Ramp Reservation
User Guide
10/21/2013
TariffandInterchange
SouthwestPowerPool,Inc. RevisionHistory
Date or Version
Number
Author
Change Description
10/15/2013
Shari Brown
Initial Draft
10/16/2013
Becky Gifford
Formatting
RampReservationUserGuide
Comments
1
SouthwestPowerPool,Inc. TableofContents
Revision History ...........................................................................................................................................1
Overview .......................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................3
Ramp Capability ..............................................................................................................................3
Ramp Reservation Business Rules...................................................................................................3
Ramp Reservation Validation ..........................................................................................................4
Ramp Reservation Deadlines ...........................................................................................................4
Ramp Reservation System (RRS) ...............................................................................................................5
Ramp Reservation (Submission) Display ........................................................................................6
Ramp Reservation Status .................................................................................................................8
Ramp Availability ............................................................................................................................9
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SouthwestPowerPool,Inc. Overview
Introduction
The SPP Balancing Authority (BA) is required by NERC to evaluate all Interchange Tags to ensure
adequate Ramp Capability is available prior to approval. SPP Operations Engineering determines
the Ramp Capability within SPP Balancing Authority Area (BAA) through analysis of available
Resources in the Integrated Marketplace. SPP has developed a Ramp Reservation System (RRS) to
allow Transmission Customer’s (TCs) to view the Ramp that is available within the SPP BAA at any
given time and to reserve the Ramp needed for their transactions prior to tagging the transaction. All
submissions of tagged Interchange Transactions into or out of the SPP BA will be evaluated against
available Ramp Capability prior to approval by SPP.
Ramp availability may be verified and pre-arranged by TCs (as mapped to Asset Owners (AOs))
ahead of submission of an e-Tag through the RRS. Subsequent submission of a Tag in which
scheduled interchange is supported by an approved Ramp Reservation will be automatically
approved with respect to Ramp Capability.
Use of the RRS is voluntary, but if an AO does not reserve Ramp prior to entering an e-Tag, a Ramp
Reservation will be automatically created for the Customer if there is available Ramp. Tagged
transactions submitted without a Ramp Reservation or those that exceed the Ramp reserved by the
AO will be checked for remaining Ramp Capability and approved if available. Otherwise, the e-Tag
will be limited to the reserved Ramp or will be denied if Ramp was not reserved and there is no
available Ramp.
Ramp validation is only applicable to scheduled interchange that impacts SPP NSI (i.e. imports or
exports of Energy to/from the SPP BA). Ramp validation is not performed on tagged transactions
wheeling through the SPP BA.
RampCapability
SPP Operations will determine the available Ramp Capability within the SPP BAA based on current
operating conditions and generation availability within the Integrated Marketplace. Ramp Capability
is the maximum sustainable Ramp-Up and Ramp-Down capability expressed in MWs per minute.
RampReservationBusinessRules
Every e-Tag that is submitted by the CPSE where the Generating Control Area (GCA) or Load
Control Area (LCA) is specified as “SWPP” will be validated for available Ramp Capability. Tags
wheeling through the SPP BA where neither GCA nor LCA are “SWPP” will not be validated for
Ramp.
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SouthwestPowerPool,Inc. The Energy MW profile at the first (import) or last (export) Tag physical path segment listing
“SWPP” as the Scheduling Entity (SE) will be used to validate Ramp Capability.
If no explicit start/stop Ramp duration information is supplied in the e-Tag, the Eastern
Interconnection default Ramp duration of 10 minutes will be used for this validation. In the event
that the start/stop Ramp durations specified in the e-Tag overlap such that there is insufficient time
to reach the block accounting scheduled Energy MWs specified, the e-Tag will be denied by SPP
(e.g. a schedule profile segment with start/stop duration of 15 minutes specified with a 20 minute
start/stop ramp duration).
RampReservationValidation
The Integrated Marketplace Ramp Validation will first determine the Ramp-Up or Ramp-Down
Capability required, in MWs/minute, at each schedule breakpoint based on the change in the
proposed scheduled interchange Energy MWs divided by the Ramp duration.
The Ramp Validation will then determine if there are any unscheduled Ramp commitments held by
the CPSE under one or more Ramp Reservations matching the Ramp start/stop times specified in the
e-Tag at each schedule breakpoint. If so, the unscheduled Ramp commitments held on those Ramp
Reservations will be allocated first to support the proposed e-Tag schedule. Any additional Ramp
Capability required beyond that supported by one or more Ramp Reservations, or the entire Ramp
Capability required by the proposed scheduled interchange in the case where the CPSE does not
have any supporting Ramp Reservation(s), will be validated against the remaining Ramp-Up or
Ramp-Down Capability available.
If there is sufficient Ramp Capability available to support the e-Tag transaction, Ramp commitments
will be allocated to support the proposed scheduled interchange and the e-Tag will be approved,
subject to passing all other e-Tag validations, by SPP. That is, an implied Ramp Reservation will be
committed to support the e-Tag from the remaining SPP Ramp Capability for the Ramp required in
excess of any pre-arranged Ramp Reservation(s) held by the CPSE on a first-come-first-served basis.
If the proposed e-Tag schedule would violate SPP Ramp Capability at any point in time, the e-Tag
will be denied by SPP.
The Ramp Validation will respect the netting of simultaneous Ramp Up and Ramp Down
commitments according to SPP rules for such netting.
RampReservationDeadlines

Reserved Ramp that has not been tagged will be released for the entire Operating Day (OD)
immediately after the Day-Ahead (DA) Market closing time.

Real-Time (RT) Reserved Ramp that has not been tagged will be released for the entire
duration of the Ramp Reservation at 30 minutes prior to the Reserved Ramp start time.
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SouthwestPowerPool,Inc. 
Tags submitted by the TC subsequent to the release of any Reserved Ramp will be validated
against the remaining available Ramp Capability in the order submitted.

If a TC/Market Participant (MP) does not submit a specific Ramp Reservation Request, the
system will evaluate the submitted e-Tag against the available capability. If sufficient
capability is available, the system will automatically generate a Ramp Reservation when the
schedule is submitted.
RampReservationSystem(RRS)
The RRS is part of the OATI RTOSS Scheduling Service. MPs or authorized AOs may gain secured
login access to the SPP RTOSS Scheduling Service and the RRS with an authorized Username and
Password in addition to an OATI x.509 electronic certificate issued by the OATI webCARES
system. The RTOSS Scheduling Service is available over the Internet. Market Participants are
directed to the OATI Help Desk at (763)-201-2010 to obtain an authorized user account on the SPP
RTOSS system. Please see the SMT 33.0 RRS Scenario Document for the URL to be used for SMT.
Step Action
Comments
1
Open WebTrans via the Internet.
2
Click on the Click Here to Enter link/
3
Enter your credentials in the User Name and
Password fields.
4
Click Login.
WebTrans dashboard displays with a toolbar
at the top.
5
Click Marketplace from the homepage
toolbar.
A drop-down menu displays.
6
Select Ramp from the menu, then Ramp
A screen displays with approved ramp
Reservation Summary from the sub-menu. reservations and button that allows you to
enter a new reservation.
RampReservationUserGuide
User Login Screen displays.
5
SouthwestPowerPool,Inc. RampReservation(Submission)Display
The TC/MP or authorized AOs may submit Ramp Reservation Requests using the RRS. Ramp
Reservations are limited to a single designated OD in the SPP Integrated Marketplace. Ramp
Reservations may be submitted and approved up to seven (7) days prior to a given OD in accordance
with the SPP Integrated Marketplace Bid/Offer submission window.
Ramp Reservation requests will be approved immediately upon submission subject to the
verification of available Ramp-Up or Ramp-Down Capability; after accounting for all other
approved Ramp Reservations and approved or pending e-Tags. The available Ramp Capability in
either direction will be offset by simultaneous reserved or tagged Ramp commitments made in the
opposite direction in accordance with netting rules established by the SPP Integrated Marketplace.
The Ramp Reservation Entry Form is accessible from the Ramp Reservation Summary display,
which allows entry of a Ramp Reservation Request.
Step Action
Comments
1
Click Ramp Reservation Entry.
The Ramp Reservation Entry screen
displays with a blank entry form.
2
Enter the necessary data in the fields,
including:
• Provider (e.g. SWPP)
• Operating Day
• Customer (e.g. Your PSE Code)
• Direction (Direction of Flow; e.g. Import)
• Start Time and Stop Time (Always CP)
• Energy MW (MW Amount to be reserved)
The information on the right side of the
screen populates after you click Check, as
shown in the next step.
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SouthwestPowerPool,Inc. After entering the Ramp Reservation data, the Customer has several options shown at the bottom of
the screen.
Option Action
1
Click Check.
Comments
This option will check the available Ramp-Up and Ramp-Down
Capability needed to support the proposed scheduled interchange
profile.
Any violations of the total SPP Ramp Capability in either direction will
be indicated and allow for the user to adjust the Energy profile as
needed to avoid the Ramp violations.
No Ramp commitments are held with the ‘Check’ option, and there is
no guarantee that subsequent submission of the Ramp reservation
request will be approved.
2
Click Commit.
This option will perform the available Ramp-Up and Ramp-Down
Capability verification; and if there is no violation of total SPP Ramp
Capability in either direction, the Ramp Reservation will be approved
and a corresponding Ramp commitment for the proposed scheduled
interchange will be held for the MP.
If any violations of the total SPP Ramp Capability in either direction
are detected, those violations will be indicated and allow for the user to
adjust the Energy profile as needed to avoid the Ramp violations
similar to the ‘Check’ option.
3
Click Clear.
This option clears the data entered and allows the user to start with a
clean screen.
4
Click Close.
This option closes the screen. If this option is checked prior to clicking
Commit, the data will be lost.
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SouthwestPowerPool,Inc. RampReservationStatus
Ramp Reservations that have been approved may be viewed from the Ramp Reservation Summary
display.
Details of the Ramp Reservation proposed scheduled interchange profile, and all pending or
approved e-Tags that have been submitted that are supported by a given Ramp Reservation may be
viewed by clicking on the assigned Ramp Reservation ID from the Ramp Reservation Data display.
The ID displays in blue on the left of the screen below.
After clicking on the Reservation ID for the PSE bucket, the Ramp Reservation Detail display will
provide the details for that particular reservation. If a Tag has been created against the Ramp
reserved, the Tag will be indicated in the Ramp Commitment section.
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SouthwestPowerPool,Inc. RampAvailability
SPP’s Ramp availability is the amount of up/down Ramp left and ready to be reserved. It will change
based on reservations and Tags submitted, and it will be deducted from the Ramp Capability of 600.
Step Action
Comments
1
From the WebTrans
A drop-down menu displays.
dashboard, click Marketplace
from the toolbar.
2
Select Ramp from the menu,
then Ramp Availability from
the sub-menu.
The Ramp Availability Data screen displays.
NOTE: To populate the data on the screen, you must either
select filtering options or click the View Display button.
3
Click on the Filter icon in the
upper right-hand corner of the
screen.
The Filtering Options window displays.
4
Select “SWPP” from the
Provider field drop-down
menu.
5
Select the desired date range
from the Range drop-down
menu or click on the Calendar
icon to select a date.
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SouthwestPowerPool,Inc. RampAvailability(cont’d.)
Step Action
6
Select the desired block size
from the Availability Block
Size drop-down menu.
Comments
The Block Size is for 60
minutes (an hour) which
users can see from the
times
in the Start and
NOTE: Block size is the increment displayed
in minutes
Stop
columns.
(e.g. a block size of “60” provides the Ramp information
hourly.) Users can set this field to smaller increments to
fine-tune their requests.
7
Enter the desired Ramp
duration from the drop-down
menu.
NOTE: Ramp duration is how long the Ramp will spread
the desired MWs over to Ramp up or down (e.g. 10 minutes
for Eastern interconnect; 20 minutes for WECC).
8
Select the Show
Details/Commitments
checkbox to display more
specific details. .
9
Click Apply to apply the
filters selected.
Click Reset to reset the filters
and start over.
See the next page for a screenshot of the results with the
applied filters.
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SouthwestPowerPool,Inc. Screenshot without Show Details/Commitments checked.
NOTE: The Available Ramp Up and Available Ramp Down columns display the remaining Ramp
Up (positive numbers) and Ramp Down (negative numbers) for the selected Block Size.
Screenshot with Show Details/Commitments checked.
NOTE: Additional columns appear that are not shown in this screenshot.
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