In a major step towards a more unified approach to operating the Alaska Railbelt electrical system, the managers of the six Railbelt electric utilities have now agreed on a memorandum of understanding for the formation of a Railbelt Reliability Council, or RRC, to oversee the operation of the Railbelt electrical grid. The plan is to obtain utility board approval of the MOU by the end of the year. Also, in November the utilities announced that they had agreed on a set of cybersecurity rules that will go into effect on Jan. 1.
During a Regulatory Commission of Alaska public meeting on Dec. 11 the commissioners reviewed the status of grid unification efforts while also expressing support for pending Senate Bill 123, a bill designed to give clear statutory authority for the relationship between the RCA and the RRC. The Alaska Legislature will consider SB 123 during the upcoming legislative session.
Julie Estey, Matanuska Electric Association director of public relations, explained to the commissioners the status of the MOU for the RRC formation.
“We now have an MOU that all of the general managers or CEO’s have agreed to take to their boards,” Estey told the commissioners. “That is happening within this week and next week. So we believe we’re on track to meet your stated deadline of a signed MOU by all six utilities by the end of this calendar year.”
The Railbelt electricity grid
Although covering a large geographic area, the Railbelt grid is small in terms of its electrical load and generation capacity. But the fact that it has evolved into ownership and operation by six independent utilities and the state of Alaska has resulted in inefficiencies that can translate into relatively high electricity prices for consumers. The balkanized nature of the system has also led to complications in terms of the ability of independent power producers, including purveyors of renewable energy, to connect to the system.
A further problem has been the lack of a consistent set of enforced reliability standards, including standards for cybersecurity. Cybersecurity relates to the need to protect the electrical system from attacks against the computer and digital communications systems that have become critical components of the electrical infrastructure.
The RCA involvement in the various grid unification issues dates back to a 2014 directive from the Legislature for the RCA to investigate the manner in which the Railbelt electrical system was operated. In response, in 2015, the commission issued a report, recommending a number of changes to the management of the system - since then the commission has been encouraging voluntary efforts by the utilities toward meeting the commission’s recommendations. The overall objective is to minimize the cost of electricity for consumers while maintaining an acceptable level of supply reliability. There are also issues relating to the implementation of renewable energy sources.
RCA recommendations
In its 2015 report the commission recommended the implementation of merit-ordered economic dispatch on the system; the formation of a single transmission company, or transco, to operation the transmission grid; and the implementation of a single set of enforceable reliability standards. The commission also opened a docket to investigate the formation of some form of unified operator, to oversee how the entire electrical system is managed. Merit-ordered economic dispatch involves the continuous use of the most cost-effective power generation.
The RRC is the practical manifestation of the unified operator concept. It would oversee reliability standards; administer rules for open access to the grid; conduct Railbelt-wide system planning; and investigate the economic value of economic dispatch for all or part of the system. A board with representation from the utilities and other electricity system stakeholders would govern the organization.
The utilities had been making progress towards the implementation of economic dispatch, but initiatives in this direction have been placed on hold pending the proposed purchase of Municipal Light & Power by Chugach Electric Association. A merger of these two Anchorage based utilities would presumably lead to economic dispatch in at least their sectors of the grid.
In March four of the utilities and the American Transmission Co. filed an application for RCA certification of a transmission company. However, this application was withdrawn later in the year following objections from some utilities about the manner in which the proposed transco was structured and would operate. Key concerns included governance of the proposed company, which would operate as a for-profit corporation. Some utilities expressed a view that the RRC should be formed first, to provide governance of the entire system, including the transco.
In April 2018 the utilities filed an agreed set of reliability standards. And cybersecurity standards have now been added. Enforcement and maintenance of these standards will require the RRC. But a clear definition of the relative roles of the RRC and the RCA in standards enforcement and maintenance will also be essential - hence a primary purpose of the legislation as expressed in SB 123
Report to the Legislature
The commission had planned to submit a report to the Legislature earlier this year, documenting what has happened in the years subsequent to the commission’s 2015 report. During the Dec. 11 public meeting Commission Chair Robert Pickett commented that the commission had deferred issue of its report, because around April and May the various unification initiatives had stalled, thus painting a rather negative picture. Publication of the report at that point would not have fairly reflected the efforts over the previous four years to solve the issues around more unified grid operation, Pickett said.
But now, with the deadline for the RRC MOU pending, the intent is to review the language of the report to Legislature during a commission public meeting on Jan. 8. That should enable the report to be completed by Jan. 15, ready for submission to the Legislature before the beginning of the legislative session, Pickett said.
The commissioners also reiterated their belief that statutory changes are needed, to clarify the relationship between the RRC and the RCA, giving the RCA clear regulatory authority over the electrical system operator, as distinct from individual electric utilities. The commission also wants statutory authority for the approval of any proposed major changes to the Railbelt electricity infrastructure, to assure that major, expensive upgrade projects are in the best interests of consumers. The commissioners unanimously passed a resolution supporting SB 123.
Cyber security exercise
Also during the Dec. 11 meeting RCA engineering analyst Jay Layne spoke about the involvement of five of the Railbelt electric utilities in a November two-day national cyber attack simulation, called GRIDEX, designed to evaluate cyber security arrangements in the electricity industry, and to learn lessons regarding potential cybersecurity policies. This was the first time that Alaska utilities had participated in a GRIDEX exercise. The exercises, organized by the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or E-ISAC, are held every two years. E-ISAC is operated by North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the grid reliability and security arm of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Because of the security sensitivity of the information involved, the detailed findings of a GRIDEX exercise are not made public. However, a public lessons learned document should be published in March, Layne said.
