WAPA Planning Process

Western Area Power Administration (WAPA)
Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT), Attachment P
Transmission Planning Process

(Last Update: April 1, 2019)

A) Background:

In Order 890, FERC established new requirements for Transmission Providers, stating:

“The Transmission Provider shall establish a coordinated, open and transparent planning process with its Network and Firm Point-to-Point Transmission Customers and other interested parties, including the coordination of such planning with interconnected systems within its region, to ensure that the Transmission System is planned to meet the needs of both the Transmission Provider and its Network and Firm Point-to-Point Transmission Customers on a comparable and nondiscriminatory basis. The Transmission Provider’s coordinated, open and transparent planning process shall be provided as an attachment to the Transmission Provider’s Tariff.

The Transmission Provider’s planning process shall satisfy the following nine principles, as defined in the Final Rule in Docket No. RM05-25-000: coordination, openness, transparency, information exchange, comparability, dispute resolution, regional participation, economic planning studies, and cost allocation for new projects. The planning process shall also provide a mechanism for the recovery and allocation of planning costs consistent with the Final Rule in Docket No. RM05-25-000.

The Transmission Provider’s planning process must include sufficient detail to enable Transmission Customers to understand:

(i) The process for consulting with customers and neighboring transmission providers;

(ii) The notice procedures and anticipated frequency of meetings;

(iii) The methodology, criteria, and processes used to develop transmission plans;

(iv) The method of disclosure of criteria, assumptions and data underlying transmission system plans;

(v) The obligations of and methods for customers to submit data to the transmission provider;

(vi) The dispute resolution process;

(vii) The transmission provider’s study procedures for economic upgrades to address congestion or the integration of new resources; and

(viii) The relevant cost allocation procedures or principles.”

WAPA’s Attachment P to its Tariff establishes the detail behind these requirements.

B) Transmission Planning Process Points of Contact:

i) WAPA's Regional Points of Contact for the following sections in Part II of Attachment P related to the Transmission Planning Process in the Western Interconnection are listed below:

Submission of Data by Network Transmission Customers (Section 1.1.4(b))
Submission of Data by Other Transmission Customers (Section 1.1.4(c))
Requesting Economic Planning Studies (Section 1.1.6))
Study Requests (Section 1.1.6(g))
Electronic Input and Comments to Public Planning Process (Section 1.2.2(h))
Inclusion on WAPA Customer Distribution List (Section 1.2.2(j))

Points of Contact	Email Address
Desert Southwest Region (DSW)	dswplanningmanager@wapa.gov
Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP)	crspplanningmanager@wapa.gov
Rocky Mountain Region (RMR)	rmrplanningmanager@wapa.gov
Sierra Nevada Region (SNR)	snrplanningmanager@wapa.gov

ii) WAPA's Regional Point of Contact for all sections in Part I of Attachment P related to the Transmission Planning Process in the Upper Great Plains Region is:

Points of Contact	Email Address
Upper Great Plains Region (UGP)	ugpplanningmanager@wapa.gov

C) Attachment P Hyperlink List(s):

i) Western Interconnection Regions included in Part II of Attachment P (DSW, CRSP, RMR, SNR)

WAPA Attachment P PART II	Document or Information Posted	Hyperlinks
Part II	WestConnect Project Agreement for Sub-regional Transmission Planning	WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/ Search for: wc_regional_planning_project_agmt_exec_copy_052307_amended_obj_proc_011409.pdf
1.1.1	WECC Confidentiality Agreement	WECC website: https://www.wecc.org/RAC/Pages/default.aspx
1.1.4(b)	WAPA point of contact for Submission of Data by Network Transmission Customers	WAPA website: www.oasis.oati.com/WAPA/WAPAdocs/Planning-Process.htm
1.1.4(c)	WAPA point of contact for Submission of Data by Other Transmission Customers	WAPA website: www.oasis.oati.com/WAPA/WAPAdocs/Planning-Process.htm
1.1.6	WAPA point of contact for Requesting Economic Planning Studies	WAPA website: www.oasis.oati.com/WAPA/WAPAdocs/Planning-Process.htm
1.1.6(a)i.	TEPPC Master List of Economic Planning Studies	WECC website: https://www.wecc.org/RAC/Pages/default.aspx (See Studies Subcommitte (StS), which replaced the TEPPC)
1.1.6(b)	TEPPC Transmission Planning Protocol	WECC website: https://www.wecc.org/Corporate/TEPPC_PlanningProtocol.pdf
1.1.6(f)iii.	WAPA posts requests it receives for Economic Planning Studies	WAPA DSW Region: www.oasis.oati.com/walc/index.html WAPA CRSP MC: www.oasis.oati.com/CRCM/index.html WAPA RMR Region: www.oasis.oati.com/LAPT/index.html WAPA SNR Region: www.oasis.oati.com/wasn/index.html WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/
1.1.6(g)	WAPA point of contact for Study Requests	WAPA website: www.oasis.oati.com/WAPA/WAPAdocs/Planning-Process.htm
1.1.8	WAPA Planning Criteria	WAPA website: http://www.oasis.oati.com/WAPA/WAPAdocs/WAPA-Planning-Criteria.pdf
1.2.2(e)	WAPA posts notices for public planning meetings	WAPA DSW Region: www.oasis.oati.com/walc/index.html WAPA CRSP MC: www.oasis.oati.com/CRCM/index.html WAPA RMR Region: www.oasis.oati.com/LAPT/index.html WAPA SNR Region: www.oasis.oati.com/wasn/index.html WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/
1.2.2(f)	WAPA posts study plans and planning results	WAPA DSW Region: www.oasis.oati.com/walc/index.html WAPA CRSP MC: www.oasis.oati.com/CRCM/index.html WAPA RMR Region: www.oasis.oati.com/LAPT/index.html WAPA SNR Region: www.oasis.oati.com/wasn/index.html WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/
1.2.2(g)	WAPA posts final local study results and study plan	WAPA DSW Region: www.oasis.oati.com/walc/index.html WAPA CRSP MC: www.oasis.oati.com/CRCM/index.html WAPA RMR Region: www.oasis.oati.com/LAPT/index.html WAPA SNR Region: www.oasis.oati.com/wasn/index.html WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/
1.2.2(h)	WAPA point of contact for Electronic Input and Comments to Public Planning Process	WAPA website: www.oasis.oati.com/WAPA/WAPAdocs/Planning-Process.htm
1.2.2(i)iii.	WAPA posts updates & changes to public planning meeting schedules	WAPA DSW Region: www.oasis.oati.com/walc/index.html WAPA CRSP MC: www.oasis.oati.com/CRCM/index.html WAPA RMR Region: www.oasis.oati.com/LAPT/index.html WAPA SNR Region: www.oasis.oati.com/wasn/index.html WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/
1.2.2(j)	WAPA point of contact for inclusion on WAPA Customer Distribution List	WAPA website: www.oasis.oati.com/WAPA/WAPAdocs/Planning-Process.htm
1.2.2(k)	WAPA posts information and reports related to public planning meetings	WAPA DSW Region: www.oasis.oati.com/walc/index.html WAPA CRSP MC: www.oasis.oati.com/CRCM/index.html WAPA RMR Region: www.oasis.oati.com/LAPT/index.html WAPA SNR Region: www.oasis.oati.com/wasn/index.html WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/
2.1	WestConnect Project Agreement for Sub-regional Transmission	WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/ Search for: wc_regional_planning_project_agmt_exec_copy_052307_amended_obj_proc_011409.pdf
2.2.2	WestConnect Project Agreement for Sub-regional Transmission	WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/ Search for: wc_regional_planning_project_agmt_exec_copy_052307_amended_obj_proc_011409.pdf
2.2.7	SWAT, CCPG, SSPG, WestConnect & WAPA planning meeting agendas available on the WestConnect website	WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/
2.3.1	WestConnect Project Agreement for Sub-regional Transmission Planning	WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/ Search for: wc_regional_planning_project_agmt_exec_copy_052307_amended_obj_proc_011409.pdf
2.3.2(f)	SWAT, CCPG & SSPG post detailed agendas on WestConnect website	WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/
2.4.1	WestConnect Planning Annual Meeting	WestConnect website: http://regplanning.westconnect.com/
3.1.2	WECC TEPPC posts its transmission planning protocol for Economic Planning Studies	WECC website: https://www.wecc.org/Corporate/TEPPC_PlanningProtocol.pdf
3.1.3(b)	Detail on the WECC TEPPC planning process and the Transmission Planning Protocol	WECC website: https://www.wecc.org/Corporate/TEPPC_PlanningProtocol.pdf

ii) Upper Great Plains Region (both Eastern and Western Interconnections) included in Part I of Attachment P

WAPA

Attachment P

PART I

Document or Information Posted

Hyperlinks

Part I

SPP postings for Reliability Planning

Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (SPP) Website:
https://www.spp.org/engineering/reliability-planning/

Revision History:
10/29/2012 - Updates to the URLs for WAPA's OASIS to reflect OATI's URL change
04/04/2012 - Updates to the URLs in Section C, Attachment P Part II, Sections: Part II, 2.1, 2.2.2, and 2.3.1
06/24/2014 - Updates to the URLs in Section C, Attachment P Part II, Sections: Part II, 1.1.1, 1.1.6(b), 3.1.2, and 3.1.3(b); Sections Part I, TEPPC URLs
12/23/2014 - Updates to the URLs in Section C, Attachment P, Part I and Part II for WAPA Planning Criteria
04/01/2019 - Updates to the URLs, Removal of outdated UGP URLs, Other clean-up.