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.

Title	Bulletin Date
Pre-Schedule Transmission	December 26, 8:23 a.m.
New Web Pages Now Available	December 23, 2:21 p.m.
Alcan>BC Hydro Transfer Limit - Confirmation	November 29, 4:04 p.m.
Proposed Counter-Schedule Business Practice	November 28, 3:57 p.m.
Transmission Reservation in Real-Time on OASIS	November 25, 4:14 p.m.
LM>BPAT PATH QUALIFICATION PROCESS - DRAFT	November 22, 2:47 p.m.
Alcan>BC Hydro Transfer Limit	November 22, 11:14 a.m.
OASIS and PPOA.BC Operational	November 21, 2:39 p.m.
Outage to eTag and OASIS November 21 14:00 PST	November 20, 4:41 p.m.
BC.AB.Border POR/POD change to PPOA.BC - Update	November 15, 3:54 p.m.
South Slocan > Princeton Transmission Reservations	November 14, 9:25 a.m.
OASIS NOW OPERATIONAL	November 13, 6:18 p.m.
Customer Workshop Action Items - Update	November 12, 4:42 p.m.
NWOASIS Site Off-line Wednesday November 13, 2002	November 12, 3:05 p.m.
NWOASIS Site Off-line Wednesday November 13, 2002	November 12, 1:58 p.m.
BC Hydro Scheduling Enhancement - POD/POR Validation	November 6, 4:16 p.m.
OASIS Now Operational	November 4, 12:42 p.m.
OASIS OUTAGE	November 4, 10:56 a.m.
Outstanding Long-term Transmission Requests - Update October 31, 2002	October 31, 10:17 a.m.
Outstanding Long-term Transmission Requests - Update 30, 2002	October 30, 2:21 p.m.
Proposed Vaseux Lake Substation	October 25, 3:06 p.m.
Outage with respect to October 27 2002 eTags	October 25, 2:55 p.m.
BCHA.LM.SYS POR	October 11, 2:35 p.m.
TRM Procedure for BC-Alberta Intertie	October 11, 2:25 p.m.
LM to US Path Rollout Completed - OASIS and Etag System Operational	October 9, 5:58 p.m.
New LM>US Path - Implementation and OASIS/eTag Outage October 9th!	October 8, 1:40 p.m.
Alternative OASIS site	October 5, 9:17 a.m.
OASIS outage	October 4, 10:24 p.m.
OASIS back in service	October 4, 9:43 p.m.
OASIS outage	October 4, 9:21 p.m.
New LM>US Path - Rollout Delay	October 1, 3:15 p.m.
Customer Satisfaction Survey Results	October 1, 1:49 p.m.
Summary of Customer Workshop September 12, 2002	September 30, 12:03 p.m.
BC to Alberta Transfer	September 12, 9:29 a.m.
Firm Transfers from Selkirk Station to Cranbrook Station	September 11, 4:32 p.m.

Pre-Schedule Transmission

Posted on December 26 , 8:23 a.m.

Due to unknown circumstances hourly and daily transmission for day plus 2, December 28, 2002 was not available for purchase at 00:00:00 December 26, 2002.

This transmission will be made available this morning December 26, 2002 at 09:00am.

Hourly Transmission – December 27 and 28, 2002

Daily Transmission – December 27, 28, 29 and 30, 2002.

We apoligize for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers

New Web Pages Now Available

Posted on December 23 , 2:21 p.m.

We are pleased to announce the addition of the following pages to the Grid Operations Website:

Actual Flow Data
Grid Operations now posts the actual flow of the BC-US and BC-AB interties. A snapshot of the past two days net actual flow of the interties is presented graphically, and the source data (in 10 minute increments) is posted in text and excel spreadsheet format. The information is located at the Actual Flow Data section of this site
Interconnection Requirements
Generator interconnection information is now available on the Grid Operations Website. This information is of interest to power producers wishing to connect generation to the BC Hydro transmission system. The information includes generator interconnection requirements, the interconnection process and a standard interconnection agreement. The information is located at the Interconnections Requirements section of this site.

We are interested in any comments or suggestions you may have on the new pages or the website in general. Please provide any feedback you may have to bcha.oasis@bchydro.bc.ca. Thank-you.

Alcan>BC Hydro Transfer Limit - Confirmation

Posted on November 29 , 4:04 p.m.

As per the bulletin posted November 22, 2002 @ 11:14, the Alcan > BC Hydro transfer limit is confirmed at 380 MW on a non-firm basis effective 30 November 2002 hour ending 13:00. Updates to the Alcan > BC Hydro transfer limit will be posted to this website.

Proposed Counter-Schedule Business Practice

Posted on November 28 , 3:57 p.m.

BC Hydro Grid Operations posts the following DRAFT business practice for consideration and comment by market participants. Please send all comments to Mark Prosperi-Porta by December 13, 2002.

Transmission Reservation in Real-Time on OASIS

Posted on November 25 , 4:14 p.m.

When reserving transmission in Real-time on OASIS with status Pre-Confirmed No, should the reservation time out on the BCHA Scheduling System prior to the customer confirming the reservation on OASIS, the BCHA Scheduling System timing will be used and the OASIS request will be invalid. Real-time Schedulers will not reserve the transmission manually.

LM>BPAT PATH QUALIFICATION PROCESS - DRAFT

Posted on November 22 , 2:47 p.m.

The following DRAFT process and business practice for scheduling on the LM > BPAT path are posted comments. Please submit comments via e-mai to mark.prosperi-porta@bchydro.com by December 6, 2002. Process

Transmission Customers must use generation located in the Lower Mainland. For the purpose of scheduling on the LM > BPAT, Lower Mainland generation is generally defined as generation on the BC Hydro integrated system connected in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island load area.
The generator(s) must have an interconnection agreement with BC Hydro and meet BC Hydro interconnection requirements.
Prior to usage, the Transmission Customer must contact Grid Operations and provide the following information:
- Generator(s) Name and MW Rating
- Location
- Other as required by BC Hydro Grid Operations
BC Hydro Grid Operations will confirm the generator(s) qualifies for LM > BPAT transactions.
BC Hydro Grid Operations will then register the generator(s) as a source on the TSIN Registry, OASIS and our eTag registry. This will take approximately 3 days.

Once the above steps are complete, Grid Operations will notify the Transmission Customer that they are able to utilize the LM > BPAT path with that generator(s). Transmission Customers must then follow the business practices listed below when reserving transmission and scheduling energy on the LM > BPAT Path. Business Practices

Transmission Customers reserving transmission on the LM > BPAT path must use the BCHA.LM.SYS POR and insert their generator name in the source field of the OASIS request.
Transmission Customers scheduling energy on the LM > BPAT path must identify their generator name in the source field of the eTag.

Alcan>BC Hydro Transfer Limit

Posted on November 22 , 11:14 a.m.

Alcan Primary Metal British Columbia is interconnected with the BC Hydro transmission system near Kitimat. Under system normal conditions, the nominal transfer limit from Alcan to BC Hydro is 300 MW. System studies are currently being performed to determine under what conditions the transfer limit can be increased to the 350 – 380 MW level on both a temporary and long-term basis. The earliest possible effective date of an increased limit is early December 2002. Another bulletin will be posted to confirm the transfer limit and effective date once this information is finalized.

OASIS and PPOA.BC Operational

Posted on November 21 , 2:39 p.m.

We are pleased to announce that OASIS is operational effective immediately. The PPOA.BC POR/POD is now in effect. Customers must now use PPOA.BC POR/POD for transmission reservations and eTags to and from Alberta. If customers use BC.AB.Border POR/POD on eTags after the outage, the eTags will be denied and customers must resubmit the eTags with the PPOA.BC POR/POD. Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.

Outage to eTag and OASIS November 21 14:00 PST

Posted on November 20 , 4:41 p.m.

Our eTag vendor has notified as that there will be an outage to the BC Hydro eTag system beginning at 14:00:00 PST. The outage is expected to last approximately one half-hour. BC Hydro will also take the opportunity at the same time to update PPOA.BC POR/POD on NWOASIS (see bulletin posted November 15, 2002 @ 15:54). Customers must log off NWOASIS at 14:00:00 otherwise the POR/POD update will not be seen on their session. Prior to the outage, customers must continue to use BC.AB.Border POR/POD for transmission reservations and eTags to and from Alberta. After the outage, customers must use PPOA.BC POR/POD for transmission reservations and eTags to and from Alberta. If customers use BC.AB.Border POR/POD on eTags after the outage, the eTags will be denied and customers must resubmit the eTags with the PPOA.BC POR/POD. The scheduled outage will affect both Pre-schedule and Real-time operations. Customers needing to preschedule during this outage must follow the official Backup Procedures for an OASIS Outage and eTag System Outage located in Section 12.2(a) and 12.3 of our Scheduling Business Practices. Customers must not submit transmission requests through OASIS during the outage. Any transmission requests that are submitted on OASIS during the outage will be INVALID. To minimize the impact of this outage, please plan to complete your OASIS reservations and submit your eTags in advance of the outage time of 14:00:00 PST. With respect to real-time operations, customers must follow the official Backup Procedures for an OASIS Outage and eTag System Outage located in Section 12.2(b) and 12.3 of our Scheduling Business Practices. In addition, please note that BC Hydro will be the default supplier for all Ancillary Services reservations including losses, and that, if required, BC Hydro will perform curtailments. Customers will be notified via bulletin when eTag and NWOASIS resumes normal operation or if further outage time is required. Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.

BC.AB.Border POR/POD change to PPOA.BC - Update

Posted on November 15 , 3:54 p.m.

BC.AB.Border POR/POD change to PPOA.BC - Update (DOC)

South Slocan > Princeton Transmission Reservations

Posted on November 14 , 9:25 a.m.

South Slocan > Princeton Transmission Reservations (DOC)

OASIS NOW OPERATIONAL

Posted on November 13 , 6:18 p.m.

We are pleased to announce that OASIS is operational effective immediately. Thank-you for your patience regarding this matter.

Customer Workshop Action Items - Update

Posted on November 12 , 4:42 p.m.

There were a number of action items resulting from the customer workshop held in Calgary on September 12, 2002. Below are the action items, with an update on the status:

Review ways to improve the BC Hydro curtailment process, including using OASIS, eTag 1.71, and/or e-mail as a means to notify customers of cuts. We have not yet identified a clear method to improve the communication of curtailments to customers. Communication by e-mail is not considered full proof, as recipients may not view e-mail during the critical notice of curtailment period. ETag 1.71 may provide the necessary functionality but it appears eTag 1.71 implementation is delayed. Further investigation is required.
Investigate moving the release of unused transmission earlier in the hour and/or releasing unused transmission earlier in the day or pre-schedule day. BC Hydro Grid Operations has reviewed the feasibility of moving the release of unused transmission. The results of the findings are:
- We can move the release of unused transmission to the top of the hour with moderate changes to our scheduling systems and processes. If we were to proceed with this change, it would have to be prioritized with our existing enhancements to our scheduling system and may take weeks or months.
- Moving the release of unused transmission to earlier than the top of the hour would require a significant modification to scheduling systems and processes and may therefore take a lengthy period of time. Moving the release of unused transmission to the Pre-schedule day is considered too complex and will not be considered further. We are asking Transmission Customers to indicate their preference with respect to release of unused transmission. Please choose from one of the options below: (i) Leave the release time of unused transmission at XX:10. (ii) Change the release time of unused transmission to XX:00 (approximate). Moderate change required. (iii) Change the release time of unused transmission to before the scheduling hour for next hour. Significant (and lengthy) change required. Please contact Grid Operations with your preference.
Network Economy Transmission. BC Hydro Grid Operations to investigate and report back to customers. Grid Operations to review unused network economy transmission. BC Hydro Grid Operations is continuing its investigation into this issue. Work is ongoing.
BC Hydro Grid Operations to provide better documentation and/or a tutorial on TTC/ATC methodology. Work is ongoing. Target date for completion and posting to the Grid Operations website is December 31 2002.
Improve the process so those requests that would otherwise be REFUSED do not initiate the Displacement process. An ATC check was suggested. An enhancement has been identified to alleviate this problem. The modification to the scheduling system and processes is scheduled to be completed by December 31, 2002.
Improve consistency of information relating to maintenance outages and provide additional information on TTC limiting factors/calculations. Several enhancements have been identified for addition to the website, including real-time flow data and better maintenance outage data. The real-time flow data is scheduled to be added to the website by the end of November, while the improvements to the maintenance information on the website is scheduled to be added by this fiscal year end or March 31, 2003.
BC Hydro Grid Operations will review limits posted in Pre-schedule on the BC-AB intertie. We have reviewed the Alberta TA BC<>EAL limits and although the numbers for DAY + 2 and beyond are not as optimistic as in the past, we still feel the numbers are not stable enough to use and avoid Pre-schedule curtailments. For the time being, we will continue our practice of using conservative TTC values for the DAY + 2 and beyond. We will also continue to monitor the Alberta TA BC<>EAL limits, and if warranted, revisit our practice in the future.
BC Hydro Grid Operations will consider breaking out the BC/US scheduling path into an east side and a west side path. Splitting the BC/US scheduling path into separate east side and west side paths requires more than a cursory change to our scheduling system and processes. A significant change would be required to our TTC/ATC methodology. The splitting of the paths would also need to be co-ordinated with BPA. In consideration of these factors and the expected business changes associated with RTO formation, we cannot justify splitting the BC/US scheduling path at this time.

Please contact Grid Operations if you have any comments. Future updates to the remaining action items above will be communicated via bulletin to the web site as completion nears.

NWOASIS Site Off-line Wednesday November 13, 2002

Posted on November 12 , 3:05 p.m.

Please note the previous bulletin posted at 13:58 did not originally contain the time of the outage. The time of the NWOASIS outage is 16:00 PST and will last approximately 2 hours.

This information has been incorporated into the previous bulletin.

NWOASIS Site Off-line Wednesday November 13, 2002

Posted on November 12 , 1:58 p.m.

BPA has notified us that there will be an outage to the NWOASIS site November 13 beginning at 16:00 PST to replace hardware and update firmware. The outage should last no more than two hours and the system is expected to be back on-line prior to 18:00 PST. The scheduled outage will affect both Pre-schedule and Real-time operations. In order to obtain transmission in Pre-schedule for day plus one, please plan to complete your OASIS reservations in advance of the outage time. During the outage, the Pre-schedule office will revert to back-up procedures. Please check the Backup Procedures in Section 12.2(a) of our Scheduling Business Practices. Any transmission requests that are submitted on OASIS during the NWOASIS outage will be INVALID. With respect to real-time operations, customers must follow the official Backup Procedures for an OASIS Outage located in Section 12.2(b) of our Scheduling Business Practices. That is, the Real-time Office will accept telephone requests for ATC during the outage, but customers must follow up by faxing the Transmission Service Fax Request Form to the Real-time Office fax number at (604) 473-2738. In addition, note that BC Hydro will be the default supplier for all Ancillary Services reservations including losses, and that, if required, BC Hydro will perform curtailments. All eTags will be processed as usual in Real-time and Pre-schedule. Customers will be notified via bulletin when NWOASIS resumes normal operation or if NWOASIS experiences further outage time. Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.

BC Hydro Scheduling Enhancement - POD/POR Validation

Posted on November 6 , 4:16 p.m.

BC Hydro Grid Operations released today an enhancement to our scheduling application that allows for validation of POD/POR on Super Blanket and Blanket eTags. Super Blanket and Blanket eTags must use the identical POD/PORs as those listed in the transmission reservation OASIS ID. Super Blanket and Blanket eTags that have different POD/PORs as those listed in the transmission reservation OASIS ID will be denied. Our business practices will be updated to reflect this feature.

OASIS Now Operational

Posted on November 4 , 12:42 p.m.

Further to the bulletin posted 04 November, 2002 @10:56, we are pleased to announce that OASIS is operational effective immediately. Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.

OASIS OUTAGE

Posted on November 4 , 10:56 a.m.

OASIS is not functioning in both Pre-schedule and Realtime. Therefore, backup porcedures are now in place until further notice. This outage should be resolved shortly and we will post another notice once OASIS is on-line. Thank you for you patience.

Outstanding Long-term Transmission Requests - Update October 31, 2002

Posted on October 31 , 10:17 a.m.

Outstanding Long-term Transmission Requests - Update October 31, 2002 (PDF)

Outstanding Long-term Transmission Requests - Update 30, 2002

Posted on October 30 , 2:21 p.m.

Outstanding Long-term Transmission Requests - Update October 30, 2002 (PDF)

Proposed Vaseux Lake Substation

Posted on October 25 , 3:06 p.m.

Planning work is currently underway in response to request by Aquila Networks Canada Ltd. (Aquila) for service, under the provisions of the General Wheeling Agreement between BC Hydro and Aquila, from the Kootenay region in B.C. to the South Okanagan region in B.C..

Work includes consideration of the interconnection of a proposed Aquila substation near Vaseux Lake with BC Hydro’s transmission system.

Outage with respect to October 27 2002 eTags

Posted on October 25 , 2:55 p.m.

We are experiencing a breakdown between OATI and our scheduling system with regard to eTags for Sunday October 27, 2002. Please submit all eTags for all 25 hours (if applicable) for October 27, 2002 by fax to the Pre-schedule office at (604) 473-2722 until further notice. ETags for October 25th and 26th must be submitted on OATI as per normal.

BCHA.LM.SYS POR

Posted on October 11 , 2:35 p.m.

The BCHA.LM.SYS POR is registered in and recognized by our eTag system effective 00:00:00 October 12, 2002. We apologize for any inconvenience.

TRM Procedure for BC-Alberta Intertie

Posted on October 11 , 2:25 p.m.

Transmission Reliability Margin (TRM) is defined as that amount of transmission transfer capability necessary to ensure that the interconnected transmission network is secure under a reasonable range of uncertainties in system conditions (See NERC Reference "Available Transfer Capability Definitions and Determination".)

TRM is applied on the BC-Alberta intertie to ensure compliance with the WECC Reliability Management System (RMS) Operating Transfer Capability (OTC) criteria.

TRM is usually within the range of 0 - 65 MW.
During the majority of hours in the year, TRM is 0 MW. This includes the condition where BC Hydro is "System Normal" with all equipment in service and EAL limits are used to determine BC <> AB TTC.
TRM can become greater than 0 MW during adverse operating conditions such as outages on the BC Hydro transmission system (See bulletin posted September 11, 2002 @ 16:32). The use of TRM becomes crucial during these adverse conditions as that is when the risk of OTC violations and unstable operation increases.
During adverse operating conditions, BC <> AB TTC may be reduced (for example, 5L92 out of service, see SOO 7T-17) AND TRM may be increased (up to 65 MW). Please note that TRM is subtracted from the reduced TTC amount to determine ATC. In other words, during times of reduced TTC, increased TRM may be required, further reducing ATC.

The requirement for TRM is continually evaluated as system operations change. Future changes or refinements to the application of TRM will be communicated to customers via the bulletins and/or website.

LM to US Path Rollout Completed - OASIS and Etag System Operational

Posted on October 9 , 5:58 p.m.

Further to the bulletin posted 8 October 2002 @ 13:40 PDT, we are pleased to announce that the new LM > US path rollout is complete and OASIS and eTag systems are operational effective immediately.

Please note the LM.US.Sys POR is still pending in the eTag system and therefore eTags cannot be implemented on the LM > US path. We will update customers when the BCHA.LM.Sys POR is recognized by our eTag system.

Thank you for your patience.

New LM>US Path - Implementation and OASIS/eTag Outage October 9th!

Posted on October 8 , 1:40 p.m.

We are pleased to announce that the new LM > US path will be released October 9, 2002 at 17:00:00 PDT. The new path is available for transactions that source in the Lower Mainland area of British Columbia, i.e. generation must be in the Lower Mainland area. Interested customers should contact Mark Prosperi-Porta to qualify their generation as eligible for LM > US transactions.

As a result of the release of this new path, the BC Hydro OASIS site and the eTag system will be off-line from 17:00:00 to approximately 17:30:00 PDT on Wednesday October 9, 2002. Customers will be notified via bulletin when BC Hydro OASIS resumes normal operation or if further outage time is required. The scheduled outage will affect both Pre-schedule and Real-time operations.

Customers needing to preschedule during this outage must follow the official Backup Procedures for an OASIS Outage and eTag System Outage located in Section 12.2(a) and 12.3 of our Scheduling Business Practices. Any transmission requests that are submitted on OASIS during the outage will be INVALID. To minimize the impact of this outage, please plan to complete your OASIS reservations and submit your eTags in advance of the outage time of 17:00:00 PDT.

With respect to real-time operations, customers must follow the official Backup Procedures for an OASIS Outage and eTag System Outage located in Section 12.2(b) and 12.3 of our Scheduling Business Practices. In addition, please note that BC Hydro will be the default supplier for all Ancillary Services reservations including losses, and that, if required, BC Hydro will perform curtailments.

Please let us know if you have comments or concerns. Thank-you for your patience and cooperation!

Alternative OASIS site

Posted on October 5 , 9:17 a.m.

For those still experiencing trouble accessing the BC hydro OASIS site, there is an alternative site available, the normal site will slowly be restored over the next 24 – 48 hours.

Alternate site address http://206.137.58.66/oasis/node

Please try the orginal site from time to time to see when it is restored

OASIS outage

Posted on October 4 , 10:24 p.m.

NWOASIS is again experiencing problems with their site. Please use back-up procedures for BCHA transmission requests until further notice.

OASIS back in service

Posted on October 4 , 9:43 p.m.

BPA reports NWOASIS is back in service. This has been confirmed by the BCHA real-time scheduler. Back-up procedures have ended and all transmission requests are to be submitted through OASIS.

OASIS outage

Posted on October 4 , 9:21 p.m.

BPA has reported NWOASIS site is down until further notice. Technical staff will be addressing the problems to fix as soon as possible. Transmission reservations from BCHA are to follow back-up procedures until further notice.

New LM>US Path - Rollout Delay

Posted on October 1 , 3:15 p.m.

There will be a slight delay of the rollout of the new LM>US path (see bulletin posted on August 16, 2002 @ 14:24 for information on the path) due to technical issues. A bulletin outlining the new implementation date and time will be released shortly.

If there are impacts to you resulting from this delay, please contact Mark Prosperi-Porta immediately. Thank you.

Customer Satisfaction Survey Results

Posted on October 1 , 1:49 p.m.

The results from the recent Customer Satisfaction Survey are now available. To view, please click on the following link. Thank-you.

Summary of Customer Workshop September 12, 2002

Posted on September 30 , 12:03 p.m.

Attached is a link to a document summarizing the BC Hydro Grid Operations Customer Workshop held in Calgary September 12, 2002.

BC to Alberta Transfer

Posted on September 12 , 9:29 a.m.

Due to system constraints recently uncovered, when 5L92 is out of service the BC to Alberta transfer is limited to 150MW to maintain system security.

Firm Transfers from Selkirk Station to Cranbrook Station

Posted on September 11 , 4:32 p.m.

Due to system constraints recently uncovered, firm transfers from Selkirk Station to Cranbrook Station may have to be curtailed to 276 MW if summer maintenance of 5L92 is required.

These system constraints include:

An adjustment of 2L293 and 2L294 rating to use 40°C instead of 30°C ambient temperature.
An addition of 65 MW TRM to the BCHA´EAL path.

Measure are being taken to minimize the possibility of firm transfer curtailments during summer maintenance, including:

Maximizing the use of live-line maintenance.
Scheduling summer maintenance during temperatures lower than 40°C.
Performing an assessment of upgrading 2L293 and 2L294 to operate at higher conductor temperatures.

Updates to this situation from the 2L293 and 2L294 assessment will be posted when available.