Bulletin Index 2007

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 2007 are listed below. Select another year in the drop-down to view bulletins from the archive.

Title	Bulletin Date
Revision to Extended Windows for New Years Day	December 31, 11:12 a.m.
Extended Windows for New Years Day	December 21, 5:27 p.m.
Competition for Monthly ATC – Decision	December 17, 4:13 p.m.
Extended Windows for Christmas	December 12, 3:44 p.m.
E-Tag 1.8 Cutover Plan – REMINDER	December 3, 3:12 p.m.
Release of Firm Transmission in Pre-schedule	December 3, 2:46 p.m.
Intermittent Telephone Problem for Pre-schedule	December 2, 11:30 a.m.
Pre-schedule Temporary Contact Number Change	November 30, 2:14 p.m.
Pre-schedule Processes	November 29, 12:01 p.m.
OASIS Outage Update	November 28, 10:49 a.m.
OASIS Outage	November 28, 9:24 a.m.
Extended Windows for New Month (December 2007)	November 26, 3:05 p.m.
OASIS and OATI eTag Outage	November 20, 10:24 a.m.
E-Tag 1.8 – Cutover Plan	November 19, 3:44 p.m.
US to AB Point-to-Point Study	November 15, 4:55 p.m.
E-Tag 1.8 – Customer Testing	November 15, 11:00 a.m.
Extended Windows for Thanksgiving Day	November 14, 3:53 p.m.
webOASIS outage	November 13, 9:38 a.m.
webOASIS Outage Update	November 13, 9:51 a.m.
Competition for Monthly ATC - Latest Update	November 8, 3:15 p.m.
Wind Generation Interconnection Requirements Workshop	November 8, 12:23 p.m.
Competition for Monthly ATC – Sequence of Events	November 7, 2:53 p.m.
Extended Windows for Veteran's Day	November 5, 4:01 p.m.
Competition for Monthly ATC - Clarification	November 5, 2:42 p.m.
Competition for Monthly ATC - Update	November 5, 11:10 a.m.
Nov 2 Wind TIR Bulletin	November 2, 9:23 p.m.
Competition for Monthly ATC	November 2, 4:15 p.m.
Transmission System One-Line Diagram	November 2, 2:20 p.m.
Wind Integration Project	October 23, 4:03 p.m.
OASIS Service Restored	October 10, 12:09 p.m.
OASIS Outage	October 10, 9:49 a.m.
BCTC Internet Outage on September 28, 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm	September 28, 10:25 a.m.
System Impact Study for Alcan Kitimat Smelter Modernization Project	September 25, 3:11 p.m.
Potential Northwest Transmission Line Project Preliminary Facility Ratings and System Data – Supplemental Data	September 25, 3:01 p.m.
Incremental Available Power Delivery to Ingledow Substation	September 25, 2:51 p.m.
Extended Windows for New Month	September 20, 10:47 a.m.
eTag System Outage	September 12, 1:59 p.m.
eTag Outage is over	September 12, 2:33 p.m.
5L83 - Incremental Available Power Delivery to Ingledow Substation	September 7, 11:44 a.m.

Revision to Extended Windows for New Years Day

Posted on December 31 , 11:12 a.m.

The following is a revision to the opening of the extended windows (DOC 46KB) for purchasing transmission on New Years Day, January 1, 2008.

Extended Windows for New Years Day

Posted on December 21 , 5:27 p.m.

Market Operations is pleased to visually clarify the opening of the extended windows (DOC, 49KB) for purchasing transmission on New Years Day, January 01, 2008.

Competition for Monthly ATC – Decision

Posted on December 17 , 4:13 p.m.

Further to the bulletin dated November 8 at 3:15 pm, the Arbitrator has made a decision. BCTC is annulling BCPS Transmission Reservation # 71693299 and awarding the contract to NorthPoint’s Matching Transmission Reservation # 71694700 for the capacity, service and path as specified in the NorthPoint Matching Transmission Reservation.

Extended Windows for Christmas

Posted on December 12 , 3:44 p.m.

Market Operations is pleased to visually clarify the opening of the extended windows (DOC, 60KB) for purchasing transmission during Christmas, December 25, 2007.

E-Tag 1.8 Cutover Plan – REMINDER

Posted on December 3 , 3:12 p.m.

Further to the bulletin posted on November 19 at 3:44 pm, this is a reminder that there will be a 30 minute outage on December 4 from 19:30 to 20:00 PPT when E-Tag 1.8 will be implemented. Refer to the November 19 bulletin for details of the cutover plan.

Release of Firm Transmission in Pre-schedule

Posted on December 3 , 2:46 p.m.

Please be advised that effective December 4, 2007, BCTC will be changing its scheduling procedures in regards to the Canadian Entitlement Agreement and L71 Agreement. Currently on a daily basis, pre-schedule releases FIRM capacity for the next scheduling day on or after 10 AM, and the ATC is posted on OASIS. The scheduled release of this FIRM capacity will be moved to 11:30 AM. Contact Raj Hundal, WTS Manager, at 604-699-7475 if you have any questions.

Intermittent Telephone Problem for Pre-schedule

Posted on December 2 , 11:30 a.m.

Pre-schedule has been experiencing intermittent telephone problems. If unable to reach Pre-schedule at the regular telephone number (604-699-7575), please call 604-839-8998.

Pre-schedule Temporary Contact Number Change

Posted on November 30 , 2:14 p.m.

There will be temporary contact number change for the Pre-schedule Office on December 1, 2007. From 07:15 PPT until 12:30:00 PPT, customers should call the Pre-schedule Office at 604-293-5840 for assistance and fax at 604-293-5813. After 12:30:00 PPT, customers should contact the Pre-schedule Office at its regular telephone and fax numbers which are 604-699-7575 and 604-696-9886, respectively.

Pre-schedule Processes

Posted on November 29 , 12:01 p.m.

BCTC is pleased to assist customers in their understanding of its pre-schedule morning process and checks and balances with respect to posting information to OASIS.

In addition, BCTC wishes to take this opportunity to remind its customers of how far-out it posts ATC/TTC information for its paths for firm and non-firm transmission service. As set out in the bulletin dated December 3, 2003 at 3:34 pm, BCTC uploads ATC/TTC data to OASIS as follows:

7 days for Hourly Firm and Non-Firm transmission service,
30 days for Daily Firm and Non-Firm transmission service, and
13 months (including current month) for Monthly Firm and Non-Firm transmission service.

In 2006, BCTC started posting ATC/TTC information to OASIS for the FBCSYS-BCTCSYS path as set out above. BCTC has been asked for information regarding TTC transaction data on this path from January 2007 to November 2008 and is pleased to provide that information in the form of a spreadsheet.

OASIS Outage Update

Posted on November 28 , 10:49 a.m.

Further to the bulletin posted November 28, 2007 at 9:24am, BCTC is pleased to announce that the OASIS system is once again operational. Thank you for your patience in this matter.

OASIS Outage

Posted on November 28 , 9:24 a.m.

We have experienced intermittent communication problems with OASIS earlier today. These problems have resulted in processing issues since around 8:11am this morning. As a result, OASIS is down and we will resort to back up procedures for both real time and pre-schedule. Please refer to Section 13.2 of our Business Practices.

Extended Windows for New Month (December 2007)

Posted on November 26 , 3:05 p.m.

Market Operations is pleased to visually clarify the opening of the extended windows (DOC, 51KB) for purchasing transmission during the New Month, Saturday, 1 December 2007.

OASIS and OATI eTag Outage

Posted on November 20 , 10:24 a.m.

BCTC is declaring an OASIS and OATI eTag system outage starting at 12:55PM to 1:10PM PST. Please revert to Section 13 entitled Backup Procedures for Scheduling System Outages during this time period for both pre-schedule and real-time operations. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your cooperation regarding this matter.

E-Tag 1.8 – Cutover Plan

Posted on November 19 , 3:44 p.m.

Further to the bulletin posted on November 15 at 11:00 am, OATI has confirmed that it will be deploying changes defined in the NERC/NAESB Electronic Tagging Functional Specification Version 1.8 in the OATI Production ETS on December 4, 2007. On this day, BCTC will transition to E-Tag 1.8 starting at 19:30 PPT during a 30 minute outage. Throughout this time period BCTC’s back-up procedures will be in effect, which are set out in Section 13.4 of BCTC’s Business Practices (PDF, 48KB).

During the outage all transmission requests that are received will be refused. All pending tags will be set to Dead, and all active tags that meet the E-Tag 1.8 specification requirements will be converted to E-Tag 1.8 tags. Tags that do not meet the E-Tag 1.8 requirements will be terminated. The systems outage will conclude at 20:00 PPT at which time customers may log into ETS and OASIS to resume business.

Again, visit the NAESB WEQ JISWG webpage for additional information on E-Tag 1.8.

US to AB Point-to-Point Study

Posted on November 15 , 4:55 p.m.

System Impact Studies for US to AB Point-to-Point have been posted. Please click on US to AB Point-to-Point Study to view the report.

E-Tag 1.8 – Customer Testing

Posted on November 15 , 11:00 a.m.

BCTC invites customers to perform end user testing on E-Tag 1.8 between November 19 and November 30 on the wesTTrans Demo nodes (https://demo.oati.net/oati/ets-login.wml/ and https://bctctest.oatioasis.com/). Each tag should not exceed its referenced transmission capacity amount. In addition, tags and transmission requests must contain "TSSUAT1" in the customer comments field in both the ETS and OASIS systems. However, customers can add additional text to "TSSUAT1" in the customer comments field, if desired. If tags and transmission requests are not entered correctly they will be denied.

OATI is targeting December 4, 2007 for deploying changes defined in the NERC/NAESB Electronic Tagging Functional Specification Version 1.8 for implementation in the OATI Production ETS. We will post another bulletin once the date is confirmed and set out details of the cut-over plan.

Visit the NAESB WEQ JISWG webpage for additional information on E-Tag 1.8.

Extended Windows for Thanksgiving Day

Posted on November 14 , 3:53 p.m.

Market Operations is pleased to visually clarify the opening of the extended windows (DOC, 59KB) for purchasing transmission during Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2007.

webOASIS outage

Posted on November 13 , 9:38 a.m.

We are currently experiencing problems with the OATI webOASIS. As of now Backup procedures for transmission reservations are in effect for real-time and prescheduling until further notice. Thank you for your patience.

webOASIS Outage Update

Posted on November 13 , 9:51 a.m.

Further to the bulletin posted November 13, 2007 9:30am, BCTC is pleased to announce that the webOASIS system is once again operational. Thank you for your patience in this matter.

Competition for Monthly ATC - Latest Update

Posted on November 8 , 3:15 p.m.

Further to the bulletin posted on November 7, at 2:53 p.m., BCTC’s decision to annul transmission reservation 71693299 and to re-run the competition on November 8, 2007 at 08:00:00 PPT is the subject of dispute resolution pursuant to Section 12 of BCTC’s Open Access Transmission Tariff. BCTC is therefore postponing the re-run of the competition currently scheduled for tomorrow morning at 08:00:00 PPT to permit an opportunity for dispute resolution to take place. BCTC will block all monthly non-firm transactions on the affected paths from January 1, 2008 to December 1, 2008.

Wind Generation Interconnection Requirements Workshop

Posted on November 8 , 12:23 p.m.

The materials on wind generation interconnection requirements presented at the 7 November 2007 workshop are now available. Please click Wind Generation Interconnection Requirements (PDF 2M) to view the slides.

Competition for Monthly ATC – Sequence of Events

Posted on November 7 , 2:53 p.m.

Further to the bulletin dated November 5 at 2:42 pm, the following details the sequence of events with respect to the Non-Firm Monthly competition on the export path to Alberta:

April 28, 2007

On April 28, 2007, the TTC value for the FBCSYS – BCTC path for May 2008, due to an inadvertent error, was not entered and posted by the pre-schedule office. The TTC value for the FBCSYS – BCTC path directly affects the ATC calculation for the FBCSYS – AESO path and, consequently, the TTC and ATC on the FBCSYS – AESO path for May 2008 was incorrectly posted at 0 MW.

November 2, 2007

On November 2, 2007, at 00:00:00 PPT the pre-schedule midnight window for Monthly ATC starting January 1, 2008 was opened. As explained above, at this time, the TTC and ATC on the FBCSYS – AESO path for May 2008 was posted at 0 MW, which was incorrect.
NRPT submitted a 55 MW transmission request (71693298) on the FBCSYS – AESO path (POR = KI, POD = AB.BC) from January 1, 2008 to May 1, 2008, which was CONFIRMED.
BCPS submitted a 55 MW transmission request (71693299) on the BCTC – AESO path (POR = GMS.MCS.REV, POD = AB.BC) from January 1, 2008 to November 1, 2008, which became a displacer to the NRPT CONFIRMED transmission reservation (71693298).
At 8:16:55 am, BCTC asked NRPT via telephone if it wanted to exercise its Right of First Refusal for duration and it chose to do so.
When NRPT submitted the match, it was not accepted due to the fact that there was no ATC for May 2008 on the FBCSYS – AESO path as posted.
At 9:35:09 am, NRPT enquired as to why its match was denied, which triggered BCTC to undertake a review.
NRPT and BCPS were notified by telephone at 9:56:25 am and 9:59:32 am, respectively, that BCTC was reviewing the capacity award.
As a result of the review, BCTC discovered that the TTC value for the FBCSYS – BCTC path was inadvertently not entered and posted by the pre-schedule office for May 2008 as per normal procedures and that this had resulted in the incorrect posting of 0 MW for the FBCSYS – AESO path.
BCTC informed NRPT and BCPS 4:09:29 pm and 4:11:08, respectively, and the market via bulletin dated November 2 at 4:15 pm that the Non-Firm Monthly capacity on the export path to Alberta was under review and that another bulletin would be posted on November 5, 2007 notifying customers of the results of the review.

November 5, 2007

BCTC determined that the error occurred before the midnight pre-schedule window was opened and could potentially have affected the behaviour of market participants. Therefore, BCTC decided to ANNULL the CONFIRMED transmission reservation and re-run the competition on November 6, 2007.
By bulletin dated November 5 at 11:10 am, BCTC informed the market of its intention to re-run the competition.
BCTC received requests from NRPT and BCPS to clarify the error and delay the competition.
By bulletin dated November 5 at 2:42 pm, BCTC advised the market that the competition would be delayed until BCTC had issued the requested clarification.
BCTC will re-run the competition on November 9, 2007 at 08:00:00 PPT. BCTC believes that 08:00:00 PPT is the best time for the re-opening of the competition since BCTC systems are set up to handle the posting of ATC prior to the opening of the pre-schedule market. Any other time would require a significant change to allow for the opening of the bidding at a particular time and in conjunction, the release of ATC.

Extended Windows for Veteran's Day

Posted on November 5 , 4:01 p.m.

Market Operations is pleased to visually clarify the opening of the extended windows (DOC, 58KB) for purchasing transmission during Veteran's Day, November 12, 2007.

Competition for Monthly ATC - Clarification

Posted on November 5 , 2:42 p.m.

Further to the bulletin posted on November 5, 2007 at 11:10 am, BCTC has received requests for further clarification from customers regarding the sequence of events associated with the bid process referred to in that bulletin, including the nature of the clerical error in that process. In addition, customers have requested that the release of the monthly ATC to the market for purchase be delayed.

BCTC will clarify the sequence of events, and the nature of the clerical error, in another bulletin this week. Also, as requested, BCTC will defer the competition for the monthly ATC until it has issued that clarification.

Competition for Monthly ATC - Update

Posted on November 5 , 11:10 a.m.

Further to the bulletin posted on November 2, 2007 at 4:15 pm, BCTC reviewed the award of the Non-Firm Monthly capacity starting January 1, 2008 on the export path to Alberta. As a result of the review, BCTC determined that it made a clerical error, which affected the award of capacity. Parties that are impacted by this clerical error were notified on November 2, 2007, that the award was under review. BCTC has determined that the capacity award will be ANNULLED. Therefore, BCTC will release this monthly ATC to the market for purchase, in accordance with Business Practice Section 4, at the opening of the pre-schedule window, typically at 08:00:00 PPT, on November 6, 2007. Again, thank you for your patience regarding this matter.

Nov 2 Wind TIR Bulletin

Posted on November 2 , 9:23 p.m.

Further to the 23 October 2007 bulletin, Bulletin Index 2007 , BCTC has been engaging in discussions with industry leaders in wind integration across North America and Europe. In the past several months, BCTC reviewed and consulted others’ wind generation interconnection standards, including FERC 661A, WECC’s proposal, Hydro Quebec’s, Manitoba Hydro’s, and Alberta AESO’s. From these reviews and consultations, and taking in account the uniqueness of the BCTC System, BCTC has formulated a draft Wind Generation Interconnection Requirements (PDF, 176KB) for stakeholders’ comments. This draft will be the main focus of the 7 November 2007 Technical Workshop.

BCTC is also currently reviewing the BCTC 69 kV to 500 kV “technical” Interconnection Requirements for Power Generators (TIR) to ensure that the requirements are consistent with NERC/WECC requirements and to incorporate experiences gained over the years. In the interest of providing timely information to the power generator (PG) proponents, BCTC is releasing some information, the November Updates (PDF, 80KB), which contains only updates and changes available to date. BCTC is planning to release a complete updated draft version of TIR in the next few months followed by a technical review workshop.

BCTC welcomes any comments you may have and will accept written comments until 23 November 2007. Please forward your written comments to:

Stephen Tran
Phone: 604-699-7363
Fax: 604-699-7539
Email: stephen.tran@bctc.com

Competition for Monthly ATC

Posted on November 2 , 4:15 p.m.

The awarding of Non-Firm Monthly capacity from January 1, 2008 until November 1, 2008, on the export path to Alberta is under review. We will post another bulletin on November 5, 2007 notifying customers of the results of the review. Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.

Transmission System One-Line Diagram

Posted on November 2 , 2:20 p.m.

BCTC has posted a report entitled Transmission System One-Line Diagram (PDF, 120KB).

Wind Integration Project

Posted on October 23 , 4:03 p.m.

For wind integration study details, please click Wind Integration Project (DOC, 50 KB).

OASIS Service Restored

Posted on October 10 , 12:09 p.m.

Further to our earlier bulletin posted on October 10 at 9:49am, we are pleased to advise you that the OASIS outage is now over for both Preschedule and Real Time. Again, we apologize for this inconvenience.

OASIS Outage

Posted on October 10 , 9:49 a.m.

BCTC is declaring an OASIS Outage effective immediately. Please revert to Section 13 entitled Backup Procedures for Scheduling System Outages during this time period for both pre-schedule and real-time operations. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your cooperation regarding this matter.

BCTC Internet Outage on September 28, 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm

Posted on September 28 , 10:25 a.m.

There will be a BCTC internet outage from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm PPT today, September 28, for maintenance purposes. Viewers will not be able to access BCTC internet webpages either intermittently during this interval or for the entire time period. BCTC's pre-schedule and real-time offices will take appropriate action to notify customers of transmission issues if any arise during the outage time period. BCTC confirms that its scheduling systems will not be affected with this outage and apologizes for the inconvenience.

System Impact Study for Alcan Kitimat Smelter Modernization Project

Posted on September 25 , 3:11 p.m.

BCTC has posted a report entitled System Impact Study for Alcan Kitimat Smelter Modernization Project.

Potential Northwest Transmission Line Project Preliminary Facility Ratings and System Data – Supplemental Data

Posted on September 25 , 3:01 p.m.

BCTC has posted a report entitled Supplement to Preliminary Facility Ratings and System Data.

Incremental Available Power Delivery to Ingledow Substation

Posted on September 25 , 2:51 p.m.

BCTC has posted a report entitled 5L83 - Incremental Available Power Delivery to Ingledow Substation.

Extended Windows for New Month

Posted on September 20 , 10:47 a.m.

Market Operations is pleased to visually clarify the opening of the extended windows (DOC, 51KB) for purchasing transmission during the New Month, Monday, October 1, 2007.

eTag System Outage

Posted on September 12 , 1:59 p.m.

BCTC is declaring an eTag system outage effective immediately. Please revert to Section 13 entitled Backup Procedures for Scheduling System Outages during this time period for both pre-schedule and real-time operations. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your cooperation regarding this matter.

eTag Outage is over

Posted on September 12 , 2:33 p.m.

Effective immediately, the eTag outage is over. Thank you for your patience.

5L83 - Incremental Available Power Delivery to Ingledow Substation

Posted on September 7 , 11:44 a.m.

BCTC has posted an Information Release titled: 5L83 - Incremental Available Power Delivery to Ingledow Substation (PDF, 84KB).