Tacoma Power’s Attachment K Transmission Planning Process Update
Tacoma Power held its first and second transmission planning meetings on March 3, 2009 and July 30, 2009 respectively. Both meetings were open to all interested stakeholders, including existing and prospective transmission (or interconnection) customers in the Tacoma area.
Representatives from BPA, ColumbiaGrid, PSE, PenLight, and the Town of Steilacoom were present at the meetings. However, no proposed customer projects or load forecast data were received by Tacoma Power. Tacoma Power also did not receive any input or advice on Tacoma Power’s transmission planning process.
In the second meeting, planning staff presented to the audience the planning study case development and demonstrated how the transmission upgrades identified by Tacoma Power would be incorporated into the planning study model. No alternatives to any of the identified upgrades were proposed by the stakeholders at or after the second meeting.
Next steps in the remaining Attachment K planning process:
- Staff will perform planning studies and draft transmission plan report
- Post draft transmission plan report on website by September 30, 2010
- Present draft report to interested customers and stakeholders in Meeting #3 by October 30, 2010
- Present final report to interested customers and stakeholders in Meeting #4 in mid-December, 2010
- Post final report on website by end of 2010
If you have any questions, please contact Francis Tong at (253) 502-8262 or at TransRequest@cityoftacoma.org
FERC Order No. 890 – Tacoma Power Strawman
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Order No. 890 requires our utility to document how it will satisfy the following nine planning principles outlined in Order No. 890: coordination, openness, transparency, information exchange, comparability, dispute resolution, regional coordination, economic planning studies and cost allocation for new projects.
Background
In 2000, the Tacoma Public Utility Board approved our Open Access Transfer Tariff (Tariff) and FERC’s pro forma Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT), established through Order No. 888, in 1996. In 2007, FERC issued Order No. 890 revising the OATT and proposed a number of revisions, including the addition of a transmission planning Attachment K. Before finalization of Attachment K, FERC requested that parties post a Strawman.
Discussion
We intend to revise our Tariff, and to include an Attachment K planning process for our system that will mesh with the planning processes of ColumbiaGrid for multi-system projects, other local and sub-regional planning activities and the west-wide regional planning coordination services provided by WECC. We will be consulting with our transmission customers, stakeholders and other providers throughout the region as we develop these revisions.
Regional and Sub-Regional Transmission Planning Activities.
We are a member of the ColumbiaGrid and have executed Columbia Grid’s Planning and Expansion Functional Agreement (PEFA). The PEFA provides a foundation and process to coordinate planning activities on a regional basis through a single-system approach for public utility and non-public utility transmission providers. The ColumbiaGrid Strawman delineates how the PEFA planning process, including the roles of specific regional and sub-regional transmission planning organizations, will meet the nine transmission planning principles provided by Order No. 890.
Local Transmission System Planning Activities
Our Tariff contains applicable provisions that apply to local transmission planning activities, including our service and standard network operating agreements. We utilize our service agreement and attendant instruments to share load data, discuss relevant operation and maintenance issues that will help us plan operation and expansion of our transmission system to meet Tariff customers’ needs. We will continue to use these processes and the planning activities outlined in the Columbia Grid Strawman. Our local planning process supports a coordinated, open and transparent local transmission planning as outlined in Attachment K.
Conclusion
We seek and welcome your comments. Please contact Catherine Leone-Woods at (253) 502-8322 (cleone@cityoftacoma.org) or Alan Cooke at (253) 502-8596 (acooke@cityoftacoma.org).