COMPLIANCE 101:Introduction to the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and Overview of

Reliability RegulationLaura Scholl

Managing Director – Stakeholder OutreachJune 14, 2011

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• Northeast Blackout of 2003o 10 Million people in Ontario, Canadao 45 million people in eight US states

• Task Force Findings Inadequate System Understanding Inadequate Situational Awareness Inadequate Tree Trimming Inadequate Reliability Center Diagnostic Support

Mandatory Reliability Regulation

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● Final report of the U.S./Canada Power System Outage Task Force on the 2003 blackout concluded the single most important recommendation for preventing future blackouts, and reducing the scope of those that occur, is for the U.S. government to make reliability standards mandatory and enforceable.

Task Force Report

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●Energy Policy Act of 2005●Section 215 of the Federal Power Act●Implementing Rule 18 CFR 39 (Order 672)

oResponsibility and oversight assigned to FERCo FERC designated NERC as Electric Reliability

OrganizationoNERC has delegation agreement with WECC

and seven other regions

Authority for Compliance Monitoring

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o Implementing Rule 18 CFR 40 (Order 693)

oEffective June 18, 2007 (Order 693)oEffective April 7, 2008 (Order 706) Critical

Infrastructure Protection

Mandatory Reliability Standards

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• WECC’s mission is to assure a reliable bulk electric power system in the Western Interconnection.

WECC Mission

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• Formed in 2002• Predecessor, WSCC formed in 1967• Largest geographic area of the eight Regional Entities

o Entire Western Interconnection (1.8 million square miles) -includes all or part of 14 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces and a portion of Baja California Norte, Mexico

• Non-Governmental• Industry participants join together to promote system

reliability • Member-driven (326 members divided into 7

membership classes)

WECC Facts

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• Developmento Forum and support for the development of NERC and

WECC Reliability Standards

• Compliance monitoringo Monitor compliance by users, owners and operators of

the bulk power system in the United States

• Enforcemento Violation mitigation and settlement negotiationo Representation of WECC in any hearing or appeal

process

WECC Standards

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• Reliability coordinationo Operate two Reliability Coordination Offices

(Vancouver, Washington and Loveland, Colorado) that provide situational awareness and real-time supervision of the entire Western Interconnection

WECC Services

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• Transmission expansion planningo Management of a comprehensive planning databaseo Provide coordination of subregional planning processeso Analyses and modeling

• Studieso Model the system and perform studies under a variety

of scenarios to set operating policies and limits• Market-operations interface

o Ensure that competitive power markets do not negatively impact reliability

WECC Services

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• Loads and Resources Assessmentso Perform annual assessment of 10-year loads and resourceso Maintain 10-year coordinated plan of system growth o Provide information to NERC for summer and winter

assessments of the reliability and adequacy of the bulk-power system

• Operator trainingo Provide training sessions for operators, schedulers and

dispatchers• WREGIS

o Hosts the Western Renewable Energy Generation Information System, which creates and tracks renewable energy certificates

WECC Services

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• Memberso 326 Grid owners, operators, users Stakeholders State and Provincial

• Board of Directorso 32 membersoCommittees Board Member

WECC Organization

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Vice President, Compliance

Managing Director,

Compliance

Director, Audits and

Investigations

Manager, Enforcement Manager,

RegistrationCompliance Coordinator

Manager, Compliance

Administration

Program Coordinators

Information Technology

AnalystsDatabase

Administrators

WECC Compliance Organization

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• Registered Functions determine applicable standards

Registration

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• Order 693 includes:o Resource and Demand Balancing (BAL)o Emergency Preparedness & Operations (EOP)o Facilities Design, Connection & Mtnce. (FAC)o Protection and Control (PRC)

• Order 706 (CIP) includes:o Critical Cyber Asset Identificationo Personnel & Trainingo Electronic Security Perimeters

Order 693 & Order 706 Standards

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• Onsite Audit• Offsite Audit• Self Reports• Self Certifications• Exception Reporting• Spot Checks• Compliance Violation Investigations• Complaints

Compliance Activities

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New Possible Violation

• Due process• Enforcement Steps

oNotice of Alleged Violation and Penalty or Sanction

oRegistered Entity ResponseoRequest for Settlement or HearingoNERC Approvalo FERC Approval

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• Compliance User Groups• Critical Infrastructure Compliance User

Groups• Open WebEx Calls – third Thursday of

every month – 2 PM prevailing Mtn. Time• Specialized Trainings

o i.e. Protection and Control

Outreach

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• Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program (CMEP) & WECC’s annual plan

• Delegation Agreement• Rules of Procedure• NERC Standards and WECC Regional

Standards• NERC Guidance, Bulletins, Directives and

Compliance Application Notices (CANs)• FERC Orders

Reference Documents

Questions

Laura SchollManaging Director-Stakeholder OutreachWestern Electricity Coordinating Councillscholl@wecc.biz801-819-7619