WECC’s Joint Guidance Committee (JGC) on Friday approved the creation of a task force to examine the “relevance and role” of several transmission rating procedures in the operating and planning processes of the Western Interconnection.

According to its charter, the Path Task Force (PTF) will:

• “clarify and document the role of paths, path total transfer capabilities and WECC path ratings in the operations horizon”;
• “examine the relevance and determine the role of WECC path ratings and the three-phase rating process in the planning horizon”; and
• “review and build on the work” of previous WECC task forces, including the Path Operator Task Force, Path Operator Implementation Task Force and Path Ratings Process Task Force. It will also examine WECC’s reliability coordinator system operating limit methodologies.

WECC’s path rating process provides transmission project sponsors with a means to obtain an “accepted” rating that meets the regional entity’s criteria and NERC reliability standards.

“This three-phase process addresses planned new facility additions and upgrades or the rerating of existing facilities,” according to WECC. “It requires coordination through a review group comprised of the project sponsors and representatives of other systems that may be affected by the project.”

Transfer path ratings are documented in the WECC Path Rating Catalog, which contains a map and description of the path and its transfer limit or rating, which planners use in their near-term planning horizons.

The PTF will report its findings and recommendations about the path ratings process to the JGC. Task force members will be selected from WECC’s Market Interface Committee, Operating Committee, Reliability Assessment Committee and their subgroups. Members, who may be self-nominated or nominated by a committee chair or designee, will be approved by the JGC, according to the group’s charter.

After revising and reviewing details of the charter, the JGC ran out of time during Friday’s meeting to determine who should sit on the PTF. Vic Howell, WECC’s director of reliability risk management, suggested the committee review a list of potential members and approve them during the committee’s next meeting, scheduled for Oct. 2. JGC co-Chair Branden Sudduth, WECC vice president of reliability planning and analysis, asked committed members to provide recommendations for the PTF chair.

Creation of the PTF is not subject to approval by the WECC Board of Directors. The task force will report only to the JGC and is slated to complete its work and disband by Dec. 31, 2021.