[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 24 (Thursday, February 5, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6510-6511]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02293]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. AD15-5-000]


Available Transfer Capability Standards for Wholesale Electric 
Transmission Services; Supplemental Notice of Workshop on Available 
Transfer Capability Standards

    As announced in a Notice issued on December 30, 2014, the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) staff will hold a workshop on 
Thursday, March 5, 2015 to discuss standards for calculating Available 
Transfer Capability (ATC) for wholesale electric transmission services. 
The workshop will be held in the Commission Meeting Room at the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 
20426. It will commence at 8:45 a.m. and conclude at 4:15 p.m. This 
workshop is free of charge and open to the public. Commission members 
may participate in the workshop.
    The agenda for this workshop is attached.
    Those who plan to attend the workshop are encouraged to complete 
the registration form located at: https://www.ferc.gov/whats-new/registration/03-05-15-form.asp. There is no registration deadline.
    Those wishing to participate in the technical sessions should 
submit nominations no later than close of business on February 6, 2015 
online at: https://www.ferc.gov/whats-new/registration/03-05-15-speaker-form.asp.
    Transcripts of the workshop will be available for a fee from Ace-
Federal Reporters, Inc. (202-347-3700 or 1-800-336-6646). Additionally, 
there will be a free Webcast of the workshop. The Webcast will allow 
persons to listen to the workshop but not participate. Anyone with 
Internet access who wants to listen to the workshop can do so by 
navigating to the Calendar of Events at www.ferc.gov, locating the 
technical workshop in the Calendar, and clicking on the Webcast link. 
The Capitol Connection provides technical support for the Webcast and 
offers the option of listening to the workshop via phone-bridge for a 
fee. If you have any questions, visit www.CapitolConnection.org or call 
703-993-3100.
    While this workshop is not convened for the purpose of discussing 
specific cases, the workshop may address matters that are at issue in 
the following pending Commission proceeding: North American Electric 
Reliability Corporation, Docket No. RM14-7-000.
    Commission workshops are accessible under section 508 of the 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations, please 
send an email to [email protected] or call toll free 1-866-208-
3372 (voice) or 202-502-8659 (TTY), or send a FAX to 202-208-2106 with 
the required accommodations.
    For further information on this workshop, please contact:

Logistical Information

    Sarah McKinley, Office of External Affairs, Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426, 
(202) 502-8368, [email protected].

Technical Information

    Christopher Young, Office of Energy Policy and Innovation, Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 
20426, (202) 502-6403, [email protected].

Legal Information

    Richard Wartchow, Office of the General Counsel, Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426, 
(202) 502-8744 [email protected].

    Dated: January 30, 2015.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.

Available Transfer Capability Standards for Wholesale Electric 
Transmission Services

Staff-Led Workshop

Docket No.: AD15-5-000; March 5, 2015; Agenda
    This workshop is being convened to discuss actions the Commission 
could take to ensure that transmission providers continue to calculate 
and post available transfer capability (ATC) in a manner that ensures 
nondiscriminatory access to wholesale electric transmission services. 
This workshop is prompted by the filing by the North American Electric 
Reliability Corporation (NERC) proposing changes to its ATC-related 
reliability standards,\1\ and the initiative to replace some of these 
standards with similarly focused business practice standards to be 
developed by the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB).\2\
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    \1\ NERC's proposal is currently pending before the Commission 
in the rulemaking: Modeling, Data, and Analysis Reliability 
Standards, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Docket No. RM14-7-000; 79 
FR 36,269 (June 26, 2014).
    \2\ See, e.g., the December 18, 2014 status report filed by 
NAESB in Docket Nos. RM05-5-000 and RM14-7-000.
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    The workshop will address the consistent calculation and 
transparency of ATC to ensure continued access to the grid by 
transmission customers on a nondiscriminatory basis, as articulated in 
Order No. 890 and other Commission orders.\3\ In Order No. 890, the 
Commission required public utilities to work through NERC to develop 
consistent methodologies for ATC calculation.\4\ In Order No. 693,\5\ 
the Commission approved several reliability standards related to ATC 
while also directing NERC to prospectively modify them.\6\ In Order No. 
729, the Commission approved six reliability standards that address 
ATC, making them mandatory and enforceable; concurrently the Commission 
issued Order No. 676-E, which incorporated by reference in its 
regulations certain related business practice standards adopted by the 
Wholesale Electric Quadrant of NAESB.\7\ Subsequently, NERC has 
proposed to retire six standards and replace them with a single 
modified standard focused on reliability issues.\8\ At the workshop, 
Commission staff will seek input on the appropriate mechanisms to 
ensure the continued transparency and consistency

[[Page 6511]]

of ATC calculation methodologies, and posting of ATC on OASIS.
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    \3\ See, e.g.; Preventing Undue Discrimination and Preference in 
Transmission Service, Order No. 890, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,241, 
at P 68, order on reh'g, Order No. 890-A, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 
31,261 (2007), order on reh'g, Order No. 890-B, 123 FERC ] 61,299 
(2008), order on reh'g, Order No. 890-C, 126 FERC ] 61,228, order on 
clarification, Order No. 890-D, 129 FERC ] 61,126 (2009); Mandatory 
Reliability Standards for the Calculation of Available Transfer 
Capability, Capacity Benefit Margins, Transmission Reliability 
Margins, Total Transfer Capability, and Existing Transmission 
Commitments and Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power 
System, Order No. 729, 129 FERC ] 61,155 (2009), order on 
clarification, Order No. 729-A, 131 FERC ] 61,109 (2010), order on 
reh'g, Order No. 729-B, 132 FERC ] 61,027 (2010); et al.
    \4\ See Order No. 890 (supra) P 2, P 193-196, etc.
    \5\ Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System, 
Order No. 693, 72 FR 16416 (Apr. 4, 2007), FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 
31,242, at P 1022 (2007), order on reh'g, Order No. 693-A, 120 FERC 
] 61,053 (2007), P 1013.
    \6\ See Order No. 693 (supra).
    \7\ 129 FERC ] 61,162
    \8\ Modeling, Data, and Analysis Reliability Standards, Notice 
of Proposed Rulemaking, 147 FERC ] 61,208 (2014).
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8:45 a.m.-9:00 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m. Session 1: Overview and Context of ATC 
Determination and Posting
    Session 1 will explore the role of consistent and transparent ATC 
determination and posting in ensuring open access to the interstate 
transmission system. The goal of the session will be to understand the 
types of high-level decisions that need to be made to develop ATC 
standards and discuss the proper venue for making those high-level 
decisions. Participants should address, among other things: (1) The 
extent to which the currently-effective standards have proven effective 
for meeting the needs of the industry and the Commission, (2) in 
general, whether the ATC information currently available to 
transmission customers is sufficient and sufficiently transparent, (3) 
the appropriate level of detail or specificity necessary for any rules 
or standards to ensure transparency and consistency and the elimination 
of transmission provider discretion in this highly technical topic 
area, and (4) the appropriate administrative mechanism or form of any 
rules needed to continue to achieve these goals. Participants may also 
be asked to discuss how to distinguish reliability concerns from 
requirements necessary to maintain the open access assurances required 
in Order Nos. 890 and 729. Further, participants may be asked to 
discuss the appropriate forum for identifying any gaps or areas of 
ambiguity in Order Nos. 890 and 729 that should be clarified with 
respect to ATC. Finally, considering that accurate ATC determination is 
important to the ultimate assurance of consistency and transparency and 
to minimize the discretion of transmission providers in calculating 
ATC, the session may address which aspects of any rules addressing ATC, 
such as requirements regarding calculations, data inputs or frequency 
of updates, among other possible examples, are most important for the 
Commission to consider.
10:30 a.m.-10:45 a.m. Break
10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Session 2: Specific ATC Topics and Requirements
    Session 2 will address specific details of ATC, its constituent 
parts, and related concepts and the degree to which the Commission 
should include in the pro forma OATT or the Commission's regulations 
requirements addressing these details. For example, staff may seek 
information about the level of detail required in the ``ATC 
Implementation Document'' (ATCID) to ensure transparency, the 
relationship between a transmission provider's planning of operations 
and the calculation of Total Transfer Capability (TTC) or ATC for the 
same time periods, and the computation and use of Capacity Benefit 
Margin and Transmission Reliability Margin. Possible discussion items 
could also include the determination of TTC and Existing Transmission 
Commitments (ETC), the requirements in the three existing 
``methodology'' standards (Area Interchange Methodology, Rated System 
Path Methodology, and Flowgate Methodology) that establish a basis for 
determining the TTC and ETC components of ATC, the interrelationship 
between the NERC ``MOD A'' standards and other reliability standards, 
NAESB business practice standards, and the Commission's regulations and 
the possible need for information sharing between and among 
transmission providers and other entities. For each of the discussion 
items, participants may be asked to indicate whether formal Commission 
guidance, in the form of pro forma OATT requirements or new regulations 
would help to ensure that goals of Order Nos. 890 and 729 are met.
12:15 p.m.-1:15 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m.-2:15 p.m. Session 2, Continued
2:15 p.m.-2:30 p.m. Break
2:30 p.m.-4:00 p.m. Session 3: Lessons Learned and Opportunities for 
Improvement
    Session 3, in light of NERC's proposal and NAESB efforts to revise 
standards for ATC calculations and transparency, will explore what 
types of changes, if any, need to be taken by NERC, NAESB and/or the 
Commission to ensure that transmission providers continue to calculate 
and post ATC in a manner that ensures nondiscriminatory access to 
wholesale electric transmission services. This session will synthesize 
the discussion from the first two sessions to explore whether there are 
changes needed, and the level of detail or guidance needed, in the 
Commission's regulations or the pro forma Open Access Transmission 
Tariff. Time permitting, there may be a discussion of whether there are 
opportunities to apply industry's experience to date, including 
potential areas for improvement that could enhance the consistency of 
the three existing calculation methods, and whether the rules 
addressing ATC could be made more efficient, clear or easier to comply 
with than they currently are, without compromising open access.
4:00 p.m.-4:15 p.m. Closing
[FR Doc. 2015-02293 Filed 2-4-15; 8:45 a.m.]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P