Update: 06-01-16
Calendar and Study Cycles
NWE Local Transmission Planning
CALENDAR ...................................................................................................................... 2
2016............................................................................................................................. 2
STUDY CYCLE COORDINATION............................................................................... 2
2016 – 2017 Local Transmission Plan Study Cycle ................................................... 2
ECONOMIC STUDY CYCLE ........................................................................................ 4
2015............................................................................................................................. 4
2016............................................................................................................................. 4
FERC ORDER 1000: TRANSMISSION PLANNING AND COST ALLOCATION
BY TRANSMISSION OWNING AND OPERATING PUBLIC UTILITIES ............ 5
2016............................................................................................................................. 5
2015............................................................................................................................. 5
2014............................................................................................................................. 5
2013............................................................................................................................. 5
FERC ORDER 890 ATTACHMENT K DEVELOPMENT AND POSTING ............ 6
2016............................................................................................................................. 6
2015............................................................................................................................. 6
2014............................................................................................................................. 6
2013............................................................................................................................. 6
NTTG ................................................................................................................................. 6
WECC ................................................................................................................................ 6
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Update: 06-01-16
Calendar
2016




March 16, 2016: Transmission Advisory Committee (TRANSAC) – Meeting
June 29, 2016: Transmission Advisory Committee (TRANSAC) – Meeting
September 14, 2016: Transmission Advisory Committee (TRANSAC) – Meeting
December 7, 2016: 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).
Study Cycle Coordination
2016 – 2017 Local Transmission Plan Study Cycle
Study Cycle: 8 Quarters starting in January 2016
(See the following Study Cycle Coordination Table for further detail)










January - March 2016 (Quarter #1): Goal and Scenario Definitions
March - June 2016 (Quarter #2): Build Base Cases
June – October 2016 (Quarter #3): Conduct Technical studies for the existing
system
October – December 2016 (Quarter #4): Build mitigation change cases
December 2016 – March 2017 (Quarter #5): Conduct study with mitigation
March 2017 (Quarter #5): Develop uncertainty cases
April – June 2017 (Quarter #6): Conduct uncertainty analysis
March 2016 – June 2017 (Quarters #2 – #6): Consider Prior and Current year
Economic Study Results
July – September 2017 (Quarter #7): Decision
October – December 2017 (Quarter #8): Reporting
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Update: 06-01-16
Table 1: Study Cycle Coordination Table
Study Cycle Coordination With TRANSAC and Public Meetings (Subject to Change as needed)
UPDATED:
01/20/2014
Tentative TRANSAC Meetings
Economic
Tentative Public
Study Cycle
Agenda Items - Local Transmission System Study EcoStudyAgnda
Meetings
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
Fall Year 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
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
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-2016-2017Effective_10-17-13.doc
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Update: 06-01-16
Economic Study Cycle
Study Cycle – 12 Months Starting in
January
Request Window: January – February
annually
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.
2016


January-February 2016: Receive Requests
o Posted reminder on deadlines
Deadline to submit requests was February
29th, NWE did not receive any Economic
Study Requests for the 2016 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: 06-01-16
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
2016
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





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



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.
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Update: 06-01-16

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
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
2016

On January 11, 2016, NorthWestern filed several revisions to its Open Access
Transmission Tariff (OATT) to reflect certain ministerial changes, and revisions
to Appendix C (Methodology to Assess Available Transfer Capacity). The
revisions are accepted for filing, effective March 12, 2016. (ER16-707-000)
The approved Attachment K is posted on NWE’s OASIS website:
http://www.oasis.oati.com/NWMT/NWMTdocs/NWE_MT_-_Attachment_K__clean_(2).pdf
2015

See activity listed above in FERC Order 1000
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.
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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