Generator reliability communication protocol

A number of North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Mandatory Reliability Standards require a GO to convey critical status information and “changes to capabilities and characteristics” directly to its Balancing Authority (the California ISO), Transmission Operator (TOP) and Reliability Coordinator (the CMRC) without any intentional time delay. However, generators currently send all required information to their Scheduling Coordinators (SCs) (i.e., PG&E, SCE and SDG&E) and these entities aggregate the information and subsequently submit it to the California ISO and California/Mexico Reliability Coordinator (CMRC).

The NERC and Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) compliance audit requirements require a reasonable audit trail attesting that the Reliability Standards are being met. Therefore, the California ISO will hold two stakeholder meeting/workshops to ensure that, for the purposes of NERC/WECC desktop audits, GOs are able to provide documentation that the aggregated information submitted to their responsible SCs has been appropriately submitted to the California ISO. In order for the entities to be able to account for the submission of this information, the communication documentation should be established and published.

Therefore, the California ISO will hold a workshop to facilitate agreements between GOs and TOPs. Such agreements will formally establish standardized communication protocols that can be published and used for potential NERC/WECC audits.

Outcome

On April 8, April 23, May 12, and August 12, 2008, the California ISO (the ISO), Southern California Edison (SCE), and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) conducted workshops to: 1) receive input regarding the role of generator owners and operators (GOs/GOPs) in communicating with scheduling coordinators to comply with mandatory North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Reliability Standards, and 2) develop a protocol for GOs/GOPs to pass information to SCE or PG&E as scheduling coordinators, who will relay the information to the ISO, and who in turn will submit it to the reliability coordinator.

GOs/GOPs may employ the protocol to assist them in complying with NERC Reliability Standards using their existing communication path with their scheduling coordinator. The final version of the resulting protocol matrix, as well as related SCE and PG&E reporting procedures, are available below.

Process