Update: 09-30-15
Calendar and Study Cycles
NWE Local Transmission Planning
CALENDAR ...................................................................................................................... 2
2015............................................................................................................................. 2
Possible other 2016 TRANSAC Meetings ................................................................... 2
STUDY CYCLE COORDINATION............................................................................... 2
2014 – 2015 Local Transmission Plan Study Cycle ................................................... 2
ECONOMIC STUDY CYCLE ........................................................................................ 4
2014............................................................................................................................. 4
2015............................................................................................................................. 4
FERC ORDER 1000: TRANSMISSION PLANNING AND COST ALLOCATION
BY TRANSMISSION OWNING AND OPERATING PUBLIC UTILITIES ............ 5
2015............................................................................................................................. 5
2014............................................................................................................................. 5
2013............................................................................................................................. 5
FERC ORDER 890 ATTACHMENT K DEVELOPMENT AND POSTING ............ 6
2014............................................................................................................................. 6
2013............................................................................................................................. 6
2012............................................................................................................................. 6
NTTG ................................................................................................................................. 6
WECC ................................................................................................................................ 6
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Update: 09-30-15
Calendar
2015
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March 11, 2015: Transmission Advisory Committee (TRANSAC) – Meeting
July 29, 2015: Transmission Advisory Committee (TRANSAC) – Meeting
September 16, 2015: Transmission Advisory Committee (TRANSAC) – Meeting
October 8, 2015: Electric Transmission Planning Public Meeting-Billings
October 14, 2015: Electric Transmission Planning Public Meeting-Missoula
December 16, 2015: Transmission Advisory Committee (TRANSAC) – Meeting
TENTATIVE Future Meetings: The Transmission Advisory Committee (TRANSAC)
meetings will be held as needed. Meetings will begin at 9:30 a.m. and last no later than
12:00 p.m. The following is the projected schedule and subject to change (see the Study
Cycle Coordination table for suggested agenda topics).
Possible other 2016 TRANSAC Meetings
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March 16, 2016: Transmission Advisory Committee (TRANSAC) – Meeting
June 15, 2016: Transmission Advisory Committee (TRANSAC) – Meeting
September 14, 2016: Transmission Advisory Committee (TRANSAC) – Meeting
December 7, 2016: Transmission Advisory Committee (TRANSAC) – Meeting
Study Cycle Coordination
2014 – 2015 Local Transmission Plan Study Cycle
Study Cycle: 8 Quarters starting in January 2014
(See the following Study Cycle Coordination Table for further detail)
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January - March 2014 (Quarter #1): Goal and Scenario Definitions
March - June 2014 (Quarter #2): Build Base Cases
June – October 2014 (Quarter #3): Conduct Technical studies for the existing
system
October – December 2014 (Quarter #4): Build mitigation change cases
December 2014 – March 2015 (Quarter #5): Conduct study with mitigation
March 2015 (Quarter #5): Develop uncertainty cases
April – June 2015 (Quarter #6): Conduct uncertainty analysis
March 2014 – June 2015 (Quarters #2 – #6): Consider Prior and Current year
Economic Study Results
July – September 2015 (Quarter #7): Decision
October – December 2015 (Quarter #8): Reporting
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Update: 09-30-15
Table 1: Study Cycle Coordination Table
Study Cycle Coordination With TRANSAC and Public Meetings (Subject to Change as needed)
UPDATED:
Economic
Study Cycle
Mth
Goal & 1
a
c
Jan Yr 1
Q1 Scenario
2
Feb Yr 1
Criteria
Scenarios
Forecast
Definitions
3
b
Mar Yr 1
Cluster & Prior
Scenarios
Uncertain Scnro
d
Apr Yr 1
Criteria
Q2
May Yr 1
DR Attributes
Jun Yr 1 Finalize Cases
Jul Yr 1
Q3
Aug Yr 1 Study Update
DR Attributes
L&R Template Study Update
Sep Yr 1
Coordinate
4
Oct Yr 1 Study Results Mitigate Reqmt DR Attributes
Results
Technical
Q4
e Nov Yr 1
Study
5
f Dec Yr 1 Finalize Mitigate
Uncertainty
DR Attributes
a
c
Jan Yr 2
Uncertainty
DR Attributes
Q5
Feb Yr 2
6
b
Mar Yr 2 Mitigate Result Finlz Uncertainty DR Attributes
Cluster & Prior
7
d
Apr Yr 2
Q6
May Yr 2
Jun Yr 2 Uncertn Result
Decisn Rule
L&R Template
8
Jul Yr 2
Study Update
Q7 Decision
Aug Yr 2 Decn Rule Reslt Recommendation
Sep Yr 2
9
Oct Yr 2
Results
Q8 Reporting
e Nov Yr 2
Document
f Dec Yr 2
Coordinate with next cycle
Next Planning Cycle
Local System Planning Study Cycle
01/20/2014
Tentative TRANSAC Meetings
Tentative Public
Agenda Items - Local Transmission System Study EcoStudyAgnda
Meetings
NOTES For Flow Chart
Local System Plan
1 Develop Goal and Scenario Definition
2 Build Base Cases
3 Conduct Technical studies for the existing system
4 Build mitigation change cases
5 Conduct study with mitigation
Fall Year 2
Economic Study Request
Receive requests
Cluster and prioritize requests
RFP for consulting services
Conduct technical study
Write report
f Results meeting with sponsor
a
b
c
d
e
6 Develop uncertainty cases
7 Conduct uncertainty analysis
8 Decision Rule Analysis
9 Reporting
A full description of the NWE Local Transmission Planning cycle and Timeline Business
Practice is available on NWE’s OASIS website:
http://www.oasis.oati.com/NWMT/NWMTdocs/LTP_Study_Cycle-2014-2015Effective_10-17-13.doc
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Update: 09-30-15
Economic Study Cycle
Study Cycle – 12 Months Starting in
January
Request Window: January – February
annually
2014

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January-February 2014: Received
Request from PPL Montana.
o Posted reminder on deadlines
March 2014: Cluster and Prioritize and
reviewed at the 3-20-14 TRANSAC
Meeting.
April – October 2014: Study
November 2014: Report
December 2014: Results Meeting
2015


January – February 2015: Receive
Requests
o Posted reminder on deadlines
Deadline to submit requests was
February 28th, NWE did not receive
any Economic Study Requests for
the 2015 cycle.
NWE Economic Planning Study
Mth *
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Activity
Receive Requests
Cluster & Prioritize
Study
Report
Results Meeting
* NWE will use reasonable efforts to meet these time
frames.
The process for Economic Planning Studies is described in the Attachment K Business
Practice on the NWE OASIS website:
http://www.oasis.oati.com/NWMT/NWMTdocs/2013_Attachment_K_Business_Practice
-10-18-13_effective_10-25-13.pdf
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Update: 09-30-15
FERC Order 1000: Transmission Planning and Cost
Allocation by Transmission Owning and Operating
Public Utilities
The FERC Order 1000 documents and events are posted on the NTTG website:
http://nttg.biz/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=featured&I
temid=107
2015


February 18, 2015: The second Interregional – NTTG FERC Order Joint
Compliance filing was in response to the December 18, 2014 Order on
Interregional requirements. On June 1, 2015 FERC issued a final order accepting
the Western Filing Parties Interregional compliance filings in Docket No ER131448-001.
Fourth Regional Compliance filing, submitted December 30, 2014 (which applies
to the 2014-2015 Local Area Planning Cycle) was accepted by FERC March 24,
2015 with an Effective date of October 1, 2013 and matches the OATT.
Attachment K revisions were submitted on December 30, 2014 in Docket No.
ER13-67-003 to comply with FERC’s December 8, 2014 Order.
2014

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Awaiting FERC order on September 2013 Compliance Filing (remainder of
October 17th issues).
April 17, 2014: FERC filed an order on the Compliance Filing (Regional - NTTG)
April 17, 2014. FERC said the compliance filing partially met FERC
requirements and NTTG has 60 days to comply. They must file a response by
Monday June 16th.
June 13, 2014: The third Regional - NTTG Compliance Filing was made.
Regional Compliance filing, filed June 13, 2014 (which applies to the 2014-2015
Local Area Planning Cycle) was accepted by FERC. FERC issued an Order on
December 8, 2014, with an Effective date of 10-1-2013, finalizing the Local Area
portion, meaning that Regional and Interregional activity continues.
December 30, 2014: The fourth Regional – NTTG Compliance Filing was made,
minimal changes to Attachment K.
2013
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May 17, 2013: FERC issued Order on October 2012 Compliance Filing
July 10, 2013: Compliance filings for interregional transmission coordination
procedures and interregional cost allocation method(s).
September Compliance filing included updates to the Attachment K and planning
business practices. Request was made to extend the effective date out to October
1, 2015.
October 17, 2013: FERC issued a motion denying the extension of the effective
date of the Order 1000 Attachment K to October 1, 2015. Effective date for all
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Update: 09-30-15
changes related to Order 1000 is the date of FERC’s motion denial – October 17,
2013 – unless otherwise noted (for example: business practices that go into effect
at least 5 days after signature).
FERC Order 890 Attachment K Development and Posting
2014

See activity listed above in FERC Order 1000.
2013

October 17, 2013: all submitted compliance filing changes to the Tariff, including
Attachment K, and associated business practices were put into effect.
2012

As of this update, the approved Attachment K stands. (April 8, 2010: FERC
issued an Order Accepting/Approving the September 11, 2009 Attachment K
Compliance Filing) The approved Attachment K is posted on NWE’s OASIS
website:
http://www.oatioasis.com/NWMT/NWMTdocs/FERC_ApprovedNWE_Section_205_Attachment_K_Sep_2009_CLEAN_(2).doc
NTTG
The meeting notices and available material on the Northern Tier Transmission Group
(NTTG) are located on the OASIS site in the ‘Northern Tier Transmission Group
(NTTG)’ folder. http://www.oatioasis.com/NWMT/index.html
Or you can go directly to the NTTG website home page for any and all information
regarding NTTG: http://www.nttg.biz/site/
NTTG is the regional entity.
WECC
The interconnection wide entity is the Western Electric Coordinating Council (WECC).
Any and all information regarding WECC can be found on their website:
http://www.wecc.biz/
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