Overview of WECC and Regulatory
Structure
Matthew Moore
Manager of Enforcement
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WECC Profile
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.
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WECC History
• Incorporated 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
• Bifurcation in February 2014 changed functions
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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 Directors
o 9 members
o Committees
• Members Advisory Committee
• Members
• Grid owners, operators, users
• Stakeholders
• State and Provincial
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WECC Services
• Transmission expansion planning
o Management of a comprehensive planning database
o Provide coordination of sub-regional planning processes
o Analyses and modeling
• Studies
o Model the system and perform studies under a variety of
scenarios to set operating policies and limits
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WECC Services
• Loads and Resources Assessments
o Perform annual assessment of 10-year loads and resources
o 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 Training
o 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
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WECC Services
Delegation Agreement
o Perform functions delegated to WECC as a Regional Entity
under Delegation Agreement with NERC, including;
o facilitating development of western interconnection
reliability standards
o conducting reliability assessments and event analysis
o regulating entities subject to mandatory Reliability
Standards
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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 2005
On 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
Regional
Entities
Delegation
Agreement
• Creates Electrical Reliability Organization (ERO)
• FERC names NERC as ERO
• NERC selects 8 regional entities
• WECC is selected for Western Interconnection
• 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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WECC Compliance
• Recommends Registrations for Entities
o Register users, owners, operators according to function
• Monitors Compliance with Standards
o Monitor compliance by users, owners and operators of the bulk
power system in the United States
• Enforces Compliance
o Violation mitigation and settlement negotiation
o Representation of WECC in any hearing or appeal process
• Administration
o Audit coordination
o Reporting systems
o webCDMS and EFT
Authority
CMEP
Reliability Standards
Delegation Agreement
Federal Power Act 2005
Registration
Registration
Authority
Registration
Monitoring
Authority
Monitoring
Registration
Enforcement
Authority
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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