texas
– Oil reserves estimated at 3
billion barrels and trillions
of cubic feet of natural gas
– May be sixth largest oil
field discovery in U.S.
– In the three county area of
Dimmit, La Salle and
McMullen Counties the
load in 2012 was 28 MW
– It is projected to reach 247
MW by 2016
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How will we serve the load?
•
First projects were submitted for RPG Review in April 2012
•
In a large area of the of load additions transmission either does not exist
or is mainly made up of 4/0 conductor 69 kV lines (40 MVA)
– New transmission lines needed along with significant upgrades to existing
system
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Projects to serve a three county area of the Eagle Ford
– Addition of the Tilden – Fowlerton – Reveille 138 kV double circuit line (approx. 47
miles on new R.O.W.) each circuit is a minimum of 240 MVA
– Addition of a 138 kV substation near the STEC 69 kV Cotulla substation and loop the
AEP Dilley – Cotulla 138 kV line into it
– Addition of a (138/69 kV) auto-transformer (with reverse power relays) in Cotulla a
minimum of 150 MVA
– Addition of a 138/69 kV BEVO substation near the LCRA Asherton – Conoco Chittam
Tap 138 kV line crosses the STEC Carrizo Springs – Brundage 69 kV line. Loop these
lines into BEVO and add a (138/69 kV) 150 MVA auto-transformer
– Addition of a 9.6 MVAR capacitor bank at George West 69 kV substation
– Addition of 19.2 MVAR capacitor banks at Tilden, Fowlerton and Jardin 138 kV
substations
– Addition of a 9.6 MVAR capacitor bank at Freer 69 kV substation
– Addition of a 9.6 MVAR capacitor bank at BEVO 69/138 kV substation
– Addition of a 9.6 MVAR capacitor bank at Brundage 69 kV substation
– Addition of a 345/138 auto at Fowlerton
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Projects under construction in a three county area of the
Eagle Ford
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Impact to operations
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Load growth is immediate
•
2010 – 2014 load growth in
the area = 210 MW
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A 91% increase
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….and they are still coming!
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Challenges of operating in the Eagle Ford
1. Voltage and Reactive
2. Thermal Limits
3. Outage Coordination
4. Remedial Action Plans
5. Communications!
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1. Voltage and Reactive Control
•
The Eagle Ford has added operating challenges with voltage
and reactive control
•
Multiple TDSPs operate from line section to line section
•
Remember pre-existing transmission built to serve less than
50 MW
•
Even the addition of new reactive devices affects operating
limits in the area
•
Additional concerns for tripping large motor loads with
voltage fluctuations
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VAR-001-4 — Voltage and Reactive Control
• R2. Each Transmission Operator shall schedule sufficient reactive
resources to regulate voltage levels under normal and Contingency
conditions. Transmission Operators can provide sufficient reactive
resources through various means including, but not limited to,
reactive generation scheduling, transmission line and reactive
resource switching
• R3. Each Transmission Operator shall operate or direct the Real-time
operation of devices to regulate transmission voltage and reactive
flow as necessary.
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2. Thermal Limits
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TDSPs and ERCOT are managing thermal limits
without the assistance of Generation
•
Elements would exceed thermal limits on just the
loads ready to connect now
•
The addition of reactive devices adds to the thermal
limit concerns
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TOP-001-0
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R5. Each Transmission Operator shall inform its Reliability
Coordinator and any other potentially affected Transmission
Operators of real time or anticipated emergency conditions, and take
actions to avoid, when possible, or mitigate the emergency.
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3. Outage Coordination
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Outage scheduling in the Eagle Ford challenging
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Coordination attempts to address voltage and thermal contingencies
with an aggressive build out time line
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New projects needed before upgrades can begin
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Coordination complicated with multiple projects and multiple TDSPs
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Outage Coordination
•
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8.3.10 Evaluation of Transmission Facility Planned Outage or Maintenance
Outage Requests
ERCOT shall evaluate requests for approval of Transmission Facility
Planned Outages and Maintenance Outages to determine if any one or a
combination of proposed Outages may cause ERCOT to violate applicable
reliability standards.
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4. Remedial Action Plans
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Remedial Action Plans are a tool to avoid operating in an emergency
condition
•
Remedial Action Plans are designed to be implemented quickly
•
Remedial Action plans necessary until upgrades completed
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Additional remedial action plans in place to facilitate outages
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EOP-003-2
•
R1. After taking all other remedial steps, a Transmission Operator or
Balancing Authority operating with insufficient generation or transmission
capacity shall shed customer load rather than risk an uncontrolled failure of
components or cascading outages of the Interconnection.
•
R3. Each Transmission Operator and Balancing Authority shall coordinate
load shedding plans, excluding automatic under-frequency load shedding
plans, among other interconnected Transmission Operators and Balancing
Authorities.
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5. Communications
COM-002-2 — Communications and Coordination
Purpose: To ensure Balancing Authorities, Transmission Operators, and
Generator Operators have adequate communications and that these
communications capabilities are staffed and available for addressing a
real-time emergency condition. To ensure communications by operating
personnel are effective.
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Operating in the Eagle Ford Shale
Questions?
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Question 1
1. Which of the following is not a reactive resource to
regulate transmission voltage and reactive flow as
necessary?
a)Reactive resource switching
b)Transmission line switching
c) Reactive generation scheduling
d)Reverse power relaying
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Question 2
2. Which of the following entities is a transmission operator
required to contact under TOP-001-R5?
a)QSE
b)Any other potentially affected Transmission Operators
c) Balancing Authority
d)TRE
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Question 3
3. What is the purpose of ERCOT’s evaluation of requests
for approval of Transmission Facility Planned Outages
and Maintenance Outages?
a)To determine if any one or a combination of proposed
Outages may cause ERCOT to violate applicable
reliability standards.
b)To determine congestion pricing
c) To monitor transmission owner maintenance
practices
d)To predict future transmission cost
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Question 4
4. A remedial action plan should be coordinated with which
two types of entities?
a)QSEs and Balancing Authorities
b)Reliability Coordinators and Balancing Authorities
c) Transmission Operators and Balancing Authorities
d)Transmission Operators and QSEs
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Question 5
5. A purpose of NERC COM-002-2 is to:
a)Specify technical equipment necessary for
communications
b)To ensure communications by operating personnel
are effective
c) To require training seminars
d)To comply with CIP
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