NERC GADS Reporting Instructions: How to Submit, Step by Step

Reporting outage and performance data to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is a quarterly obligation for most generating units of 20 MW or more, and the Generating Availability Data System (GADS) is where that data goes. The process is not complicated, but it is strict about order and detail: design data has to exist before events are filed, outage records cannot overlap or leave gaps, and every cause code has to match the unit’s equipment. A filing that misses the 45-day window or fails validation leaves the unit’s availability record incomplete until it is corrected. The 2026 GADS Data Reporting Instructions (DRI) set the sequence: set up access, load design data, build and validate each quarter’s files, then correct any record that needs it after acceptance.

Who must report

Conventional units of 20 MW or more, wind plants of 75 MW or more and solar plants of 20 MW or more must report; the full thresholds and the reasons behind them are in what NERC GADS is and who must report. Four scope rules matter when you set up reporting:

• A Generator Owner reports every plant that meets the criteria, whether or not that plant is registered for compliance.
• Owners registered only as Category 2 Generator Owners began reporting when their registration took effect on May 15, 2026.
• For a new or repowered plant, configuration data is due the first full month after commercial operation or acquisition, and monthly performance data starts in the third full month.
• Units below the thresholds may report voluntarily. A wind owner with no compliance obligation requests a voluntary reporting ID at gadswind@nerc.net.

When to report: the deadline calendar

Event and performance data are due within 45 days after each calendar quarter. The same deadlines apply to conventional, wind and solar reporting:

A deadline that falls on a weekend or holiday is extended to the following business day. In 2026, August 15 fell on a Saturday and November 15 falls on a Sunday, so those deadlines moved to Monday, August 17 and Monday, November 16.

If you cannot meet a deadline, notify your regional entity contact before it passes. For wind and solar plants that notice is required. Schedule the annual design data review alongside the Q4 filing.

How to submit GADS data, step by step

1. Set up access. Get a webCARES digital certificate from your company’s webCARES Security Officer. Then send one Open Access Technology International (OATI) webPortal User Registration Form per user to gads@nerc.net for conventional units, gadswind@nerc.net for wind or gadssolar@nerc.net for solar. A company without an OATI account contacts OATI Support first.
2. Load design data. Enter company, contact and unit data in webE-GADS, or import the plant and subgroup or inverter group configuration templates in GADS Wind or GADS Solar. The application assigns the plant ID on import. Design data must be in place before any event or performance data is accepted.
3. Build the quarter’s files. Compile conventional data into performance (05) and event (07) text files. For wind and solar, fill in the 2026 workbooks and export each tab to XML; saving the whole workbook as XML does not work.
4. Import. In webE-GADS, open the Data menu and choose Import. In GADS Wind or GADS Solar, choose Update, Append or Full Replace. Use Full Replace when events were deleted or renumbered, because it overwrites the current reporting year.
5. Validate. Resolve import errors, log out and wait a few hours to avoid “Not In Sync” errors. Then validate one quarter at a time, in chronological order, from the Checklist screen. Wind and solar records validate on import or save.
6. Confirm the quarter is complete. Both the 05 and 07 files show as fully validated, and the Checklist status for the quarter reads data entered. In GADS Wind and GADS Solar, a validated configuration record receives its reporting group ID and an Active ownership status.

What each record must contain

Design data

Nine design fields are mandatory for every conventional unit:

• GADS utility code
• GADS unit code
• NERC regional entity
• Unit name
• Commercial operating date
• Unit type
• Nameplate MW size
• State or province
• Energy Information Administration (EIA) plant number (U.S. units only)

The additional Appendix E design forms are voluntary. Design data is reviewed every year and updated during the year whenever a design parameter changes.

Performance data

Each performance record covers one month. webE-GADS accepts monthly or year-to-date files, and year-to-date files are recommended. Each record carries:

• Net maximum capacity and net dependable capacity
• Net actual generation
• Attempted and actual unit starts
• Primary fuel code (not required for hydro and pumped storage)
• Hours in each unit state: service, reserve shutdown, pumping, synchronous condensing, planned, forced, maintenance, extensions and inactive

The hours must balance. Available hours (service, reserve shutdown, pumping and synchronous condensing), unavailable hours (planned, forced, maintenance and extensions) and inactive hours add up to the period hours for the month. The month in which daylight saving time starts has one hour fewer, and the month in which it ends has one hour more. Gross capacity and generation are voluntary, but reporting both gross and net values helps avoid performance validation errors.

Event data

Every outage, every reportable derate and every reserve shutdown on a conventional unit needs an event record:

Each event record also follows these rules:

• Report every derate except one that is both under 2% of net maximum capacity and shorter than 30 minutes. Derates caused by ambient conditions or system dispatch are not reported.
• Assign a four-digit cause code from the Appendix B section for the unit type.
• A U1 from the in-service state needs a T1 (automatic trip) or T2 (manual trip) amplification code. The unknown-cause code 84 is allowed only until year-end.
• The verbal description is voluntary, but it is the only check on whether a cause code is right, so write one for every event. Only its first 86 characters reach NERC.

Wind and solar records

Wind and solar plants report performance monthly by subgroup (wind) or inverter group (solar), not by plant:

• A wind subgroup is a set of turbines that share manufacturer, model, rotor diameter, capacity and construction phase. Wind records carry active turbine-hours and contact turbine-hours plus turbine-hours in each outage state, and all curtailments count as reserve shutdown hours.
• A solar inverter group is a set of inverters at one location that share manufacturer, design, capacity, model and construction phase, with a DC input type of photovoltaic (PV), photovoltaic with storage (PVES) or energy storage (ES). Solar records carry energy generated and expected generation, with active inverter hours counted from sunrise to sunset.

Only forced events are mandatory for wind and solar. An event starts with a loss of at least 20 MW of Plant Total Installed Capacity due to a forced outage and ends when 95% of the lost capacity has returned and less than 20 MW remains unavailable (Wind DRI, Solar DRI). Both applications accept the Excel-format XML templates or XML files in template column order for 2026. Column headers are required, and commas are not allowed in file names or data.

Common validation errors and how to fix them

How to revise a record you already submitted

Conventional event corrections use the one-character Report Revision Code. The original record carries 0, and each correction increases the code by one, up to nine revisions per event. A corrected record keeps the original event’s identifying fields and record number, and every record for that event is resubmitted together.

Two other cases need a larger resubmission:

• Removing a value from a field means resubmitting the unit’s year-to-date data set. A Full Replace import is the only way to delete records.
• A revised performance record means resubmitting every record for that period.

In GADS Wind and GADS Solar, Update mode corrects existing records. A wind or solar event that spans two quarters is submitted with a blank end date, which you fill in once the event ends.

NERC accepts corrections after the deadline when they are submitted in the correct format.

What changed for 2026

• The 2026 conventional DRI, the 2026 Wind DRI (revision 4.9) and the 2026 Solar DRI (revision 1.8) all took effect January 1, 2026.
• The Solar DRI no longer carries a phase-in schedule. The 20 MW threshold, which replaced the 100 MW threshold of 2024 in 2025, is now the standing rule.
• Category 2 Generator Owners entered GADS reporting on May 15, 2026.

Automating GADS submission

Overlapping events, one-minute gaps and unbalanced hours come from manual entry and spreadsheet transfers. PowerGADS captures unit events directly from control systems and runs more than 200 automated validations before data reaches webE-GADS or the GADS Wind and Solar applications. It reduces manual GADS work by 80% and goes live in two weeks, so each quarterly filing starts from validated data instead of a spreadsheet.

Schedule a Demo to automate your next quarterly GADS filing.

FAQ

When are NERC GADS reports due? Within 45 days after each calendar quarter: May 15, August 15, November 15 and February 15. A deadline on a weekend or holiday moves to the next business day.

What happens if I miss a GADS deadline? Notify your regional entity contact. Regional entities and NERC work with late filers to get the data submitted, and an entity that refuses to cooperate can be referred to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). For conventional data, NERC does not fine late reports.

Can I submit GADS data as CSV? No. webE-GADS accepts performance (05) and event (07) text files, and the 2026 Wind and Solar DRIs require XML.

How do I correct an event I already submitted? For conventional units, resubmit it with the Report Revision Code increased by one, or use Full Replace to delete or renumber events. In GADS Wind and GADS Solar, use Update mode.

Do wind and solar plants use webE-GADS? No. webE-GADS is for conventional units. Wind plants report through the GADS Wind application and solar plants through the GADS Solar application.