Find, Fix and Track Entity, Docket No. RC11-6 (September 30, 2011)
Reliability Standard: BAL-005-0.1b
Requirement: R11
Region: FRCC
Issue: FFT Entity self-reported that it had not included the effects of the ramp rate when it calculated the ACE.
Finding: FRCC found that this issue constituted only a minimal risk to BPS reliability since the Scheduled Interchange value mismatch was only between a 10- and 20-minute ramp rate in the Scheduled Interchange between affected BAs and there were no subsequent issues reported. In addition, the only potential effect on the BPS was a temporary increase in inadvertent energy during the ramp times and the majority of e-tag changes were between 1 and 2 MW. FFT Entity is exclusively a power importer that only imports a small amount of power.
Find, Fix and Track Entity, Docket No. RC11-6 (September 30, 2011)
Reliability Standard: BAL-005-0.1b
Requirement: R11
Region: FRCC
Issue: FFT Entity self-reported that it had not included the effects of the ramp rate when it calculated the ACE and the Scheduled Interchange values were not identical and agreed to by the affected BAs.
Finding: FRCC found that this issue constituted only a minimal risk to BPS reliability since the Scheduled Interchange value mismatch was only between a 10- and 20-minute ramp rate in the Scheduled Interchange between affected BAs and there were no subsequent issues reported. In addition, the only potential effect on the BPS was a temporary increase in inadvertent energy during the ramp times and the majority of e-tag changes were between 1 and 2 MW. FFT Entity is exclusively a power importer that only imports a small amount of power.
Find, Fix and Track Entity, FERC Docket No. RC12-1 (October 31, 2011)
Reliability Standard: BAL-005-0.1b
Requirement: R6
Region: FRCC
Issue: FFT Entity self-reported that, for a 6-hour duration, it did not operate its Automatic Generation Control (AGC) on Tie Line Frequency Bias as required. FFT Entity was mistakenly operating in Constant Frequency mode as a result of a software installation of an updated AGC resource file.
Finding: FRCC found that the issue constituted only a minimal risk to BPS reliability since the improper operational mode of the AGC could not have caused any undue deviation in the system frequency. In addition, the system frequency was always being monitored by FFT Entity’s Energy Management System operators.
Find, Fix and Track Entity, Docket No. RC12-7-000 (January 31, 2012)
Reliability Standard: BAL-005-0.1b
Requirement: R8
Region: SPP RE
Issue: FFT Entity self-reported a violation of BAL-005-0.1b because a limited number of its Remote Terminal Units (RTU), located in areas with data acquisition inputs into the Area Control Error equation, have a longer scan rate than the minimum six second scan rate specified by the Standard. The SPP RE confirmed that there was a reasonable basis to report an issue with this Standard.
Finding: This issue posed only a minimal risk to the BPS for three reasons. First, only a limited number of FFT Entity’s RTUs had scan rates longer than six seconds. Second, while the scan rate for these RTUs was improper, the longer scan rate did not introduce a noticeable error in FFT Entity’s ACE calculation and thereby did not jeopardize FFT Entity’s reliability. Third, FFT Entity already calculates ACE values every two seconds in order to ensure proper automatic generator control performance for the Balancing Authority.
Find, Fix and Track Entity, Docket No. RC12-8 (February 29, 2012)
Reliability Standard: BAL-005-0.1b
Requirement: R10
Region: FRCC
Issue: FFT Entity self-reported two violations of BAL-005-0.1b R10. On one occasion, between midnight and 10 AM, FFT Entity failed to include a transaction tagged as a Dynamic Schedule in its Net Scheduled Interchange for the Area Control Error (ACE) equation. In a separate occasion, between 00:00 on the first day and 23:59 on the sixth day, FFT Entity failed to include a transaction tagged as a Dynamic Schedule in its Net Scheduled Interchange for the ACE Equation.
Finding: FRCC determined that this issue posed only a minimal risk to the reliability of the BPS for three reasons. First, the magnitude of the Dynamic Schedules was less than 30 MW. Second, the FRCC Reliability Coordinator did not request reserves for reliability purposes during the period of these events. Third, the Dynamic Schedules were requested due to commercial drivers rather than for reliability purposes.
FRCC noted FFT Entity violated the Standard previously, but determined the conduct did not constitute a recurring violation because the events could be distinguished on two grounds. First, the prior violation occurred two years before the instant violation. Second, the prior violation was unique because it resulted from confusion over the agreed-upon ramp duration. After the prior violation, FFT Entity remediated the issue by taking five steps: (a) notifying marketers to refrain from submitting tags with blank ramp duration, (b) training their energy system operators to deny any tag with incorrect or blank ramp rate, (c) implementing daily after-the-fact monitoring to ensure ramp durations match schedules, (d) implementing an automatic tag validation tool to catch all blank ramp duration tags, and (e) investigating potential automatic transfer of information tags to the energy tracking system.
Lincoln Electric System (LES), Docket No. RC13-9, May 30, 2013
Reliability Standard: BAL-005-0.1b
Requirement: 16
Region: MRO
Issue: LES, a BA, self-reported an issue with R16 when it discovered that one of its fifteen ACE inputs was not sampling data at a periodic interval that was equal to or greater than its Area Control Error (ACE) calculation rate. Furthermore, due to this discrepancy, LES found that one of the Tie Lines was providing old data into the ACE calculation every other scan. LES had not flagged this bad data for operator display and archival purposes.
Finding: MRO determined that the R16 issue posed a minimal risk to the reliability of the BPS because only one of the 15 inputs was at issue and because LES reconfigured the setting within 2 hours of discovering the issue. MRO also noted that their 2-second ACE calculation rate is below on the 6-second requirement in BAL-005-0.1b R8.
Louisiana Generating, LLC (LaGen), Docket No. RC12-12 (May 30, 2012)
Reliability Standard: BAL-005-0.1b
Requirement: R12, R17
Region: SERC
Issue: LaGen, a BA, submitted two self-reports detailing issues with BAL-005-0.1b. First, LaGen reported that two new Tie Line flows were included in LaGen’s Energy Management System (EMS) but not activated in the Area Control Error (ACE) calculation for Automatic Generation Control (AGC), as required by R12. LaGen found the operator responsible for implementing the new model had not reset the Tie Line record field in the AGC to capture the two new Tie Lines in the ACE calculation; thus, the AGC received no data indicating the power flow on the new Tie Lines and so made no adjustment to generation as the flows changed. The amount of MW not included in the ACE calculation used for AGC was minor (~2%) and so LaGen operators were unaware of the problem until an increase in load occurred without the corresponding change in ACE, and the increase in Inadvertent Interchange could not be explained until further review revealed the issue. Second, LaGen reported that after incorporating the City of Conway BA into its BA, the Conway Remote Terminal unit was not calibrated correctly to establish the required accuracy of less than or equal to 0.001 Hz. SERC staff found the frequency monitor had been calibrated to 60.00 Hz and not to three digits, as required by R17.
Finding: The issues were found to pose a minimal risk to BPS reliability because, regarding R12, the amount of the Tie Line flows that was not included in the ACE calculation was small and had minimal impact on the ACE calculation. In addition, the duration of the issue was less than four days. Regarding R17, the misinformation caused a maximum of 0.2 MW not being included in the ACE calculation, limiting any potential impact. During the time period the inaccurate data was used, LaGen’s CPS1 calculations were all within the acceptable range and LaGen was able to satisfactorily monitor and control generation.
Progress Energy Carolinas (PEC), Docket No. RC12-14 (July 30, 2012)
Reliability Standard: BAL-005-0.1b
Requirement: 17
Region: SERC
Issue: PEC, in its role as a BA, submitted a self-report in February 2012 reporting that it had not performed a yearly cross-check of five frequency devices against a common reference at four separate facilities. The documentation for the devices stated they could not be calibrated. SERC review determined that even though the frequency devices could not be calibrated, PEC was required to perform the yearly cross-check against other equipment already calibrated. PEC submitted records showing the devices were operating correctly.
Finding: The issue was deemed by SERC to pose minimal risk to BPS reliability because the relevant devices are supposed to be maintenance free and no further testing or serving is required. PEC tested the devices and they were found to be operating correctly.
