eForms
FERC-715 - Annual Transmission Planning and Evaluation Report
Instructions
Revised January 2007
Approved collection OMB No. 1902-0171
Expires: March 31, 2010
This report is mandatory under Sections 213(b), 307(a) and 311 of the Federal Power Act and 18 CFR Section 141.300 of the Commission’s regulations.
§ 141.300 FERC Form No. 715, Annual Transmission Planning and Evaluation Report
- Who must file: Any transmitting utility, as defined in § 3(23) of the Federal Power Act, that operates integrated (that is, non-radial) transmission facilities at or above 100 kilovolts must complete FERC Form No. 715;
- When to file: FERC Form No. 715 must be filed on or before each April 1st;
What to file: FERC Form No. 715 must be filed with the Office of the Secretary of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in accordance with the instructions on that form.
The Commission considers the information collected by this report to be Critical Energy
Infrastructure Information (CEII) and will treat it as such. The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 200 hours per response, including the time for reviewing the instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. You shall not be penalized for failure to respond to this collection of information unless the collection of information displays a valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to:
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Office of the Chief Information Officer
CI-1
888 First Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20426
and to:
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Office of Management and Budget
Washington, DC 20503
Table of Contents
I. General
Information
A. Purpose of Report
B. Who Must Submit
C. Waiver Request
D. Blank or N/A (Not Applicable)
Responses
E. Checklist and Where to Submit
F. When to Submit
G. Contact Information
H. Sanctions and Confidentiality
Statements
II. General
Instructions
A. Submit
B. Designate Entity to Submit Power
Flow Cases
C. Fee Schedule
D. The Importance of Power Flow
Cases in the Evaluation of System Performance
III. Terms
and Definitions
A. Transmission Planning Reliability
Criteria
B. Transmitting Utility
IV. Specific
Instructions
A. Part 1: Identification
and Certification
B. Part 2: Power
Flow Base Cases
C. Part 3: Transmitting
Utility Maps and Diagrams
D. Part 4: Transmission
Planning Reliability Criteria
E. Part 5: Transmission
Planning Assessment Practices
F. Part 6: Evaluation
of Transmission System Performance
I. GENERAL
INFORMATION
A. Purpose of Report
The FERC Form No. 715, Annual Transmission Planning and Evaluation
Report, is required pursuant to Sections 213(b), 307(a) and
311 of the Federal Power Act to provide information adequate
to inform potential transmission customers, State regulatory
authorities and the public of potential transmission capacity
and known constraints, to support the Commission's expanded
responsibilities under §§ 211, 212 and 213(a) of the Federal
Power Act (as amended by the Energy Policy Act), and to assist
in rate or other regulatory proceedings.
B. Who Must Submit
Each transmitting utility, as defined in section 3(23) of the Federal Power Act, that operates network (that is, non-radial) transmission facilities at or above 100 kilovolts must report the information requested under the listed items in the prescribed manner. In the case of joint ownership, only the operator of the facilities must report.
A designated agent, such as a regional transmission group, North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), regional reliability council, formal power pool, or other group, may submit part or all of the required information on behalf of the transmitting utility. The transmitting utility is responsible for submitting all data not submitted on its behalf by a designated agent. Designated agents must specify the transmitting utility (or transmitting utilities) for which they are submitting information. The Commission prefers that all power flow data submitted for Part 2 of FERC-715 be submitted by designated agents outlined above.
C. Waiver Request
The final rule requires that an entity requesting waiver of FERC-715 must either: (1) indicate the entity that performs transmission planning for it, or (2) state that it does not use power flow analyses in performing transmission planning. Once granted, a waiver request in subsequent years is unnecessary, provided the party's status does not change; that is, as long as the party does not begin to perform transmission planning or to use power flow analyses in its planning. Waivers must be submitted prior to the required submission date, April 1st of the filing year.
D. Blank or N/A (Not Applicable)
Responses
All parts of the FERC-715 must be completed. Blank or N/A (Not Applicable) responses are not acceptable. For example; for Parts 4 and 5, respondent transmitting utilities should state the reasons why they have not developed specific transmission reliability criteria or assessment practices for their own system in addition to that of the regional councils if that should be the case.
E. Checklist and Where
to Submit
Submit one original either electronically or in hard copy of all 6 Parts of the FERC-715, Annual Transmission Planning and Evaluation Report to:
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Form No. 715
Secretary of the Commission
888 First Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20426
F. When to Submit
File the report annually by April 1st of the filing year.
G. Contact Information
Direct technical questions concerning the FERC-715, Annual Transmission Planning and Evaluation Report, to email form715@ferc.gov.
H. Sanctions and Confidentiality
Statements
The FERC-715, Annual Transmission Planning and Evaluation Report, is mandatory under the Federal Power Act. The information reported in FERC-715 is classified as CEII.
Late filing or failure to file, keep records, or comply with these instructions may result in criminal fines, civil penalties, and other sanctions as provided by law.
II. GENERAL
INSTRUCTIONS
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) has determined that to satisfy section 213(b) of the Federal Power Act (FPA) it is necessary for potential customers to be able to reasonably anticipate the outcome of technical studies that a transmitting utility would perform in assessing the availability of transmission capacity to satisfy a request for transmission service. Therefore, the Commission requires each transmitting utility, or its designated agent, to:
A. Submit
The Commission requires each transmitting utility, or its designated
agent, to submit an annual report that includes:
1. power flow base cases for its transmission system,
or if the transmitting utility belongs to a regional or subregional
transmission planning or reliability organization, power flow
base cases for that region or subregion;
2. system maps and one-line diagrams;
3. a description of their reliability criteria and
transmission planning assessment practices; and
4. an evaluation under the reliability criteria of
the current and future performance of their transmission system.
B. Designate Entity to Submit
Power Flow Cases
The Commission requires each transmitting utility, or its agent,
to designate any regional or subregional transmission planning
or reliability organizations to which it belongs or any other
single entity to submit to the Commission any regional or subregional
power flow base cases developed for the purposes of members' transmission
planning.
C. Fee Schedule
If Respondents desire to impose copying charges, they shall provide
a fee schedule for making this information available to the public.
D. The Importance of Power
Flow Cases in the Evaluation of System Performance
The Commission assumes that most transmitting utilities participate
in the development, by a regional or subregional organization
to which they belong, of regional or subregional power flow base
cases. The purpose of this process is to ensure consistency of
assumptions and accuracy of data.
Individual members of regional or subregional organizations use
these power flow cases as the starting place for their own transmission
planning studies. A detailed description of a transmitting utility's
reliability criteria and planning practices and an evaluation
of system performance are essential to perform planning studies,
to assess the availability of transmission, to identify potential
constraints, and to anticipate the outcome of transmitting utility
technical studies made in response to an actual request for service.
III. TERMS
AND DEFINITIONS
A. Transmission Planning
Reliability Criteria
The measuring systems and performance standards used for assessing
the actual or projected ability of the bulk electric transmission
system to deliver power to load reliably. Failure to attain a
specified performance standard indicates the need to consider
adding or rearranging facilities, changing operating modes, or
other responses.
Examples of criteria that might apply to simulated testing of
the bulk electric transmission system are:
1. No cascading outage following any specified set
of contingencies.
2. No overloaded facilities following a specified
contingency.
3. All voltages within prescribed limits.
B. Transmitting Utility
Any electric utility, qualifying cogeneration facility (section
3(18)(B), FPA), qualifying small power production facility (section
3(17)(C), FPA), or Federal power marketing agency (section 3(19),
FPA) that owns or operates electric power transmission facilities
that are used for the sale of electric energy at wholesale. (section 3(23),
FPA)
IV. SPECIFIC
INSTRUCTIONS
A. Part
1: Identification and Certification
Provide the following information:
1. Transmitting Utility Name
2. Transmitting Utility Mailing Address
3. Contact Person Name
4. Contact Person Title
5. Contact Person Telephone Number
6. Contact Person Facsimile Number
7. Certification by an authorized official of the
Transmitting Utility regarding the accuracy of the information
submitted.
8. Certifying Official Signature
9. Certifying Official Name
10. Certifying Official Title
B. Part
2: Power Flow Base Cases
A Respondent participating in a regional or subregional process
(for consolidating and ensuring the consistency and accuracy of
the power flow information used by the Respondent for transmission
planning) must submit the most current regional or subregional
input data to solved power flow base cases that the transmitting
utility would ordinarily use as the starting point for its transmission
planning studies or, where these data are unavailable from a regional
organization, submit such data itself.
If the Respondent participates in such a regional or subregional
process, it must submit the following items:
1. Regional or subregional organization name;
2. Regional or subregional organization mailing address;
3. Regional or subregional organization contact person;
4. Regional or subregional organization contact person
title;
5. Regional or subregional organization contact person
telephone number;
6. Regional or subregional organization contact person
facsimile number;
7. Description of process for public access to regional
or subregional power flow information; and
8. Description of power flow cases currently available
from regional or subregional organization, including time frame,
conditions, format, media and the fees, if any, for copying
data for the public.
If a Respondent does not participate in the development of regional
or subregional transmission planning power flow base cases, the
Respondent must submit its own equivalent power flow base cases
directly to the Commission.
Each Respondent must submit for each solved power flow base case:
the input data file (in formats described below) and the corresponding
output data file (in ASCII format) showing the solved real and
reactive power flows, voltages, real and reactive generation and
loads, solution parameters, and other relevant output information;
or, in the alternative, at a minimum, a one-line diagram showing
real and reactive power flows, bus voltages and angles, generator
outputs, transformer tap settings and loads.
Regional and subregional organizations authorized by their members
to provide access to solved power flow cases should make them
available electronically on MS/PC DOS format (version 3.x or higher),
high density (1.44 MB), 3.5 inch diskette or via a computer bulletin
board, when practical, in the input data format associated with
the power flow program that the regional or subregion organizations
use in their transmission studies. The Commission expects that,
in nearly all cases, the format will be one of the following:
1. The Raw Data File format of the PTI (Power Technologies,
Inc.) PSS/E Power flow program;
2. The Card Deck Image format of the Philadelphia
Electric Power flow program;
3. The Card Deck format of the WSCC Power flow program;
4. The Raw Data File format of the General Electric
(Formerly Electric Power Consultants, Inc. or EPC), or the PSLF
power flow program; or
5. The IEEE Common Format for Exchange of Solved
Power Flows.
Respondents submitting their own cases must supply the input data
to the solved base cases and associated ASCII output data on MS/PC
DOS format (version 3.x or higher), high density (1.44 MB), 3.5
inch diskette in the format associated with the power flow program
used by the Respondents in the course of their transmission studies,
as described above.
The input data to the solved power flow base cases must be forward-looking.
For example, the power flow base cases submitted and made available
might include:
1. One, two, five and ten-year forecasts under summer
and winter peak conditions and
2. A one-year forecast under light load/heavy transfers
condition.
This example is similar to a schedule of base cases proposed by
NERC's Multiregional Modeling Working Group for development at
the time this form was created. A regional or subregional organization
may develop, depending on its needs, a different number of power
flow base cases than those described above.
The power flow base cases must be in sufficient detail that network
equivalents, if used, extend sufficiently beyond the electrical
borders of the transmitting utility that potential transmission
users could simulate power transfers within a reasonable market
area without significant loss of accuracy.
The power flow base cases should include all branch circuit ratings (that is, normal, long-term and short-term emergency, or other relevant ratings) that a Respondent uses. Each Respondent must also submit or make available a data-dictionary that cross-references the bus or line terminal names. Please include Energy Information Administration (EIA) codes must be included for each generating plant referenced | EIA Plant Codes
C. Part
3: Transmitting Utility Maps and Diagrams
1. Each Respondent must submit general transmission
maps and single-line schematic diagrams. The maps and diagrams
should be those prepared in the general course of business for
planning and operating purposes. The guidelines provided below
indicate the type of information and the level of detail desired;
however, the Commission is not requiring the Respondent to specifically
prepare new maps and diagrams to satisfy this requirement. If
the Respondent has readily available more than one set of maps
and/or diagrams, the Commission requests that the set submitted
best provide the level of detail described below.
2. The transmitting utility's general maps should
show the geographic locations and names of:
a. Generating plants;
b. Switching stations;
c. Substations;
d. Service areas; and
e. Interconnections with other utilities.
3. The transmitting utility's single-line schematic
diagrams should show and identify:
a. AC and DC transmission lines and facilities,
including their nominal operating and design voltages;
b. Electrical connections;
c. Generating plants;
d. Transformation facilities;
e. Phase angle transformers; and
f. VAR control equipment; (i.e., shunt and series
capacitors and inductors, etc.).
4. On the maps or in separate documentation, each
Respondent should provide a legend that shows the symbols used
on the map or diagram to represent generators, transmission
lines, transformers, capacitors, reactors, buses, etc.
5. Respondents must submit new maps or diagrams each year regardless of its revision.
6. The FERC prefers all maps and diagrams be submitted electronically and are searchable.
D. Part
4: Transmission Planning Reliability Criteria
Each Respondent is to provide the transmission planning reliability
criteria used to assess and test the strength and limits of its
transmission system to meet its load responsibility as well as
to move bulk power between and among other electric systems.
If a Respondent subscribes to the NERC and regional reliability
council transmission reliability criteria, the Respondent must
submit the documents containing such criteria, unless these documents
are readily available in NERC publications or are available in
the regional reliability council OE-411 reports submitted to the
DOE. In such cases, Respondent must submit only the title, source
and effective date of each publication or document.
If a transmitting utility subscribes to more detailed criteria
compatible with the NERC or regional reliability council through
its interconnection or pooling agreements with others, then it
must also submit these additional criteria.
The Commission expects that each transmitting utility will have
additional detailed criteria. For example, each utility generally
sets its own voltage limit criteria on its bulk system as well
as its lower voltage system, since NERC and the regional reliability
councils generally do not. Particular criteria may differ from
those of the council and may be justified by the geography of
the area, type of loads being served, system configuration, weather
considerations, or other reasons. Each transmitting utility must
submit all such additional criteria.
The above criteria will be those which the transmitting utility
uses to determine available transmission capacity needed to meet
potential transmission requests as well as its own native load.
A transmitting utility must describe the criteria that it uses
in sufficient detail to allow others to use the criteria when
performing their own planning or screening studies and to better
understand the process of determining available transmission capacity.
In subsequent years, Respondents need only identify and file changed
criteria.
E. Part
5: Transmission Planning Assessment Practices
The criteria submitted under Part 4 of this form set the limits
of transmission use. However, assessment practices that a transmitting
utility uses in applying these criteria are as important as the
criteria themselves. These practices, developed through experience
and study, include consideration of detailed factors that a transmitting
utility may not list in the criteria that it submits under Part
4. For example, a utility might have certain operating restrictions
and limitations that must be met by appropriate modeling within
a simulation study.
Also, through experience and study, each transmitting utility
may have developed a list of various contingencies it typically
tests against in the application of its transmission planning
reliability criteria. For example, before testing for the limits
of transmission capability that could be used for firm power transfers
on its system, a transmitting utility will assume, based on experience
or realistic expectation, that certain facilities will be unavailable
for some period of time. Each transmitting utility must identify
these contingencies and submit them under this Part.
A description of the Respondent's practices when applying the
transmission planning reliability criteria submitted in Part 4
must be submitted under this part. The description must include
the substantive planning assessment practices that a Respondent
follows in the normal course of business. The information filed
should help requesters to perform planning or screening studies
and to better understand the process of determining available
transmission capacity and known constraints.
In subsequent years, Respondents need only identify and file changed
assessment practices.
F. Part
6: Evaluation of Transmission System Performance
The transmitting utility must provide a narrative evaluation or
assessment of the performance of its transmission system in future
time periods based on the application of its reliability criteria.
It must provide a clear understanding of existing and likely future
transmission constraints, their sources, how it identified these
constraints, and a description of any plans to mitigate the constraints.
The evaluation must provide a clear understanding of the existing
and expected system performance of the Respondent's transmission
system. The evaluation should include a description of all existing
transmission stability limits that the transmitting utility has
uncovered through dynamic system simulation studies. If, in their
studies, Respondents identify stability as a regional transmission
limiting factor, Respondents must, on request, provide the results
of their studies.
The required evaluation is to be drawn from existing utility transmission
planning studies and the experience and judgment of the Respondents'
transmission system planners. Respondents may base the required
evaluation, in part, on recently performed operating studies that
determine transfer capabilities for the upcoming peak load season.
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Downloads & Links
Form 715
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Contact
Information
Cleveland Richards
Telephone: 202-502-6466
Sarbjit Singh
Telephone: 202-502-8643
Email: form715@ferc.gov
FERC Online Support
Telephone: 202-502-6652
Toll-free: 1-866-208-3676
Email: ferconlinesupport@ferc.gov
Submit data to:
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Form No. 715
Secretary of the Commission
888 First Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20426
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