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Bulletin Index 2002

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 2002 are listed below. Select another year in the drop-down to view bulletins from the archive.

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January - April
May - August
September - December

Search within Bulletins Go
Title Bulletin Date
Policy on Pricing for Import Paths April 25, 4:25 p.m.
Outstanding Long-term Transmission April 24, 3:40 p.m.
BC Hydro Scheduling Application - Operational April 8, 1:01 p.m.
eTage 1.7 Cut-Over Times April 8, 11:12 a.m.
BC Hydro Scheduling Application Outage and eTag 1.7 Implementation Plan April 5, 6:23 p.m.
Change in Non-Firm Scheduling and Displacement Timelines April 4, 2:29 p.m.
Revised Business Practices Due to eTag 1.7 Implementation April 4, 11:55 a.m.
Displacement: Matching Requests March 21, 9:51 a.m.
Reissuance of Denied eTags March 6, 9:43 a.m.
eTag Version 1.7 Dress Rehearsals March 5, 10:25 a.m.
OASIS Now Operational March 3, 2:23 a.m.
OASIS Outage March 2, 11:54 p.m.
Long-Term Transmission Service Update February 28, 8:23 p.m.
Post Schedule Details Functionality - Update February 27, 1:35 p.m.
Planned Systems Outage February 25, 2:19 p.m.
eTag 1.70 NERC Registration Requirements February 20, 3:51 p.m.
Duration and Profiles February 13, 5:10 p.m.
Displacements: Matching Requests February 12, 2:52 p.m.
OASIS Now Operational February 9, 10:38 a.m.
OASIS Outage February 9, 10:11 a.m.
OATI Upgrade Outage Tonight February 7, 4:59 p.m.
NW OASIS Administrator to Block Customers February 5, 6:29 p.m.
OASIS Now Operational February 3, 5:26 p.m.
OASIS Outage February 3, 1:43 p.m.
BC Hydro Scheduling Application - Operational January 31, 10:30 a.m.
BC Hydro Scheduling Application Outage January 31, 8:24 a.m.
New Path LM>US - Update January 29, 9:35 a.m.
BC Hydro Scheduling Application - Operational January 28, 5:49 p.m.
BC Hydro Scheduling Application Outage January 28, 1:22 p.m.
BC Hydro Scheduling Application - Operational January 25, 2:45 p.m.
BC Hydro Scheduling Application Outage January 25, 9:19 a.m.
OASIS Now Operational January 24, 1:23 p.m.
OASIS Outage January 24, 11:15 a.m.
New Path - LM>US January 8, 12:27 p.m.
Michael Nygren January 3, 10:39 a.m.
OASIS Now Operational January 3, 10:20 a.m.
OASIS OUTAGE January 3, 8:53 a.m.
OASIS OUTAGE January 3, 8:53 a.m.
Source and Sink Fields in OASIS January 2, 2:27 p.m.
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Policy on Pricing for Import Paths

Posted on April 25 , 4:25 p.m.

Please note the policy that Firm and Non-Firm (Rate Schedules 3001 and 3002) transmission reservations delivering to BCHA Network Load must be submitted and charged at the maximum price of $6.4. For reference, please see 1998 bulletin: "Transmission Pricing Policy" (note price change).

We will be releasing further functionality in mid-May that will reintroduce the BCHA.Network POD, which will restore a customer's option to purchase discounted transmission when applicable. Until then, all transactions to BCHA Network Load POD (excluding separate transmission booked for losses) will be charge at maximum price of $6.4. We appreciate your patience until this issue is resolved.


Outstanding Long-term Transmission

Posted on April 24 , 3:40 p.m.

Outsanding Long-term Transmission (PDF)


BC Hydro Scheduling Application - Operational

Posted on April 8 , 1:01 p.m.

In the bulletin posted on 5 April 2002 @ 18:23 we stated that there would be a BC Hydro Scheduling Application outage commencing at 12:00:00 PDT on 8 April 2002. Additionally, we set out the official backup procedures during this outage period in order to accommodate the transition from eTag 1.67 to 1.7 in Pre-schedule. Effective 13:00:00 PDT today (8 April 2002), backup procedures for both Pre-schedule and Real-time will be lifted and we will recommence operations. Please contact Ann Morrison at 604-473-2751 if you have questions regarding the submission of eTag 1.7 Pre-schedule tags.

Also, note that Real-time will be cutting over to eTag 1.7 at 23:00:00 PDT on 9 April 2002 as set out in the bulletin posted on 8 April 2002 @ 11:12.


eTage 1.7 Cut-Over Times

Posted on April 8 , 11:12 a.m.

In the bulletin posted 5 April 2002 @ 18:23 we refer to the document entitled NERC's Revised eTag 1.67 to 1.7 Cut-over Plan. In that document, the "Introduction" section states cut-over times as follows:

Eastern time: 0100 April 10, 2002
Central time: 0000 April 10, 2002
Mountain time: 2300 April 9, 2002
Pacific time: 2200 April 9, 2002

The times listed above are INCORRECT.

The CORRECT times, based on Daylight Savings Time, are as follows:

Eastern time: 0200 April 10, 2002
Central time: 0100 April 10, 2002
Mountain time: 0000 April 9, 2002
Pacific time: 2300 April 9, 2002

Please amend your copy of NERC's document to reflect the correct cut-over times.


BC Hydro Scheduling Application Outage and eTag 1.7 Implementation Plan

Posted on April 5 , 6:23 p.m.

On Monday, 8 April 2002, our Scheduling Application will not be operational commencing 12:00:00 PDT until further notice. This is to accommodate the transition from eTag 1.67 to 1.7 in Pre-schedule. Therefore, official backup procedures will be in effect for both Pre-schedule and Real-time as follows:

Transmission Reservations:
The Pre-schedule and Real-time Offices will not post any further ATC to OASIS until BC Hydro’s Scheduling Application is restored. All transmission requests received during the official outage times will be REFUSED.

Energy Schedules:
While the Scheduling Application is down, the Real-time Office will rely on the Alberta and BPA operators to establish the net schedule capacity amounts for each operating hour in which the system is down.

BC Hydro will not be processing eTags, so any eTags that are “late” will be DENIED without BC Hydro’s active approval.

Adjustments/credits may be made after-the-fact.

For your information, NERC’s Revised eTag 1.67 to 1.7 Cut-over Plan is located at http://server06.nerc.com/tag/E-tag/Cutover_Plan.pdf. In it, NERC sets out cut-over times; the cut-over process; and how to tag transactions that end prior to, after, and which span over the official cut-over time. Please ensure that you are familiar with this information. If you have questions regarding the submission of eTag 1.7 Pre-schedule tags, contact Ann Morrison at 604-473-2751.

Note that we will be posting bulletins as new information arises during this transition time.


Change in Non-Firm Scheduling and Displacement Timelines

Posted on April 4 , 2:29 p.m.

Effective 00:00:00 5 April 2002, Sections 4 and Sections 5 of our Scheduling Business Practices will be revised. Specifically, the Conditional Until period for Hourly (pre-schedule) Short-Term Non-Firm Transmission Service in Table 2 of Section 4 will be changed from 14h00 normal pre-schedule day (NPD) to 10h00 NPD. Also, Section 5.4.3(3) and (7) will reflect that the displacement process will conclude at 11:59:59 of the NPD rather than at 14:59:59 of the NPD. These amendments permit us to introduce further flexibility to our customers and accommodate their requirements to submit eTags in a timely fashion.


Revised Business Practices Due to eTag 1.7 Implementation

Posted on April 4 , 11:55 a.m.

eTag 1.7 represents an extensive redesign of the existing eTag system, which will improve the usability and flexibility of the tool as well as provide interactivity that is currently not available. Due to the magnitude of changes encompassed in eTag 1.7, we have revised Sections 9 (Scheduling Energy on Transmission Reservations), 10 (Ancillary Services), and 11 (Curtailment, Interruption and Reinstatement) of our Scheduling Business Practices, which will be effective upon implementation of 1.7. Note that NERC's cutover plan from eTag 1.67 to 1.7 is scheduled for 23:00 (PDT) on 9 April 2002 followed by an undetermined length of outage for the cutover.


Displacement: Matching Requests

Posted on March 21 , 9:51 a.m.

Please replace the IMPORTANT NOTE in Section 5.4.3(3), of Matching Requests, in your copy of Grid Operations' Scheduling Business Practices, which is clarified as follows:

5.4.3(3)
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Matching for Day Plus 1 must be completed within the Customer Confirmation Limit for Matching as identified in the Matching Timeline Table or processed by 14:59:59 of the Normal Pre-Schedule Day (NPD), whichever is less, for service commencing on Day Plus 1. Shortly thereafter, the Pre-schedule Office will process all transmission requests that commence Day Plus 1 thereby concluding the displacement process for Day Plus 1 despite other active displacement processes for Day Plus 2 onward.

Notwithstanding the above, the conditional periods in Tables 1 (Firm) and 2 (Non-Firm) of the Scheduling Timelines in Section 4.3 still apply and are independent of the 14:59:59 timeframe as discussed.

Matching Requests is part of the displacement process that occurs in pre-schedule only, NOT real-time. Refer to Section 5.4, entitled Displacements, in its entirety for all the rules associated with the displacement process.


Reissuance of Denied eTags

Posted on March 6 , 9:43 a.m.

Over the past several weeks eTags have been "Denied" by other approval entities and reissued by the PSE. eTag Version 1.67 does not allow a PSE to "Withdraw" a Denied eTag and because of the No-Tag-No-Flow issue we did not install the functionality to remove "Denied" tags from our Scheduling System. Thus, when a PSE reissues the "Denied" tag the energy schedule is in our system twice, which makes checkout problematic for our scheduling dispatcher.

Functionality to address this issue will be realized when eTag 1.7 is implemented on 10 April 2002. Therefore, until eTag 1.7 is implemented we ask PSE schedulers to call our real-time desk at 604-293-5822 when a PSE reissues a "Denied" eTag that has been "Approved" by BCHA so that the scheduling dispatcher can zero out the original energy schedule thereby eliminating the problem of checkout. We thank you, in advance, for your cooperation regarding this matter.


eTag Version 1.7 Dress Rehearsals

Posted on March 5 , 10:25 a.m.

On 22 February 2002, NERC reluctantly announced a delay in the implementation of eTag Version 1.7 from 6 March 2002 to 10 April 2002. This delay was necessitated by vendor interoperability problems experienced during the Dress Rehearsals held on 14 and 21 February 2002, which could adversely impact reliability and hamper the marketplace.

To help ensure successful implementation on 10 April 2002 additional Dress Rehearsals and open testing periods will be held each week until implementation. The Dress Rehearsal format was chosen to simultaneously handle interoperability testing and training and is as follows:

6 March 2002 Dress Rehearsal - noon to 6 pm EST
11 March 2002 Dress Rehearsal - noon to 6 pm EST
13 March 2002 Dress Rehearsal - noon to 6 pm EST
18 March 2002 Dress Rehearsal - noon to 6 pm EST
20 March 2002 Dress Rehearsal - noon to 6 pm EST
25 March 2002 Dress Rehearsal - noon to 6 pm EST
27 March 2002 Dress Rehearsal - noon to 6 pm EST
1 April 2002  
3 April 2002 Dress Rehearsal - noon to 6 pm EST
8-9 April 2002 Transition Period of overlapping for Pre-scheduling
10 April 2002 Implementation of eTag Version 1.7

If you wish to sumbit tags with BCHA as the Transmission Provider, you will need to coordinate with Gary Schuring or Matt LeBrun at BC Hydro Grid Operations and Interutility Affairs. Contact Gary at 604-296-1627 or Matt at 604-296-1639 to ensure that there is transmission set up and available in our eTag 1.70 test system. Thank you for your cooperation.


OASIS Now Operational

Posted on March 3 , 2:23 a.m.

Further to the bulletin posted on 020302 2354 PPT, we are pleased to announce that OASIS is operational effective immediately. Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.


OASIS Outage

Posted on March 2 , 11:54 p.m.

Posted on 020302
OASIS is not functioning in both Pre-schedule and Real-time. Therefore backup procedures are now in place until further notice. This outage should be resolved shortly and we will post another notice once OASIS is back on-line. Thank you for your patience.


Long-Term Transmission Service Update

Posted on February 28 , 8:23 p.m.

ILM STUDY
As described in the 2001 March 5 Bulletin Further Study for Long-term Firm Requests, BC Hydro undertook an extensive study of the constrained Interior-to-Lower Mainland path to determine if ATC could be identified beyond what had been previously identified, and if timeframes for ATC could be advanced. The results of the “System Impact Study for Increased Interior to Lower Mainland Transfer” are now available and posted at Gridops.

The study results show that there are potential Network Upgrades to accommodate additional transmission requests. The ILM study also states that the earliest possible in-service date for the Network Upgrades is considered to be 2004 December 31.

BC Hydro will proceed to offer in accordance with queue priority service which can be made available by virtue of the upgrades now identified. Requests with stop dates before Network Upgrades can be in-service (2004 December 31) will be refused. Other requests may be tendered a Facilities Study Agreement to reflect identified Network Upgrades as necessary.

For more information, please contact Karen Adderley at 604-293-5839 or Mark Prosperi-Porta at 604-293-5898.

ADVANCEMENT OF GUICHON SERIES CAPACITOR STATION
The 2001 January 31 Facilities Study for OASIS No. 254221 estimated an in-service date for the Guichon Series Capacitor of 2006 October 1. This estimate factored in a significant time requirement for approvals, site selection and public consultation.

The expected in-service date of the Guichon Series Capacitor station is now 2003 October 31 based on progress to date.

BC HYDRO SOUTHERN INTERIOR TRANSMISSION NETWORK
BC Hydro has performed sufficient studies to determine that reinforcements may be required on the BC Hydro Southern Interior transmission network to accommodate the high level of requested EAL to BCHA/BPAT transmission service.

Network Upgrades that could increase ATC on the BC Hydro Southern Interior transmission network include a new transmission line between BC Hydro Cranbrook and Selkirk substations and series capacitor stations on lines 5L91 (Selkirk to Ashton Creek), 5L94 (Cranbrook to Langdon) and 5L98 (Selkirk to Nicola).

Existing customers in the queue for long-term transmission service for the EAL x BCHA/BPAT path may be tendered a Facilities Study Agreement that will include these Network Upgrades.


Post Schedule Details Functionality - Update

Posted on February 27 , 1:35 p.m.

Further to the bulletins posted on 6 November 2001 @ 16:46 and 14 December 2001 @ 8:52, we hereby advise all customers that the Post Schedule Details functionality will not be operational in February 2002 as anticipated. Rather, this capability will be released in June/July 2002. However, we will post another bulletin closer to the release of this functionality, specifying the precise time of implementation.

As discussed in the aforementioned bulletins, this functionality will post daily energy schedule information to OASIS for schedules that have flowed on the previous day as well as post the curtailment details that occurred for those energy schedules.


Planned Systems Outage

Posted on February 25 , 2:19 p.m.

On 27 February 2002 from 20:45 to 22:45 PPT, OASIS, eTag services, and our Scheduling Application will not be operational.

Where possible, customers are encouraged to submit block schedules prior to 20:45 PPT for HE22, HE23, and HE24.

Transmission Reservations:
The Real-time Office will not post any further ATC to OASIS until the outage is over. Therefore, all transmission requests received during the official outage time will be REFUSED.

Energy Schedules:
The Real-time Office will rely on the Alberta and BPA operators to establish the net schedule capacity amounts for each operating hour in which the systems are down.

Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.


eTag 1.70 NERC Registration Requirements

Posted on February 20 , 3:51 p.m.

If your company has not registered the required eTag 1.70 information with the NERC registry database, please do so IMMEDIATELY at TSIN.

All CAs are REQUIRED to register Sources and Sinks
All TPs are REQUIRED to register PORs and PODs
All PSEs are REQUIRED to register associated Generation and Load Points

For more information and a list of entities who are non compliant, please visit the following OATI information page and look for the heading IMPORTANT INFORMATION.


Duration and Profiles

Posted on February 13 , 5:10 p.m.

We have noticed and understand that there is confusion surrounding the interpretation of hourly duration and how to enter one's desired duration in OASIS.

As you know, duration plays an integral role in the displacement process. Duration is the number of consecutive, same MW service increments within the Start and Stop Time. Only consecutive service increments with constant MW amounts between the Start and Stop Time are counted to measure the duration of a transmission request.

A customer can enter his/her duration of desired MWs using two methods:
Method 1: On the front submission screen of the transmission request; or
Method 2: Through subsequent screens on the transmission request that are entitled Edit Profile and Reconcile Profile.

In an effort to respond to customer needs and confirm the rules, effective immediately a customer who submits a transmission request using Method 2 to enter a flat MW profile less than 24-hour duration will be INVALID as portrayed in the second illustration in the attachment. Together, the bulletin and attachment should clarify this subject matter.


Displacements: Matching Requests

Posted on February 12 , 2:52 p.m.

Please replace Section 5.4.3(5), of Matching Requests, in your copy of Grid Operations' Scheduling Business Practices, which is clarified as follows:

5.4.3(5)
In order to be a valid matching request, the Customer can reduce or match but NOT exceed its original MW value provided that ATC is available at the time of the MATCH; must match or exceed duration of the competing request; and must be equal to or greater than the posted price for the respective hours. Note that a higher price does not determine who wins the competition since duration is the determinant in a Duration ROFR not price. Notwithstanding this, the profile must remain flat to achieve the duration required measurement.

Matching Requests is part of the displacement process that occurs in pre-schedule only, NOT real-time. Refer to Section 5.4, entitled Displacements, in its entirety for all the rules associated with the displacement process.


OASIS Now Operational

Posted on February 9 , 10:38 a.m.

Further to the bulletin posted 09 February 2002 at 10:11, we are pleased to announce that OASIS is operational effective immediately. Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.


OASIS Outage

Posted on February 9 , 10:11 a.m.

It appears that OASIS is not functioning in both Pre-schedule and Real-time. Therefore, backup procedures are now in place until further. This outage should be resolved shortly and we will post another notice once OASIS is back on-line. At this time OASIS requests are not being processed automatically by the scheduling application.

Thank you for your patience.


OATI Upgrade Outage Tonight

Posted on February 7 , 4:59 p.m.

In order to prepare for the upcoming conversion to E-Tag 1.7 on 6 March 2002, the OATI Network Support team will be performing some preparatory tasks during the morning of Friday, 8 February 2002. The outage is expected to begin at 00:05:00 (midnight) PPT and be completed by 00:45:00 PPT.

Where possible, customers are encouraged to submit block schedules prior to the 00:05:00 for HE01, HE02, and HE03.

However, customers submitting energy schedules during the outage should follow backup procedures as follows:

1. Real-time – Customers may telephone the Real-time Office at (604) 293-5822 with their parent and loss (child) energy schedules. If a customer does not request a loss schedule then BC Hydro will default as the loss supplier.

2. Interruptible Energy schedules will be accepted by telephone.

3. The following applies to Adjust (send and receive):

 Upon (telephone) notification from the Sink Control Area, the Schedulers will manually adjust the energy schedule accordingly in BC Hydro’s Scheduling Application. The Sink Control Area is responsible for notifying parties to the transaction (in eTag).

 In the event that BC Hydro is the Sink Control Area, the Schedulers will notify the Source Control Area by telephone and adjust the energy schedule in BC Hydro’s Scheduling Application. This will automatically trigger the creation of an Adjust eTag when service resumes.


NW OASIS Administrator to Block Customers

Posted on February 5 , 6:29 p.m.

Further to the bulletins posted on 24 October 2001 @ 9:53 and 29 October 2001 @ 15:37 regarding customers submitting excessive transactions (transtatus queries, transoffering queries, etc.) and automatic systems that do not comply with FERC's Standards & Communication Protocols version 1.4, respectively, this is to advise customers that the NW OASIS Administrator (Administrator) is conducting random checks on both these issues.

The Administrator has advised us that customers are submitting excessive requests in rapid fire mode and are performing constant queries (transtatus, transoffering, etc.) on the NW OASIS node, which is severely hampering performance and consuming excessive computer resources thereby compromising the integrity of the NW OASIS node. As a result, the Administrator is imposing a limit of 200 transactions (transtatus, transoffering, requests, etc.) per hour per company NOT 200 transactions per certificate per company. Neither the Administrator nor BC Hydro Grid Operations is responsible for monitoring the number of customer transactions. It is the sole responsibility of the customer to monitor and comply with the above-noted Administrator restriction.

The Administrator will be conducting random checks to ensure that the 200 transaction limit, as discussed above, is not violated. If the Administrator determines that a customer is violating this restriction, it will be forced to block all transactions for that particular customer without warning. If a customer is blocked they can no longer transact on BC Hydro's system via the NW OASIS node either automatically or manually (in pre-schedule and real-time). Therefore, they should contact Brenda Ambrosi at 604-293-5852 and leave their name and telephone number on her voice mail if she is unavailable. She will then inform the Administrator, who in turn, will contact that particular customer for resolution of the situation. We thank you for your cooperation in this matter.


OASIS Now Operational

Posted on February 3 , 5:26 p.m.

Further to the bulletin posted 03 February 2002 at 1:43pm, we are pleased to announce that OASIS is operational effective immediately.

Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.


OASIS Outage

Posted on February 3 , 1:43 p.m.

It appears that OASIS is not functioning in both Pre-schedule and Real-time. Therefore, backup procedures are now in place effective 13:45 or until further notice. This outage should be resolved shortly and we will post another notice once OASIS is back on-line. At this time OASIS requests are not being processed automatically by the scheduling application.

Thank you for your patience.


BC Hydro Scheduling Application - Operational

Posted on January 31 , 10:30 a.m.

Further to the bulletin posted 31 January 2002 at 8:24, we are pleased to announce that our Scheduling Application will be operational effective 10:45. Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.


BC Hydro Scheduling Application Outage

Posted on January 31 , 8:24 a.m.

Our Scheduling Application is not functioning properly in both Pre-schedule and Real-time. Therefore, official backup procedures are effective immediately until further notice. These procedures are as follows:

Transmission Reservations:
The Pre-schedule and Real-time Offices will not post any further ATC to OASIS until BC Hydro’s Scheduling Application is restored. All transmission requests received during the official outage times will be REFUSED.

Energy Schedules:
While the Scheduling Application is down, the Real-time Office will rely on the Alberta and BPA operators to establish the net schedule capacity amounts for each operating hour in which the system is down.

BC Hydro will not be processing eTags, so any eTags that are “late” will be DENIED without BC Hydro’s active approval.

Adjustments/credits may be made after-the-fact.

This outage should be resolved within the next few hours and we will post another notice once our Scheduling Application is back on-line. Thank you for your patience.


New Path LM>US - Update

Posted on January 29 , 9:35 a.m.

Further to the bulletin posted on 8 January 2002 @ 12:27, we hereby advise all customers that the LM>US path will not be operational on 6 February 2002 as originally anticipated. Rather, this path will be operational in April 2002. However, we will post another bulletin closer to the implementation of this capability, specifying the precise time of implementation.


BC Hydro Scheduling Application - Operational

Posted on January 28 , 5:49 p.m.

Further to the bulletin posted 28 January 2002 at 13:22, we are pleased to announce that our Scheduling Application will be operational effective 18:00. Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.


BC Hydro Scheduling Application Outage

Posted on January 28 , 1:22 p.m.

Our Scheduling Application is not functioning properly in both Pre-schedule and Real-time. Therefore, official backup procedures are effective immediately until further notice. These procedures are as follows:

Transmission Reservations:
The Pre-schedule and Real-time Offices will not post any further ATC to OASIS until BC Hydro’s Scheduling Application is restored. All transmission requests received during the official outage times will be REFUSED.

Energy Schedules:
While the Scheduling Application is down, the Real-time Office will rely on the Alberta and BPA operators to establish the net schedule capacity amounts for each operating hour in which the system is down.

BC Hydro will not be processing eTags, so any eTags that are “late” will be DENIED without BC Hydro’s active approval.

Adjustments/credits may be made after-the-fact.

This outage should be resolved within the next few hours and we will post another notice once our Scheduling Application is back on-line. Thank you for your patience.


BC Hydro Scheduling Application - Operational

Posted on January 25 , 2:45 p.m.

Further to the bulletin posted 25 January 2002 at 9:19, we are pleased to announce that our Scheduling Application will be operational effective 15:00. Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.


BC Hydro Scheduling Application Outage

Posted on January 25 , 9:19 a.m.

Our Scheduling Application is not functioning properly in both Pre-schedule and Real-time. Therefore, official backup procedures are now in place until further notice. These procedures are as follows:

Transmission Reservations:
The Pre-schedule and Real-time Offices will not post any further ATC to OASIS until BC Hydro’s Scheduling Application is restored. All transmission requests received during the official outage times will be REFUSED.

Energy Schedules:
While the Scheduling Application is down, the Real-time Office will rely on the Alberta and BPA operators to establish the net schedule capacity amounts for each operating hour in which the system is down.

BC Hydro will not be processing eTags, so any eTags that are “late” will be DENIED without BC Hydro’s active approval.

Adjustments/credits may be made after-the-fact.

This outage should be resolved shortly and we will post another notice once our Scheduling Application is back on-line. Thank you for your patience.


OASIS Now Operational

Posted on January 24 , 1:23 p.m.

Further to the bulletin posted 24 January 2002 at 11:15, we are pleased to announce that OASIS is operational effective immediately. Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.


OASIS Outage

Posted on January 24 , 11:15 a.m.

It appears that OASIS is not functioning in both Pre-schedule and Real-time. Therefore, backup procedures are now in place until further notice. This outage should be resolved shortly and we will post another notice once OASIS is back on-line. Thank you for your patience.


New Path - LM>US

Posted on January 8 , 12:27 p.m.

Grid Operations has identified that, at times, there is additional transmission capacity from the Lower Mainland (LM) to the US that we want to make available to the wholesale electricity market. As a result, commencing 6 February 2001, BC Hydro Grid Operations will provide service on a new path, identified as W/BCHA/LM - BPAT// (LM>US), on OASIS.

The LM will be a Point-of-Receipt (POR); it will not be a Point-of-Delivery (POD). That is, customers will only be able to reserve transmission from the LM to the US, and not vice-versa.

ATC for the LM>US path will be posted on OASIS, thus providing information on transmission capacity between the LM coastal region and the US. The ATC of the new LM>US path and the existing BC>US (W/BCHA/BCHA - BPAT//) path are related. The relationship is as follows:

Transmission reservations on the BC>US path will decrement the ATC on both the BC>US and LM>US paths.

The ATC of the BC>US path is the minimum of its own internal ATC and the LM>US ATC

Example:

  LM>US ATC BC>US ATC
Starting ATC 1200 1000
Reserve 50 MW LM>US 1150 1000
Reserve 75 MW BC>US 1075 925
Reserve 200 MW LM>US 875 875

For details regarding this new path or if you have any issues or concerns related to implementation of this capability contact Brenda Ambrosi.

Another bulletin will be posted closer to the implementation of this capability, specifying the precise time of implementation.


Michael Nygren

Posted on January 3 , 10:39 a.m.

Michael Nygren - an Engineer-in-Training (EIT) with B.C. Hydro - has started at the System Control Center (SCC) for a four month EIT rotation until May 7, 2002. Michael has rotated through B.C. Hydro Resource Management group and GMS Generating Plant in his previous EIT rotations. His next EIT rotation is planned to be with Powerex immediately following his rotation with SCC.


OASIS Now Operational

Posted on January 3 , 10:20 a.m.

Further to the bulletin posted 3 January 2002 at 8:53, we are pleased to announce that OASIS is operational effective immediately for real-time.

ATC for pre-schedule will be uploaded to OASIS at 10:30 thereby opening the bidding window at 11:00.

Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.


OASIS OUTAGE

Posted on January 3 , 8:53 a.m.

It appears that OASIS is not functioning properly in Real-time. Therefore, backup procedures are now in place until further notice. We will post another notice once OASIS is back on-line.

Pre-schedule is not open for business at this point in time until the OASIS problem is resolved or until further notice. Thank you for your patience.


OASIS OUTAGE

Posted on January 3 , 8:53 a.m.

It appears that OASIS is not functioning properly in Real-time. Therefore, backup procedures are now in place until further notice. We will post another notice once OASIS is back on-line.

Pre-schedule is not open for business at this point in time until the OASIS problem is resolved or until further notice. Thank you for your patience.


Source and Sink Fields in OASIS

Posted on January 2 , 2:27 p.m.

We have received a customer enquiry regarding the use of Source and Sink fields in OASIS. We do not require customers to fill out these two fields because the information we require to analyze the ability of our transmission system to accomodate the request is extracted from the POR and POD fields. Furthermore, the eTag provides us with the Source and Sink information that we need for operational purposes. Notwithstanding, we may need information in the Source and Sink fields depending on the nature of the transmission service. If that situation arises, we will require the customer to provide that information. These business practices have been applied consistently to all customers.