Sean Thompson, Supervisor, NERC Services

For years the North American Electric Reliability Corporation NERC GADS reporting has consisted of fossil plants reporting their data to NERC on a quarterly basis. Now as the country is moving more towards alternate ways to generate power, NERC is taking notice of the need to track renewable generation.
In 2016 NERC updated data reporting instructions for GADS Wind Turbine Generation (GADS-W). GADS Wind reporting is more data intensive, for example a 100 MW wind site generates data for up to 100 turbines that must be monitored and reported on a sub-hourly basis.
NERC has required a four-year phased-implementation schedule which started in 2017 with voluntary reporting. In the second year (2018), wind farms with Total Installed Capacity of 200 MW or larger were required to start reporting. Year three (2019) required reporting from wind generators with Total Installed Capacity of 100 MW to 199.99 MW. As of January 1,2020, reporting is required from wind plants with Total Installed Capacity of 75 MW or larger. Any plant not meeting these thresholds can still report their data to NERC on a voluntary basis.

Solar GADS Reporting
Solar Power as of year-end 2019 represented about 1.8% of total power generation in the United States. NERC’s Performance Analysis Subcommittee (PAS) is preparing a data request to expand the Generating Availability Data System (GADS) to cover solar generation facilities, in addition to increasing the range of data that the system collects from wind and conventional generators.
Solar facilities of 20 MW or greater will be asked to provide plant configuration, connected energy storage, performance and event reporting, and equipment outage details under a new GADS-PV system. Voluntary reporting would begin on July 1, 2021 and run through the end of the year. Mandatory reporting for solar facilities 50MW or greater would begin on January 1, 2022 and would be extended to facilities of 20 MW or greater.
NERC ISO Submission Update
Beginning first quarter 2020, Mid-Continent Independ System Operator (MISO) made the decision to discontinue submitting data to NERC’s Generating Availability Data System (GADS) on behalf of its generation members. Generators are now responsible for uploading and submitting their 2020 first quarter data to NERC due May 15, 2019.