Overview of WECC and Regulatory Structure

Matthew MooreManager of Enforcement

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The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) is a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization corporation that exists to assure a reliable bulk

electric system in the geographic area of the Western Interconnection. This area includes all or

parts of the 14 western United States, two Canadian provinces, and the northern portion of

Baja California, Mexico.

WECC Profile

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• Incorporated in 2002

• Predecessor, WSCC formed in 1967

• Largest geographic area of the eight Regional Entitieso 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

• Bifurcation in February 2014 changed functions

WECC History

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WECC Coverage Service Area

1.8 million square miles

126,285 miles of transmission

Population of 78 million

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WECC Organization

• Independent Board of Directorso 9 memberso Committees

• Members Advisory Committee• Members

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

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

• Studieso Model the system and perform studies under a variety of

scenarios to set operating policies and limits

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

• WREGISo Hosts the Western Renewable Energy Generation Information

System, which creates and tracks renewable energy certificates

WECC Services

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Delegation Agreemento Perform functions delegated to WECC as a Regional Entity

under Delegation Agreement with NERC, including;o facilitating development of western interconnection

reliability standardso conducting reliability assessments and event analysiso regulating entities subject to mandatory Reliability

Standards

WECC Services

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Mandatory Reliability Regulation

• Northeast Blackout of 2003– 10 Million people

in Ontario, Canada– 45 million people in

eight U.S. states

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Task Force Report

• 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.

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Task Force Findings

Inadequate System Understanding

Inadequate Situational Awareness

Inadequate Tree Trimming

Inadequate Reliability Center Diagnostic Support

Congressional Action

•Energy Policy Act of 2005On August 8, 2005, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) was signed into law.

•“Section 215”Section 215 of the EPAct 2005 directed FERC to certify an Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) and develop procedures for establishing, approving and enforcing electric reliability standards.

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Authority for Compliance Monitoring

• FERC Order 672 (Implementing Rule 18 CFR 39)– Responsibility and oversight assigned to FERC– FERC designated NERC as Electric Reliability

Organization– NERC has delegation agreement with WECC and

seven other regions

Implementing Section 215

SECTION 215

• Creates Electrical Reliability Organization (ERO)• FERC names NERC as ERO

Regional Entiti

es

• NERC selects 8 regional entities• WECC is selected for Western Interconnection

Delegatio

n Agreeme

nt

• NERC and WECC sign agreements• WECC oversight begins in Western

Interconnection

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Order 693 & Order 706 Standards

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

• Order 706 (CIP) includes:– Critical Cyber Asset Identification– Personnel & Training– Electronic Security Perimeters

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• Recommends Registrations for Entitieso Register users, owners, operators according to function

• Monitors Compliance with Standardso Monitor compliance by users, owners and operators of the bulk

power system in the United States

• Enforces Complianceo Violation mitigation and settlement negotiationo Representation of WECC in any hearing or appeal process

• Administration o Audit coordinationo Reporting systemso webCDMS and EFT

WECC Compliance

Authority

Federal Power Act 2005Delegation AgreementReliability Standards

CMEP

Registration

Authority

Reg

istr

atio

n

Monitoring

Authority

Reg

istr

atio

n

AuditsSelf Reports

Self Certif

icatio

nsOther

Enforcement

Authority

Reg

istr

atio

n

Mo

nit

ori

ng

Risk A

ssess

ments

Due Pro

cessSettle

ment

Mitigatio

n Acti

ons

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Reference Documents• Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program

(CMEP) & WECC’s annual implementation plan• Delegation Agreement• Rules of Procedure• NERC Reliability Standards • NERC Guidance, Bulletins, Directives and Compliance

Application Notices (CANs)• FERC Orders