Bulletin Index 2000

We periodically post bulletins here to inform customers of developments within BC Hydro Transmission and/or the industry and/or to solicit feedback on policy changes. These announcements can be time sensitive, so please subscribe for the updates.

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Our Transmission Scheduling bulletins for 2000 are listed below. Select another year in the drop-down to view bulletins from the archive.

Title	Bulletin Date
Further Note on Backup Procedures for Tradewave Failure	August 22, 1:00 p.m.
Important Change to Monthly Scheduling Timeline	August 21, 1:23 p.m.
Backup Procedures for Tradewave Failure	August 21, 1:02 p.m.
2009 Power Flow Case Study Data Files	August 1, 1:30 p.m.
Current Hour Scheduling Policies	July 20, 1:34 p.m.
Next Day Scheduling past 14:00 PPT	July 11, 1:36 p.m.
More on Unused Firm and ATC Calculations	June 8, 1:37 p.m.
Sumas Energy 2	May 29, 1:38 p.m.
Confirmation of BC Hydro's Unused Firm Calculation	May 23, 1:39 p.m.
BC Hydro's Unused Firm Calculation	May 18, 1:40 p.m.
Summary of Recent Rule Changes	May 5, 1:40 p.m.

Further Note on Backup Procedures for Tradewave Failure

Posted on August 22 , 1:00 p.m.

OASIS Backup Procedure
Effective 16:00 PPT BC Hydro Grid Operations will be utilizing this approach to upload both real time and preschedule ATC data. Real Time Scheduling will update and upload new ATC data at the top of each hour and after transactions have been processed.

Please contact the preschedule office with your questions or to obtain the relevant information for your company.

We will inform you when normal operations have been restored. Thank you all for your patience in this matter.

Important Change to Monthly Scheduling Timeline

Posted on August 21 , 1:23 p.m.

BC Hydro Grid Operation has previously interpreted and documented its Short Term Monthly Transmission Scheduduling Timeline to begin "no earlier than 00:00 PPT 2 months before the start of service." However, the specific wording of our tariff reads "no earlier than sixty (60) days before service is to commence." With current interest and the increasing competitive nature of this transmission market, this inconsistency is bound to lead to unclear and conflicting results. As such, we feel it is in everyone's best interests to make our practice consistent with the literal wording of our tariff.

Effective immediately monthly transmission requests will be accepted "no earlier than 00:00 PPT 60 days before service is to commence." This is obviously effective for the upcoming monthly transmission competition moving the window for montly competition to 00:00 PPT September 2, 2000 (rather than Sept. 1st).

Backup Procedures for Tradewave Failure

Posted on August 21 , 1:02 p.m.

As most must know several OASIS nodes, including the NWOASIS, have experienced problems with TradeWave security today resulting in some customers being unable to access OASIS. BC Hydro considers this a failure of OASIS and will require ALL customers to make their preschedule transmission requests via fax backup procedures until notified otherwise by BC Hydro.

Since not all customers can see the ATC and prices that would normally get posted to OASIS we have opted to fax you this information only accepting subsequent request at or after a time specified in that fax. In the abscense of equal access to OASIS we will continue to utilize the phone as the backup for real time transmission scheduling. We will not update OASIS with ATC postings until we have been notified by BPA or Tradewave that the problem has been fixed universally and we have notified our customers of the problems resolution.

At that time we will provide similar notification to customers specifying the time at which normal operations are to be restored. Please forward this note to any other parties that may have an interest in this bulletin as I may not have a comprehensive customer list.

Thank you .... Laura.

2009 Power Flow Case Study Data Files

Posted on August 1 , 1:30 p.m.

BC Hydro Grid Operations has posted two "Power Flow Data" files on our website under "Studies". These files are developed from power flow basecases corresponding to the following system conditions

i) 2009 summer peak and 3150MW export to the US - npp09hs-3150.rawd

Any user may view the data in these files. To conduct powerflow simulation studies using these files would require a copy of PSS/E version 26 (Power System Simulator for Engineering by Power Technology Inc.) program or other programs that can import and process data in that format.

For questions and comments on the files and basecases, you may call Don Gillespie, Manager of Network Performance Planning at (604) 528-2717 or Kai Chung Lee, Senior Engineer at (604) 528-2980.

Please note the above files are in '.zip' format.

Current Hour Scheduling Policies

Posted on July 20 , 1:34 p.m.

Current Hour Scheduling Policies (PDF)

Next Day Scheduling past 14:00 PPT

Posted on July 11 , 1:36 p.m.

After 14:00 PPT on the Normal Preschedule Day, transmission requests will be processed at the discretion of the Pre-schedulers as they may be in the process of checking out or have already transferred control to the Real Time desk. It is our policy that all transmission requests received after 14:00 PPT MUST be confirmed with a phone call to the Pre-schedule office to determine if it can be processed. If you do NOT call to confirm this within a reasonable time your request will be refused.

If you are too late to secure transmission from Pre-schedule, the transmission can be purchased from our real-time schedulers after pre-schedule checkout is completed.

Sumas Energy 2

Posted on May 29 , 1:38 p.m.

BC Hydro Transmission & Distribution have conducted additional load flow studies to assess the need for any major transmission reinforcement for integrating the Sumas 660 MW plant into the BC Hydro system and wheeling the power back to the USA. Based on a horizon year 2009 heavy winter peak load system configuration, the update identified no system upgrade required in the BC Hydro transmission network for the period to 2009 for this purpose. It is the BC Hydro planning standard to conduct such studies for a 10 years period.

Confirmation of BC Hydro's Unused Firm Calculation

Posted on May 23 , 1:39 p.m.

This is to confirm that effective 17:00 PPT today (May 23, 2000) next hour Unused Firm and Non-Firm will be calculated as described in the May 18th "BC Hydro's Unused Frim Calculation" email/bulletin

BC Hydro's Unused Firm Calculation

Posted on May 18 , 1:40 p.m.

To maximize the use of our Transmission Facilities, BC Hydro Grid Operations introduced the selling of Unused Firm Transmission for the next hour as Non Firm Transmission for that hour. In an attempt to avoid excessive curtailments that might result from late scheduling of energy on firm transmission and to prevent customers from purchasing their own Unused Firm a relatively complex methodology for calculating Unused Firm and Non Firm Transmission evolved.

To date, our scheduling system has calculated the components of unused firm transmission for a customer for every hour up until the next hour but limited the unused firm transmission amount to the minimum of the values for the next hour, the current hour and the previous hour. For example, at 9.01 am (HE10) we include the effect of unused firm for the next hour (HE11) and for this we use the minimum of the values for HE9, HE10 and HE11. That minimum value would then be added to the unused ATC calculation. It should be noted that ConRes, Spinning Reserve and Load-Following transmission is not included in the unused firm calculations.

The calculation performed for each customer is:

UFT = MAX( MIN (FT, FT+NFT-Energy), 0)

where FT = firm transmission

NFT = Non-firm transmission

Finally we add up all the unused firm transmission for each customer for a total that is applied to the Non Firm ATCs (Network Economy, Non–Firm and Secondary) one hour prior to the start of the scheduling hour. By displaying the ATC for the path minus the selected customers unused firm in our scheduling system, System Control is able to prevent customers from purchasing their own unused firm transmission.

Because of the calculation approach, the timing of the unused firm calculations has been very important since ATC can be affected by the previous hours even though no schedule changes have been made. This can be confusing to user particularly at the beginning of the day where, to avoid accessing yesterday's data and processing delays, we would take the minimum of the unused firm for hours just in that day.

At 2.01am (HE3) we calculate for HE4 using HE2-4.
At 1.01 am (HE2) we calculate for HE3 using HE1-3.
At 12.01 am (HE1) we calculate for HE2 using HE1-2.
At 11.01 am (HE24 the previous day) we calculate for HE1 using just HE1.

As is apparent, the calculation is complex and quite difficult for staff and customers to follow. To simplify the approach and reduce confusion and questions, we have elected to eliminate the "three-hour minimum" rule for calculating Unused Firm effective Tuesday May 23, 2000 at approximately 17:00 PPT. We will confirm the effective time with a similar e-mail and website bulletin at the time the change is made.

The overall impact will be a more transparent ATC calculation that should benefit everyone. On the other hand, it may result in more frequent curtailments which customer should understand and be prepared for. For example, Customer A purchases Network Economy, Non Firm and/or Secondary transmission (some or all of which may be unused firm for customer B). Customer B schedules energy on their Firm Transmission creating Negative Non Firm ATC. System Control will be required to return the Negative ATC to zero by curtailing the required amount of Transmission and Energy where appropriate.

We are aware that there has been considerable interest and confusion in this matter and hope the change improves our ability to meet your business needs. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Thank you,

Laura Letourneau
lauraletourneau@bchydro.bc.ca
BC Hydro
Transmission Scheduling Manager, NOS at Burnaby Mountain
c/o 6911 Southpoint Drive, Burnaby, B.C. V3N 4X8
(604) 473-2707 Fax: (604) 473-2722

Summary of Recent Rule Changes

Posted on May 5 , 1:40 p.m.

Rules for Submitting Firm and Non Firm Requests:

First Daily ATC Posting:

The first ATC posting for each normal preschedule day will be between 08:00 and 08:50 PPT.
The bidding window for submitting next day transmission requests begin at 09:00 PPT.
All requests received prior to 09:00 PPT will be refused.
In the event that this ATC posting does not occur before 08:50 PPT we will post in the earliest subsequent half hour possible opening the bidding window at the bottom or top of the hour immediately following the posting time.

Subsequent ATC Postings:

The bidding window for ATC posted after the initial posting and before 14:00 PPT will open at the next top or bottom of the hour whichever is earlier. For example, if we post ATC at 08:40 then bidding will begin at 09:00 but if we post at 10:15 bidding will open at 10:30.
We will not post within 10 minutes of the next potential bidding window. In other words, if we have not posted by XX:20 or XX: 50 you can wait until the following half hour. This assures everyone at least 10 minutes to assess and prepare their submissions.
All requests received prior to the bidding window opening will be refused.
For ATC posted after 14:00 PPT requests can be made immediately following the posting.

10 Request Limit:

Customers (as defined by the customer field) will be limited to 10 preschedule OASIS requests per path per ATC posting counting from the time the ATC was posted for that path up to (but not including) the next ATC posting time. This limit does not include subsequent requests required for the purpose of matching duration or accepting remaining ATC. In the case of mixed class wheelthrus the BC>AB path ATC posting time will be used regardless of whether it was posted before or after the US>BC path. If a customer exceeds this limit regardless of OASIS Status (withdrawn, invalid, declined, etc), then B.C. Hydro Grid Operations will refuse all of that customers' requests submitted for that path for that hour.

Identical Requests:

There is no restriction on the number of identical requests beyond the 10 request limit (above).

Errors:

Customers are allowed one chance to correct errors on a "related" OASIS request, whereby the customer is either:

a) exercising a right of first refusal to match a longer duration request than their original request, or

b) exercising their right to reduce the capacity they have requested to a lower amount than their original request, when the remaining ATC is less than that capacity.

The second and subsequent requests with errors will be marked INVALID. In addition:

a) if the customer is exercising their right of first refusal to match a longer duration request, the original request will be marked DISPLACED and the right of first refusal will be lost.

b) if the customer is exercising their right to reduce their capacity due to insufficient remaining ATC, the original request will be marked REFUSED or INVALID.