MOD-032: Large Load Integration

MOD-032-1 establishes the modeling data and reporting procedures that Planning Coordinators (PCs) and Transmission Planners (TPs) use to build planning cases for reliable Transmission planning, interconnection studies, and system analyses across the Transmission system. Developed in response to FERC Order 693, the Standard helps ensure planners receive the steady-state and dynamic data needed to accurately represent facilities and assess reliability impacts.

The 2026 Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program Implementation Plan (CMEP IP) highlights grid transformation as a key risk area as inverter-based resources (IBRs), distributed energy resources (DERs), battery storage, and large loads continue to grow and materially affect system performance. In that context, MOD-032 is increasingly important because it provides the framework for collecting the data needed to represent these evolving resources consistently. As large loads continue to connect, accurate load characteristics and dynamic behavior become essential to maintaining study quality and planning reliability.

Effective April 1, 2028, MOD-032-2 will replace MOD-032-1 as part of NERC’s response to FERC Order 901, which focuses on improving the modeling of IBRs and DERs. Key revisions under R1.4 require PCs and TPs to specify in their reporting procedures whether dynamic model submissions must use standard library models, user-defined models, or both.

If user-defined models are accepted, TPs must identify what is needed for those models to be usable. The revised Standard also expands data expectations for smaller IBRs that don’t meet NERC registration requirements and DERs when actual data is unavailable, although this requirement will have an abeyance period until April 1, 2031. Abeyance is when compliance is temporarily deferred while additional implementation considerations are addressed and a good-faith effort has been confirmed by the Compliance Enforcement Authority. Additionally, MOD-032-2 requires submission of accepted dynamic models and technical justification for any model appearing on the ERO’s Unacceptable Model List.

ERCOT Planning Guide Sections 6.6 and 9.6(2)(c) illustrate how MOD-032 concepts are implemented regionally for large loads (facilities over 75 MW in the ERCOT region). These sections require large loads to be modeled appropriately and obligate large load customers to communicate dynamic model changes through the Transmission and Distribution Service Provider (TDSP), so ERCOT planning cases remain current. While the Planning Guide supports the same objective of accurate and current planning data, it serves a regional process function and does not replace compliance with applicable NERC MOD-032 requirements.

NERC’s Risk Mitigation for Emerging Large Loads guideline reinforces the same message: early information sharing, accurate and timely model updates, and stronger dynamic modeling are critical as emerging large loads evolve. Overall, the grid is changing faster than traditional planning assumptions. MOD-032 can strengthen the quality and scope of modeling data, while ERCOT’s large-load requirements help keep that data current. By implementing both NERC and ERCOT modeling requirements, entities can improve model accuracy, enhance grid reliability, and prepare for the upcoming impacts of large loads and IBRs.