Over four years after a major 2011 power outage in Southern California and parts of the Southwest, federal energy regulators have approved the sixth and final settlement of penalties for violations of law and reliability standards.
After the September 8, 2011 blackout left more than 5
million people in Southern California, Arizona and Baja California,
Mexico, without power for up to 12 hours, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission began investigating what had happened. After conducting that investigation jointly with electric reliability organization North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), in an April 2012 report FERC found that the outage started when a 500-kilovolt transmission line owned by utility Arizona Public Service Company tripped.
The FERC continued its investigation into the 2011 Southwest blackout after its staff report was made public. It identified six entities believed to have been involved: Arizona Public Service Company, the California Independent System Operator, the Imperial Irrigation
District, Southern California Edison, the Western Area Power
Administration, and the Western
Electricity Coordinating Council Reliability Coordinator.
FERC's enforcement process typically offers the accused an opportunity to agree to a stipulation of facts (for example, that the utility violated a particular reliability standard) and to pay a civil penalty and perform mitigation measures. In its enforcement actions related to the 2011 Southwest blackout case, all six entities ultimately agreed to stipulations and penalties that were accepted by the Commission.
In July 2014, the FERC accepted Arizona Public Service's stipulation with NERC and FERC's Office of Enforcement, under which APS agreed to pay $3.25 million and improve its system reliability. In August 2014, California's Imperial Irrigation District agreed to a $12 million fine. Utility Southern California Edison agreed to a $650,000 fine in October. In December, FERC settled with federal power marketing agency Western Area Power Administration with no penalty. Grid operator California ISO agreed to pay $6 million.
This week the FERC announced a settlement with Western Electricity Coordinating Council. WECC promotes grid reliability in the Western Interconnection, a broad area of the western United States. According to the FERC order, FERC enforcement staff and NERC determined that WECC as the Reliability
Coordinator violated nine requirements of the Interconnection
Reliability Operations and Coordination (IRO) and the Facilities Design,
Connection and Maintenance (FAC) groups of Reliability Standards. Enforcement staff and NERC concluded that WECC failed to identify and
prevent violations of system operating limits and Interconnection
Reliability Operating Limits and was unaware of the impact of protection
systems, and used an inadequate system
operating limit methodology that exposed its area to cascading outages.
As a result, the settlement calls for WECC to pay a $16 million civil penalty. $3 million of this
will be split evenly between the U.S. Treasury and NERC, and $13 million
will be invested in reliability enhancement measures that go above and
beyond mitigation of the violations and the requirements of the
Reliability Standards. WECC and its successor as Reliability Coordinator, Peak Reliability, also agreed to mitigation and
reliability activities and to submit to compliance monitoring.
FERC has described the WECC settlement as marking "final resolution" of the investigation by FERC Enforcement staff
and NERC into the 2011 Southwest blackout.
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Showing posts with label Southwest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Southwest. Show all posts
FERC settles 3rd Southwest blackout case
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
A California public utility has settled claims by federal electricity regulators related to the September 8, 2011, blackout in the southwestern United States. Following an investigation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and electric reliability organization North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), Southern California Edison Company has agreed to pay a $650,000 civil penalty and undertake additional compliance actions.
According to previous investigative reports, the 2011 blackout started when a 500-kilovolt transmission line owned by Arizona Public Service Company tripped out of service, causing cascading power outages through automatic load shedding as other equipment quickly overloaded. In the end, the outage affected over 5 million customers, shedding 7,835 megawatts of peak demand and over 30,000 megawatt-hours of energy.
Following the blackouts, both FERC and NERC launched investigations into what had happened. As a federal agency, FERC has regulatory authority over the reliability of the electric bulk power system. NERC is a not-for-profit international regulatory authority whose mission is to ensure the reliability of the bulk power system in North America, and has been designated by FERC as the nation's electric reliability organization.
In July, FERC announced a $3.25 million settlement with Arizona Public Service. In August, FERC announced a $12 million settlement with California's Imperial Irrigation District.
Today, FERC announced that it has approved a stipulation and consent agreement between FERC’s Office of Enforcement, NERC, and Southern California Edison Company. Through a joint investigation, FERC Office of Enforcement staff and NERC determined that the utility violated the Protection and Control group of NERC's Reliability Standards. In particular, the investigation found that Southern California Edison failed to adequately coordinate its intertie separation scheme at the San Onofre nuclear generating station switchyard with certain other protection systems. Enforcement staff and NERC found this violation to be a serious deficiency that undermined reliable operation of the Bulk Power System.
Through the settlement, Southern California Edison will pay a civil penalty of $650,000. Of this penalty, $125,000 will be paid to the U.S. Treasury, $125,000 will be paid to NERC, and $400,000 will be invested in additional reliability enhancement measures.
With Southern California Edison's case resolved, all three of the vertically integrated utilities known to be implicated by FERC's investigation have now settled their alleged violations by agreeing to pay penalties. Will further penalties be forthcoming? Will the penalties and ordered reliability measures keep the lights on the next time the grid is stressed?
According to previous investigative reports, the 2011 blackout started when a 500-kilovolt transmission line owned by Arizona Public Service Company tripped out of service, causing cascading power outages through automatic load shedding as other equipment quickly overloaded. In the end, the outage affected over 5 million customers, shedding 7,835 megawatts of peak demand and over 30,000 megawatt-hours of energy.
Following the blackouts, both FERC and NERC launched investigations into what had happened. As a federal agency, FERC has regulatory authority over the reliability of the electric bulk power system. NERC is a not-for-profit international regulatory authority whose mission is to ensure the reliability of the bulk power system in North America, and has been designated by FERC as the nation's electric reliability organization.
In July, FERC announced a $3.25 million settlement with Arizona Public Service. In August, FERC announced a $12 million settlement with California's Imperial Irrigation District.
Today, FERC announced that it has approved a stipulation and consent agreement between FERC’s Office of Enforcement, NERC, and Southern California Edison Company. Through a joint investigation, FERC Office of Enforcement staff and NERC determined that the utility violated the Protection and Control group of NERC's Reliability Standards. In particular, the investigation found that Southern California Edison failed to adequately coordinate its intertie separation scheme at the San Onofre nuclear generating station switchyard with certain other protection systems. Enforcement staff and NERC found this violation to be a serious deficiency that undermined reliable operation of the Bulk Power System.
Through the settlement, Southern California Edison will pay a civil penalty of $650,000. Of this penalty, $125,000 will be paid to the U.S. Treasury, $125,000 will be paid to NERC, and $400,000 will be invested in additional reliability enhancement measures.
With Southern California Edison's case resolved, all three of the vertically integrated utilities known to be implicated by FERC's investigation have now settled their alleged violations by agreeing to pay penalties. Will further penalties be forthcoming? Will the penalties and ordered reliability measures keep the lights on the next time the grid is stressed?
FERC approves second Southwest blackout penalty
Thursday, August 7, 2014
A California irrigation district has agreed to pay a $12 million penalty to settle its role in a 2011 power outage affecting over 5 million people in California, Arizona, and Mexico.
The September 8, 2011 outage started when a 500-kilovolt transmission line owned by Arizona Public Service Company tripped out of service, causing cascading power outages through automatic load shedding as other equipment quickly overloaded. In the end, the outage deprived customers of 7,835 megawatts of peak demand and over 30,000 megawatt-hours of energy.
Swiftly on the heels of the outage, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and electric reliability organization NERC launched an investigation into what had happened -- and whether any laws or regulations had been violated. That investigation focused on APS and five other entities believed to have been involved: the California Independent System Operator, the Imperial Irrigation District, Southern California Edison, the Western Area Power Administration, and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council Reliability Coordinator. Last month, the Commission approved a $3.25 million settlement with APS.
Today, the Commission issued an order approving a stipulation and consent agreement resolving Imperial Irrigation District's role in the blackout. Imperial Irrigation District is a not-for-profit, publicly owned, vertically integrated utility and political subdivision of the State of California. The sixth largest utility in California, Imperial Irrigation District Electricity provides electric power to more than 145,000 customers in the Imperial Valley and parts of Riverside and San Diego counties.
Through their investigation, Commission enforcement staff and NERC found Imperial Irrigation District violated 10 requirements of four Reliability Standards on transmission operations and transmission planning, including a failure to coordinate its operations planning with neighboring systems. The Commission noted that these violations were serious deficiencies that undermined reliable operation of the Bulk Power System.
Through that stipulation, Imperial Irrigation District agreed to pay a civil penalty of $12 million. Of this amount, at least $1.5 million will go to the U.S. Treasury and another $1.5 million will go to NERC, and at least another $9 million will be invested in reliability enhancement measures that go beyond mitigation of the violations and the requirements of the mandatory Reliability Standards. These reliability enhancements will include construction of one or more utility-scale battery energy storage facilities within IID’s transmission operations area, with the money spent by December 31, 2016.
Two of the six entities known to be targeted by the Commission's investigation have now settled their alleged violations by agreeing to pay penalties. Perhaps more significantly, APS and Imperial Irrigation District represent two of the three vertically integrated utilities implicated. Will the FERC/NERC investigation lead to further settlements soon? What impact will the Imperial Irrigation District settlement and penalty agreement have?
The September 8, 2011 outage started when a 500-kilovolt transmission line owned by Arizona Public Service Company tripped out of service, causing cascading power outages through automatic load shedding as other equipment quickly overloaded. In the end, the outage deprived customers of 7,835 megawatts of peak demand and over 30,000 megawatt-hours of energy.
Swiftly on the heels of the outage, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and electric reliability organization NERC launched an investigation into what had happened -- and whether any laws or regulations had been violated. That investigation focused on APS and five other entities believed to have been involved: the California Independent System Operator, the Imperial Irrigation District, Southern California Edison, the Western Area Power Administration, and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council Reliability Coordinator. Last month, the Commission approved a $3.25 million settlement with APS.
Today, the Commission issued an order approving a stipulation and consent agreement resolving Imperial Irrigation District's role in the blackout. Imperial Irrigation District is a not-for-profit, publicly owned, vertically integrated utility and political subdivision of the State of California. The sixth largest utility in California, Imperial Irrigation District Electricity provides electric power to more than 145,000 customers in the Imperial Valley and parts of Riverside and San Diego counties.
Through their investigation, Commission enforcement staff and NERC found Imperial Irrigation District violated 10 requirements of four Reliability Standards on transmission operations and transmission planning, including a failure to coordinate its operations planning with neighboring systems. The Commission noted that these violations were serious deficiencies that undermined reliable operation of the Bulk Power System.
Through that stipulation, Imperial Irrigation District agreed to pay a civil penalty of $12 million. Of this amount, at least $1.5 million will go to the U.S. Treasury and another $1.5 million will go to NERC, and at least another $9 million will be invested in reliability enhancement measures that go beyond mitigation of the violations and the requirements of the mandatory Reliability Standards. These reliability enhancements will include construction of one or more utility-scale battery energy storage facilities within IID’s transmission operations area, with the money spent by December 31, 2016.
Two of the six entities known to be targeted by the Commission's investigation have now settled their alleged violations by agreeing to pay penalties. Perhaps more significantly, APS and Imperial Irrigation District represent two of the three vertically integrated utilities implicated. Will the FERC/NERC investigation lead to further settlements soon? What impact will the Imperial Irrigation District settlement and penalty agreement have?
Arizona utility fined $3.25 million over 2011 blackout
Friday, July 11, 2014
On a hot summer afternoon in 2011, cascading power outages spread across the North American Southwest. Over 5 million people in Southern California -- including all of San Diego -- Arizona and Mexico were left without power for up to 12 hours. This week a federal investigation into the outage was partially resolved by a $3.25 million settlement with Arizona Public Service Company.
According to a joint report by the staffs of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the September 8, 2011 outage started when a 500-kilovolt transmission line owned by APS tripped. The Hassayampa - N. Gila line serves as a major transmission corridor that transports power in an east-west direction, from generators in Arizona into the San Diego area. The line's failure triggered significant voltage deviations and equipment overloads, causing transformers, transmission lines, and generating units to trip offline through automatic load shedding. In all, 7,835 megawatts of customer load lost power -- over 30,000 megawatt-hours of energy -- primarily in the San Diego Gas and Electric service territory and in Baja California.
Following the outages, both the Commission's Office of Enforcement and NERC launched an investigation into the incident. That investigation, which has been ongoing since 2011, focused on APS and five other entities believed to have been involved: the California Independent System Operator, the Imperial Irrigation District, Southern California Edison, the Western Area Power Administration, and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council Reliability Coordinator.
The investigation concluded that APS had violated NERC's mandatory Reliability Standards. APS's role and liability was ultimately resolved this week when the Commission accepted a stipulation between APS, the Commission's Office of Enforcement and NERC.
Through that stipulation, APS agreed to pay a civil penalty of $3.25 million. Of this amount, $1 million will go to the U.S. Treasury, $1 million will go to NERC, and $1.25 million will be invested in reliability enhancement measures that go beyond mitigation of the violations and the requirements of the mandatory Reliability Standards. In finding the settlement to be in the public interest, the Commission cited APS's cooperation in the investigation as well as its voluntary mitigation efforts.
With APS's role in the outage settled, joint FERC/NERC investigations into other entities' roles continue. While some targets of investigation choose to settle their cases, others insist to exercise their full legal rights. Will the 2011 Southwest blackouts lead to further stipulations and penalties?
According to a joint report by the staffs of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the September 8, 2011 outage started when a 500-kilovolt transmission line owned by APS tripped. The Hassayampa - N. Gila line serves as a major transmission corridor that transports power in an east-west direction, from generators in Arizona into the San Diego area. The line's failure triggered significant voltage deviations and equipment overloads, causing transformers, transmission lines, and generating units to trip offline through automatic load shedding. In all, 7,835 megawatts of customer load lost power -- over 30,000 megawatt-hours of energy -- primarily in the San Diego Gas and Electric service territory and in Baja California.
Following the outages, both the Commission's Office of Enforcement and NERC launched an investigation into the incident. That investigation, which has been ongoing since 2011, focused on APS and five other entities believed to have been involved: the California Independent System Operator, the Imperial Irrigation District, Southern California Edison, the Western Area Power Administration, and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council Reliability Coordinator.
The investigation concluded that APS had violated NERC's mandatory Reliability Standards. APS's role and liability was ultimately resolved this week when the Commission accepted a stipulation between APS, the Commission's Office of Enforcement and NERC.
Through that stipulation, APS agreed to pay a civil penalty of $3.25 million. Of this amount, $1 million will go to the U.S. Treasury, $1 million will go to NERC, and $1.25 million will be invested in reliability enhancement measures that go beyond mitigation of the violations and the requirements of the mandatory Reliability Standards. In finding the settlement to be in the public interest, the Commission cited APS's cooperation in the investigation as well as its voluntary mitigation efforts.
With APS's role in the outage settled, joint FERC/NERC investigations into other entities' roles continue. While some targets of investigation choose to settle their cases, others insist to exercise their full legal rights. Will the 2011 Southwest blackouts lead to further stipulations and penalties?
Electricity and natural gas market links
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Concerns over the increasing interdependence of natural gas and electricity markets in the United States have prompted federal regulators to schedule a series of technical conferences on the subject for next month.
In recent years, natural gas has increased its share of the energy mix used to generate electricity. Usage of coal, historically the dominant fuel used to generate electricity, is declining, while natural gas pricing is historically low. This shift to increased reliance on natural gas is also driven in part by the growth of intermittent renewable energy resources like wind which may need natural gas to back them up when the wind isn't blowing.
At the same time, investigations into the blackouts and reliability problems like those affecting Texas and the Southwest in February of 2011 suggest that a lack of coordination between the electricity and gas industries may be partly responsible for the outages.
On February 3, 2012, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Commissioner Philip Moeller issued a letter posing a series of questions concerning gas-electric interdependence. His questions included what role the FERC should play in overseeing better coordination between the two industries, what regional differences might affect this coordination, and differences in how electricity and gas are traded in their respective markets.
In response to Commissioner Moeller's letter, a variety of stakeholders submitted comments. Many commenters suggested that significant regional differences exist in both how markets operate and how their coordination could be improved.
As a result, the FERC has scheduled a series of regionally-oriented technical conferences for August:
In recent years, natural gas has increased its share of the energy mix used to generate electricity. Usage of coal, historically the dominant fuel used to generate electricity, is declining, while natural gas pricing is historically low. This shift to increased reliance on natural gas is also driven in part by the growth of intermittent renewable energy resources like wind which may need natural gas to back them up when the wind isn't blowing.
At the same time, investigations into the blackouts and reliability problems like those affecting Texas and the Southwest in February of 2011 suggest that a lack of coordination between the electricity and gas industries may be partly responsible for the outages.
On February 3, 2012, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Commissioner Philip Moeller issued a letter posing a series of questions concerning gas-electric interdependence. His questions included what role the FERC should play in overseeing better coordination between the two industries, what regional differences might affect this coordination, and differences in how electricity and gas are traded in their respective markets.
In response to Commissioner Moeller's letter, a variety of stakeholders submitted comments. Many commenters suggested that significant regional differences exist in both how markets operate and how their coordination could be improved.
As a result, the FERC has scheduled a series of regionally-oriented technical conferences for August:
- Central (generally the areas controlled by Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator Inc. (MISO), Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (SPP) and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)), to be held August 6, 2012, in St. Louis, MO
- Northeast (generally the area controlled by ISO New England, Inc.), to be held August 20, 2012, in Boston, MA
- Southeast (generally the areas controlled by Southern Company, Duke and Progress Energy, TVA, as well as other areas south of PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) and East of SPP and ERCOT), to be held August 23, 2012, at FERC headquarters in Washington, DC
- West (generally the Western Interconnection), to be held August 28, 2012, in Portland, OR
- Mid-Atlantic (generally the areas controlled by New York Independent System Operator Inc. (NYISO), PJM and related areas), to be held August 30, 2012, at FERC headquarters in Washington, DC
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