The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) recorded 681 violations of its transmission planning and operational procedures by 10 regional reliability councils in 2000, a "marked" improvement over 1999, the organization said in its annual assessment.
Overall, the regional councils and their members were about 90% compliant for 2000. The program was created to insure adherence to NERC and regional council planning standards and operating policies.
The Year 2000 program was the second of four planned phases, assessing 57 measurements and applying simulated monetary sanctions for each violation.
While deeming the program a success, NERC also warned of shortcomings that "pose a significant risk to reliability" by entities that are part of the overall interconnected system but may not be operating according to recognized industry standards.
"Many of these entities may not be aware that the NERC rules apply and others simply can avoid the program since the regions have no direct authority over their response," NERC said in its recently released annual report. "Strategies need to be identified to encourage regional nonmember entities to comply with the requirements of the NERC compliance program."
The program is being developed now so that when the US Congress passes legislation permitting NERC to transform itself into a self-regulating reliability organization, the program can be implemented quickly and be effective, said NERC Pres. Michael R. Gent.
Among the findings:
� The program needs to be streamlined to make it more efficient for participants, the regions, and NERC.
� Without the ability to levy sanctions, it is difficult to make an accurate assessment of simulated sanctions and determine if they were sufficient to induce compliance.
� Spot-checking and auditing must be adequate and timely to confidently verify results from self-certification. On-site reviews are encouraged to reinforce the compliance program.
� The process of exception reporting, which was found at times to be unreliable and ineffective, needs to be reviewed and improved.
� Small generators and transmission owners are struggling with the program requirements and are reporting difficulty obtaining operator certification. Small entities should be measured for compliance without causing a significant burden on their resources.
During 2000, NERC reported there were 3,208 self-certifications, 319 audits, 1,663 submittals, and 939 periodic reports. Initiation of the 2001 compliance program is scheduled to begin March 1. It will continue to focus on self-certification as a means of monitoring compliance. Officer or executive signatures will be sought to add a heightened level of accountability to the self-certification process.
Investigations into transmission curtailments known as transmission loading relief (TLR) procedures will be conducted where appropriate, NERC said. The staff completed five investigations in 2000 and nine are in progress. The organization said it is looking into the fairness of these curtailments and how they affected reliability.
In a earlier report, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said the US Southeast experienced a 354% increase in transmission loading relief curtailments this past summer over 1999, raising the question of whether such constraints are impeding development of a competitive market in the region.
The fact that 184 curtailments were declared this summer suggests their use has been extended from the original purpose of addressing "extreme" constrained conditions, the federal agency said in its annual review of the wholesale power markets.
The report points out transmission customers often must pay for transmission that is curtailed, giving local utilities little incentive to build transmission. The rising number of curtailments may suggest some transmission capacity is oversold. Transmission providers do not have to refund transmission reservation fees for service curtailed during a transmission loading relief emergency.
With no financial incentive to improve transmission access or cut the number of curtailments, utilities have shown little inclination to do so, FERC says.