WECC is soliciting stakeholder comments on a draft strategic plan that seeks to build on NERC’s ERO Enterprise Long-Term Strategy while adding a Western flavor.

“WECC took a hard look at the ERO Long-Term Strategy (LTS) and, with input from the board, made some really intentional decisions about what concepts made sense for incorporation and further expansion … to reflect WECC’s unique profile and perspective,” Jordan White, WECC vice president of strategic engagement, told the organization’s Member Advisory Committee Wednesday.

NERC’s Board of Trustees approved a revised ERO Enterprise LTS in December. That plan calls on the regional entities to incorporate four “value drivers” into their practices, including using innovative, risk-based programs; seeking top talent; and balancing industry collaboration with independence and objectivity. (See NERC Plans Review of Supply Chain Standards.)

The NERC LTS also identified five key focus areas for REs in coming years, including expanding its risk-based focus in all areas; taking steps to mitigate emerging reliability and security risks; building a strong Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC); strengthening engagement across North America; and “captur[ing]” continuous improvement opportunities.

WECC’s draft LTS riffs off NERC’s five focus areas with variations of its own:

• Innovate and expand risk-based focus in all standards, compliance monitoring and enforcement actions. WECC says it will provide leadership and expertise in the development of ERO standards and draw on “rich stakeholder expertise in the West” to evaluate and develop regional reliability standards or variances “to assure they carefully consider the unique characteristics of the Western Interconnection.”
• Assess and initiate action to mitigate known and emerging risks to the reliability and security of the Western Interconnection. WECC promises continued collaboration with the ERO Enterprise in developing special assessments and studies while ensuring those efforts are informed by Western viewpoints. It will also supplement those assessments with “Western-focused” work when necessary.
• Strengthen engagement with the reliability and security community in the Western Interconnection. This focus area reflects WECC’s recent push to ramp up its engagement with regional stakeholders through “proactive outreach and communications with key state and provincial regulatory, legislative and policy bodies and associations to identify drivers of change.” WECC will reach out to share relevant reliability impact information with industry decision makers as they “drive change” across the West. It also intends to share the region’s “specialized and localized” point of view on national reliability and security matters.
• Seize opportunities for effectiveness, efficiency and continuous improvement. WECC will work to ensure it has the budget and staff to follow through on its reliability and security mission. It will also establish annual goals for organizational performance and share progress with stakeholders through a corporate scorecard.
• Build the capability and culture that enable WECC to deliver on its critical reliability mission. This entails WECC becoming an “employer of choice” that attracts “the right talent to deliver on its performance objectives.” This focus area also emphasizes the importance of WECC’s “invented future,” during which it builds strong relationships to collaborate with industry on implementing risk-based concepts rather than just enforcing compliance with standards. (See WECC Seeks to ‘Invent Future’ with RA Forum.)

WECC will hold an Aug. 11 webinar “where we plan to do a deeper dive into the long-term strategy and get stakeholder input,” White said. Stakeholders are asked to comment on the plan by Aug. 19. WECC management hopes to get board approval for the LTS in September.

“Assuming that the final long-term strategy is approved with all of the stakeholder feedback, et cetera, by the board at the September meeting, we plan to hold an interactive forum at the annual meeting to increase stakeholder engagement and understanding of the long-term strategy,” he said.

WECC will hold its annual meeting virtually this year on Sept. 10-11.