North AmericanElectricReliabilityCouncil
Princeton Forrestal Village, 116-390 Village Boulevard, Princeton, New Jersey 08540-5731
Operating Committee Meeting
March 16, 2005 Following Joint Meeting5 p.m.
March 17, 2005 8 a.m.5 p.m.
The Westin Long Beach Hotel
333 East Ocean Boulevard
Long Beach, California 90802
Phone: 562-436-3000 Fax: 562-436-9176
Agenda
1.Administration
a.Arrangements – Secretary
b.Announcement of Quorum – Secretary
c.Procedures Secretary
i)Antitrust Guidelines Chairman
ii)Parliamentary Procedures Secretary
iii)Waiver of 10-day Advance Requirement for Motions
iv)Organization and Procedures Manual for the NERC Standing Committees
d.New Members – Secretary
e.Introduction of Members and Guests Secretary
2.Approval of Agenda Chairman
3.Consent Agenda Chairman
a.Minutes November 10–11, 2004 Operating Committee Meeting Chairman
b.Executive Committee Activities – Sam Jones
4.Information Items
a.Board of Trustees Highlights
b.Quarterly Disturbance Report
5.Committee Administration
a.Budget Assessment and Cost Allocation Subcommittee – Sam Jones, Michel Armstrong, Bob Dintelman
b.2005 and 2006 Work Plans – Secretary
c.Committee Membership Nominations for 2005–2007
A New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation
Phone 609-452-8060 Fax 609-452-9550 URL
6.NERC/NAESB Coordination Items – Secretary
a.NERC/NAESB TLR Subcommittee
b.NAESB Version 0 Standards
c.OASIS Conference
d.Energy Day
7.Reports from Other Committees Glenn Ross
8.Operator Training
a.Operator Training Program
b.Continuing Education Program
9.“Best Practices” – Secretary
10.FERC Reactive Power Report
Implementation of Recommendations from August 14, 2003 Blackout
11.Blackout Recommendations: Real-Time Operations
a.Operator “Tools”
b.Communications – Hotline
c.Definitions of Operating Conditions
d.TLR Use
12.Blackout Recommendations: Operations Planning
a.Operations Planning – General
b.Identification of “Critical Facilities”
c.Communications – Line Outage Information
13.Blackout Recommendations: Restoration
14.Reliability Standards
a.Functional Model – Reliability Standards Coordination – Gerry Cauley
b.Balance Resources and Demand Field Test – Raymond Vice
15.Interconnection Frequency Issues – Carl Monroe
a.Frequency Error
b.Frequency Response
c.Frequency Analysis
16.EPRI TagNet Presentation – Steve Lee
17.Interconnection-wide Reliability Studies Initiative – Bob Cummings
18.Congestion Management
a.TLR Redispatch Credit – Mike Kormos, Dave Zwergel
b.Interchange Distribution Calculator Option 3 Project – Larry Kezele
c.Entergy 3% TLR Threshold Test – David McNeill
19.Long-Term ATC/AFC Task Force
20.MISO Market Startup and Standards Waiver Verification – Dave Zwergel
21.Reliability Plans – Secretary
22.Next Meetings
Operating Committee Meeting Agenda- 1 -
March 16–17, 2005
Long Beach, CA
Item 1.Administration
a.Arrangements
The secretary will review the meeting arrangements. The meeting begins on Wednesday, March 16 after the joint OC-PC meeting (or after lunch), and will adjourn on Thursday, March 17 at 5 p.m. A luncheon will be served at noon on both days.
b.Announcement of Quorum
The secretary will announce whether a quorum (two-thirds of the voting members) is in place. NOTE: the committee cannot conduct business without a quorum. Please be prepared to stay for the entire meeting.
The Operating Committee’s Vice Chairman Sam Jones will preside.
c.Procedures
The NERC Antitrust Compliance Guidelines, Organization and Procedures Manual, and a summary of Parliamentary Procedures are attached for reference. The secretary will answer questions regarding these procedures.
Attachments
- Antitrust Guidelines
- Parliamentary Procedures
- Organization and Procedures Manual for the NERC Standing Committees
Action – Waiver of “Ten-Day” rule
“Ten-day” rule. The chairman will waive the rule requiring a ten-day posting before an item can be brought to the committee for consideration. (See text at right.) The committee members are free to make any motions they desire.
d.New Members
Mr. James Fuhrmann returns to the Operating Committee as MAIN’s regional representative. Mr.Fuhrmann replaces James Maenner.
Attachment
Email – Richard Bulley to Don Benjamin, March 8, 2004
e.Introduction of Members and Guests
The chairman will ask the committee members and guests to introduce themselves
Attachment
Operating Committee roster
Item 2.Approval of Agenda
Action
Approve meeting agenda.
Background
The chairman will review the agenda, ask for amendments, and then approval.
Item 3.Consent Agenda
The consent agenda allows the Operating Committee to approve routine items that would not normally need discussion. Any OC member may ask the chairman to remove an item from the consent agenda for formal discussion and action.
The “Action” listed in each item would be the result of the committee’s approval of the consent agenda.
a.Minutes November 10–11, 2004 Operating Committee Meeting
Action
Approve minutes.
Attachment
Minutes – November 10–11 Operating Committee meeting
b.Executive Committee Actions
The Executive Committee did not take any formal actions that need ratification since the last Operating Committee meeting.
Item 4.Information Items
These items are listed FYI and we are not planning any formal discussions. However, the NERC staff or subcommittee officers will be prepared to discuss any of these items if the OC wishes.
a.Board of Trustees Highlights
Attachment
Highlights from the February 8, 2005 Board of Trustees meeting.
b.Quarterly Disturbance Report
Attachments
Report from the Disturbance Analysis Working Group
“Disturbance Analysis Working Group – Quarterly Update”
Item 5.Committee Administration
a.Budget Assessment and Cost Allocation Subcommittee
Action
Discuss cost and funding issues that WECC and Hydro-Québec representatives bring to the Operating Committee.
Attachments
Letter – Request for Technical Input
Scope – Budget Assessment and Cost Allocation Subcommittee
Background
During the last few months, WECC and Hydro-Québec have raised various concerns about the methods by which NERC allocates costs to the Regional Councils. In January, the Board of Trustees’ newly formed Funding Issues Task Force (see February 8, 2005 Board of Trustees meeting agenda item 18b for more details) expanded the role of the Cost Allocation Subcommittee to include consideration of budget assessment as well as cost allocation issues, and give the subcommittee authority to request subject matter input from other NERC committees as needed to address issues raised within the business plan and budget process. A copy of the scope of the revised Budget Assessment and Cost Allocation Subcommittee (BACAS[1]) is attached for information.
Following the board meeting, BACAS Chairman Ed Schwerdt wrote the standing committees (letter attached) requesting time to allow representatives from WECC and Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie to present expanded justification for the concerns they submitted.
b.2005 and 2006 Work Plans
Action
Discussion
Attachment
Operating Committee 2005 Work Plan (updated January 2005)
Background
On March 15, the Operating Committee and subcommittee officers plus NAESB subcommittee officers will be reviewing the Operating Committee’s 2005 work plan and begin to frame out our activities for 2006. We’ll provide a brief summary for the committee.
c.Committee Membership Nominations for 2005–2007
Action
None
Later this month, the NERC staff will be requesting nominations for those standing committee members whose membership expires on June 30, 2005. The committees’ nomination task forces will coordinate their candidate slates before submitting the names to the Board of Trustees. This class of members will serve terms from July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2007.
Item 6.NERC/NAESB Coordination Items
a.NERC/NAESB TLR Subcommittee
Action
Discussion
The subcommittee does not formally report to any particular NERC or NAESB group, and the Operating Committee should discuss the group’s goals and objectives and consider recommending changes as necessary.
A representative of the NERC/NAESB TLR Subcommittee (TLR Subcommittee) will provide an overview of recent subcommittee activities and review the subcommittee’s goals and objectives.
Note: the OC will address a resolution from this subcommittee in agenda Item 18.
Background
This subcommittee provides a very important coordination function between NERC and NAESB, and will help ensure that the reliability standards and business practices associated with the TLR Procedure are coordinated before they are submitted to the Joint Interface Committee, and remain coordinated during the NERC and NAESB standards development processes.
The TLR Subcommittee was formed with the primary purpose of reviewing the current NERC Transmission Loading Relief Procedure (Attachment 1 to Standard IRO-006-0 (Reliability Coordinator — Transmission Loading Relief)) and identifying those sections that deal with reliability standards and those sections that are business practices.
NAESB is hosting all meetings of the TLR Subcommittee at its offices in Houston. All meeting materials (agendas, minutes, presentations) are posted at
The TLR Subcommittee developed a project plan that identified the following goals and objectives:
Goals
- Develop a list of reliability coordinator procedures for invoking an Interconnection-wide congestion management process. This list will be based on the specifications of the current pro forma tariff.
- Develop a list of complementary business practices for invoking an Interconnection-wide congestion management process. This list will be based on the specifications of the current pro forma tariff.
- Provide advice to the respective NERC and NAESB subcommittees as they develop their standards.
- Provide recommendations to NERC and NAESB on managing the tools and services that support the TLR Procedure.
- Accomplish, at minimum, objectives 1–4 by year-end of 2005.
Exclusions
The TLR Subcommittee will not address the WECC and ERCOT congestion management procedures, unless requested by WECC or ERCOT, respectively.
Objectives
- Review the current NERC Transmission Loading Relief Procedure and identify those sections that deal with reliability standards and those sections that are business practices.
- Based upon objective 1, draft lists of NERC reliability requirements and NAESB business practices, including the necessary interrelationships and references that could be used to develop standards to replace the current NERC Transmission Loading Relief Procedure.
- Provide advice to the Operating Reliability Subcommittee and Business Practices Subcommittee as they draft their standards.
- Through the NERC and NAESB staffs, Ddetermine the regulatory process for replacing the current Transmission Loading Relief Procedures (i.e., retiring TLR Version 0) with the new NAESB business practices and new NERC reliability standards. This may require discussions with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff.
- Identify and report potential impacts associated with the maintenance and cost of the Interchange Distribution Calculator and E-Tag functional requirements as a result of this process.
- Review current Alliant and Entergy requests for using a 3% curtailment threshold for certain flowgates and consider how to deal with similar requests from other transmission service providers.
- Review and recommend the disposition of TLR Requirement 1.6.5 (and others) of Attachment 1 as it relates to crediting mechanisms for redispatch performed prior to TLR.
- Serve as technical advisors to the IDC Option 3 project management team. Review and, as necessary, develop business cases associated with the implementation of IDC granularity Options 1 and 3.
- Prepare progress reports for the NERC Operating Committee and NAESB WEQ Executive Committee.
- Develop a subcommittee timeline.
b.NAESB Version 0 Standards
Action
Discussion
Background
On January 18, 2005, the North American Energy Standards Board filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission its Report for NAESB Wholesale Electric Business Practices, Docket No. RM05-5-000. This report included the following NAESB business practices:
Business Practice / Explanation / Responsible Entities- Coordinate interchange
Balancing Authority
- Area Control Error (“ACE”) equation special cases
- Manual time error correction
Reliability Coordinator
- Inadvertent interchange payback
c.OASIS Conference
Action
Discussion
The Operating Committee may want to formally recognize the importance of the upcoming OASIS conference and encourage industry participation. The results of that conference may influence the future direction of OASIS.
Attachment
OASIS Conference Agenda
Background
A joint NERC/NAESB conference will be held on Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at the FERC offices in Washington, D.C., to discuss the future of Open Access Same-Time Information System (OASIS). The purpose of the conference is to determine what standards and tools are needed to facilitate the exchange of wholesale electric commodities and to provide informal input to FERC regarding the needs of the industry. Members of the industry will give presentations on future industry requirements and OASIS, as well as participate in an open discussion on the goals and objectives of OASIS II. In addition, other related E-scheduling industry initiatives will be reviewed and discussed. Work papers for this meeting are posted on the NAESB website at
d.Energy Day
Action
Discussion
Background
NAESB is considering two business practices that it has grouped under the subject of “Energy Day:”
Business Practice / Explanation- R04016. Standard energy day.
NAESB has set this business practice aside for now.
- R04021. Daily operational communications between pipelines and power plants.
The NERC staff is working with the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America to investigate the merits of establishing a working relationship between the pipeline companies and NERC reliability coordinators.
Item 7.Reports from Other Committees
Glenn Ross will summarize the actions of the Planning Committee following its meeting.
Item 8.Operator Training
a.Operator Training Program
Action
Discussion
NERC Operator Training Program
Scheduled for implementation later this year, the NERC training program will institute new operator training standards and accreditation requirements for training program providers. It will also provide a more complete foundation for NERC’s operator certification program.
The table below lists several important milestones that we have completed since the last Operating Committee meeting. The following pages provide additional information on several topics for the committee’s review.
Task / PurposeReceived 113 nominations of “excellent” system operators to interview (December 2004). / Learn how system operators achieve excellence. For example, discuss training opportunities, corporate culture, innate abilities, and so forth.
Submitted training standard Standards Authorization Request (December 2004). / Establish minimum requirements for system operator training and training programs.
Selected study panel (January 6, 2005) based on nominations from industry. First meeting will be March 2-3, 2005. / Review FERC training study survey results.
Conduct on-site interviews to learn about training program best practices.
Interview system operators nominated for their excellence.
Visited U.S. Navy Human Performance Center (January 20, 2005). / Provide input for NERC’s human performance study.
First meeting of NERC study panel (March 2–3, 2005) / Discuss operator interview procedures and training program site visits.
NERC Study Panel
NERC has assembled an expert panel of system operators with considerable training experience who will be visiting utilities to interview the system operators who were nominated for their “excellence,” and review a number of utility training programs and facilities. (Please see the following pages for the study panel roster.) We expect to use the information from the FERC training study to help decide which organizations to visit.
Human Performance Study
The U.S. Navy recently established a Human Performance Center (HPC) ( under the leadership of Captain Matthew Peters. Capt. Peters is on the FERC operator training study panel, and met with the NERC project management team, two NERC study panel members, and the FERC contractor (Performance Consulting Services) on January 20 in Virginia Beach.
The information we learned at the Navy’s HPC, plus our interviews with system operators, will help NERC decide how to conduct a human performance study, one of the tasks associated with the NERC training program.
FERC Training Study
On December 29, 2004, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission distributed a “Survey on Operator Training Practices” to approximately 150 organizations to “…provide the Commission with valuable information regarding operator training problems that could prevent line outages or improve grid reliability so that we can report to Congress on actions that could be taken to reduce the potential of operator-caused problems.” The survey is due to the Commission by January 31, and the contractor expects initial results will be available by the end of March. We anticipate using that information to help us select organizations to interview.
Training Standards
The NERC training program’s foundation will be a set of standards that we are now working on. The Personnel Subcommittee has drafted a Standards Authorization Request ( on which comments were due January 7, 2005. These standards will replace those in the new NERC reliability standards, which are not comprehensive enough on which to base a training program.