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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022.07.29 IMC Executed MinutesAlaska Intertie Management Committee (IMC) REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Alaska Energy Authority Board Room Friday, July 29, 2022 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair John Burns called the meeting of the Alaska Intertie Management Committee to order on July 29, 2022, at 9:05 a.m. A quorum was established. 2. ROLL CALL FOR COMMITTEE MEMBERS Members present: John Burns (Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA)); Andrew Laughlin (Chugach Electric Association (CEA)); Jon Sinclair (Matanuska Electric Association (MEA)); and Bryan Carey (Alaska Energy Authority (AEA)). 3. PUBLIC ROLL CALL Public present: Sunny Morrison (Accu-Type Depositions); Joel Paisner (Ascent Law Partners); Jennifer Bertolini (AEA); Dona Keppers (AEA); Mark Zeisman (AEA); Brian Hickey (BPMC); Russell Thornton (CEA); Dan Bishop (GVEA); Molly Howard (GVEA); David Pease (MEA); and Bernie Smith (Public). 4. PUBLIC COMMENTS — None 5. AGENDA APPROVAL MOTION: Mr. Carey made a motion to approve the agenda, as presented. Motion seconded by Mr. Laughlin. The agenda was approved without objection. 6. APPROVAL OF PRIOR MINUTES — June 24, 2022 MOTION: Mr. Carey made a motion to approve the Meeting Minutes of June 24, 2022. Motion seconded by Mr. Laughlin. The Minutes of June 24, 2022 were approved without objection. 7. NEW BUSINESS 7A. Annual Meeting and Election of Officers IMC Meeting Minutes — July 29, 2022 MOTION: Mr. Sinclair made a motion to nominate and elect Mr. Jenkin as Chair and Andrew Laughlin as Vice -Chair. Motion seconded by Mr. Laughlin. The motion to nominate and elect Mr. Jenkin as Chair and Andrew Laughlin as Vice -Chair was approved without objection. Chair Burns commented that for ease of the meeting, the new roles will be assumed at the next meeting. Joel Paisner, Ascent Law Partners, advised that AEA will continue their normal role serving as Secretary/Treasurer. There were no objections. 8. COMMITTEE REPORTS 8A. IOC Committee i. Strategic Planning Update Chair Burns requested the report from the Intertie Operating Committee (IOC). Dan Bishop, GVEA, informed that the IOC met on July 18, 2022, and reviewed the Strategic Plan presentation that was given at the previous IMC meeting. He noted that David Lockard, AEA, provided suggestions, which included specific information for the vision and mission of the IOC. Mr. Bishop informed that he will document the suggestions and prepare the minutes of the meeting. Mr. Bishop noted that AEA was unable to prepare the minutes due to the lack of administrative staff. Mr. Bishop discussed that the analysis of the unbalanced snow load and the engineering analysis for 2022 is scheduled to begin. The structures will be modeled in PLS-CADD. A consultant will assist in the analysis. Mr. Bishop indicated that Molly Howard, GVEA, will give a verbal update on the Asset Management Plan and Russell Thornton, CEA, will discuss the Operator's Report. Mr. Bishop noted that further discussion can occur regarding the fault disturbance on the 69 kV line. The preliminary event analysis has been received from the engineering staff. Mr. Bishop informed that he did not receive the MS Teams link for today's meeting. Chair Burns requested that Jennifer Bertolini, AEA, review the processes to ensure that the notices are sent appropriately. Ms. Bertolini agreed. She informed that the MS Teams link is sent to the Committee members, the alternates, the assistants of the Committee members, and to anyone that has been identified as an executive session attendee. Ms. Bertolini requested that members provide her with contact information of anyone they want to specifically include on the MS Teams link. Chair Burns recommended that the Committee Chairs receive the MS Teams link for the meetings when they are scheduled to provide reports. Ms. Bertolini agreed. Chair Burns asked Mr. Bishop about the next steps for the Strategic Plan regarding finalization and submittal to the IMC for review and approval. Mr. Bishop discussed that the next step is to IMC Meeting Minutes — July 29, 2022 2 review the input received from the IOC and to work through the process of preparing the individual components of the Strategic Plan. The broad outline of the Strategic Plan is nearly complete, but some of the individual components, such as the engineering analysis of the unbalanced snow load monitoring system and identification of the corrective measures, are expected to take a year to complete. Chair Burns requested, as outgoing Chair, that the Strategic Plan is submitted to the IMC, along with a Gantt chart showing the expected progression of the various studies. He believes this information is important for members. Mr. Bishop agreed. Chair Burns asked Mr. Bishop to report on the recent disturbance that emanated on the GVEA system. Mr. Bishop discussed that the internal GVEA team has begun analysis of the disturbance, which was a high impedance fault. It consisted of a tree phase -to -phase in the line and looked like a large load on the system. It pulled the frequency down dramatically and tripped off some of GVEA's plants, which aggravated the situation. The engineers developed corrective actions and recommended changes to the protection to make the system respond more gracefully to these sorts of disturbances and to prevent degradation. Chair Burns informed that he was contacted by various Railbelt utility managers who expressed concern that an incident in any one service territory can have significant impact throughout the entire Railbelt. Chair Burns requested that the IOC evaluate this issue and invite Homer Electric Association (HEA) to participate, even though they are not a member of the IMC. He noted that the impact on this critical infrastructure cascaded all the way to Homer. Chair Burns believes it would be prudent for the IMC to take a holistic evaluation of this incident and of the equipment of each of the utilities along the Railbelt to ensure they are syncing. Future incidents similar to this one could have catastrophic impacts. Mr. Bishop agreed with Chair Burns and suggested that a transmission relay protection coordination study could be conducted for the Railbelt. He informed that an engineering study was recently added to GVEA's budget. He noted that the study could be coordinated through the System Protection Subcommittee of the IOC and the Systems Subcommittee. Chair Burns agreed and asked for member comments. Mr. Laughlin agreed, and understands that steps are being taken to mitigate this particular impact on the line. He supports a study to review the protection and coordination across the Intertie to minimize high impedance faults tripping out the line. Mr. Sinclair agreed with the previous comments regarding prevention and coordination to ensure that a fault in one load balance area (LBA) does not affect the entire Railbelt in the future. Mr. Carey agreed with previous comments. Chair Burns requested Mr. Bishop and the IOC undertake the relay protection coordination study as a high priority on behalf of the entire Railbelt and to provide a status report of the study at the next meeting. Chair Burns emphasized the importance that happenings in one LBA do not negatively impact the entire system. Mr. Bishop agreed. There were no additional questions. IMC Meeting Minutes — July 29, 2022 3 ii. Asset Management Update Chair Burns requested Ms. Howard provide the Asset Management Update. Ms. Howard informed that a database format has been approved in which the Intertie structures, conductor assemblies, foundations, and other original data are being entered. This is a formidable endeavor and she is happy to report that 350 of the 754 structures have been entered. Ms. Howard indicated that in tandem, historical maintenance records for both clearing and patrols will be entered into the database. Ms. Howard informed that the meeting in August will review the preventative maintenance tasks and the utility industry recommended cycles in comparison with the Alaska Intertie. Mr. Laughlin expressed appreciation for the amount of effort it takes to glean the data from the CAD drawings and to enter it into the database. Mr. Sinclair inquired as to which asset management database is being used. Ms. Howard advised that Excel is being utilized, as it provides a format the can be exported to any of the utilities' various software platforms. Chair Burns complimented Ms. Howard regarding the magnitude of these long overdue efforts to aggregate the data in a useable format. He expressed appreciation to Ms. Howard and her team, and looks forward to the final product. There were no additional questions. 8B. Operator's Report Chair Burns requested Mr. Thornton present the Operator's Report. Mr. Thornton indicated that the Operator's Report is included in the packet. A total of 224,000 MWh were carried over the Alaska Intertie in FY22 from July through June. This total is an increase of 14% compared to the same period in FY21. Mr. Thornton noted that there were no Intertie trips to report in the previous period. He commented on the load -shed event and advised that communication is ongoing between the System Studies Committee and the Relay Protection Committee. Mr. Thornton noted that GVEA has provided much information and the analysis is underway. Mr. Thornton discussed the consolidated event reporting system graphic for June and July 2022, which includes the cause and frequency excursions of those events. He noted that this is the same database that ML&P ran for several years and CEA continues to operate it as the southern controller. Mr. Thornton reviewed the system response summary for some of the key events. Analysis has occurred on events outside the southern controller's area to get a system perspective. Mr. Thornton discussed that the data reveals that the system response for under -frequency events in the last several months has been approximately 7 MW per 0.1 Hz. The Fairbanks over - frequency event in June was a fault that tripped load and was low at 2.8 MW per 0.1 Hz. He discussed a previous year that had a low frequency response of 4 MW per 0.1 Hz. Chair Burns commented that the low of 2.8 MW per 0.1 Hz is disconcerting. He inquired as to the ongoing efforts to ensure there is not a systemic meltdown. Mr. Thornton discussed that several actions have been taken over the last couple of years, including retuning the governors to improve IMC Meeting Minutes — July 29, 2022 4 system response. He noted that HEA and GVEA's battery purchases will assist. Mr. Thornton explained that CEA is in the process of purchasing a battery. Chair Burns requested that the IMC conduct a thorough evaluation in conjunction with each of the utilities to identify how assets are coordinated within the Intertie system as a whole. He expressed concern regarding previous reports of nearing a critical point. Mr. Thornton discussed that the historical frequency response to events was at 10 MW per 0.1 Hz. He believes stability is a real issue. Mr. Bishop informed that the System Studies Subcommittee commissioned a reserves requirement that produced results addressing this issue and included recommendations for changes to ensure the system operated quickly enough to minimize effects. Chair Burns asked if those recommendations were implemented. Mr. Bishop noted that the recommendations are in the process of implementation. Additional coordination and implementation is necessary. Chair Burns discussed that members of the IMC have a fiduciary obligation to ensure the integrity of the Intertie. He requested the IOC to conduct the relay protection coordination study and to provide a report outlining the issues and to set up a protocol to address the issues. Chair Burns asked Mr. Thornton for feedback on how to present the information in order to have a clear understanding of the next steps and expectations. Mr. Thornton agreed with Mr. Bishop that the Reserve Study indicated that reserve response is critical and all reserves are not created equal. Meeting reserve obligations and performance criteria indicated in the study are required prior to deployment of protection reserves. The study also delineated changes to the shed in lieu of spin system to improve performance. Chair Burns requested that the IOC review and analyze all of the various studies as a whole and produce an outline and schedule for the work that needs to occur. A budget can then be created for the next steps. The outline and schedule of work will provide a clear understanding of expectations. A member noted today was the first time he was aware of the event with the 2.8 MW per Hz frequency response. He understood that the Reserve Study assumed a higher frequency response and that reserves would be adjusted based on the higher assumption. He expressed concern regarding scenarios that can have a 2.8 MW frequency response. Mr. Thornton indicated this event was recent and was not part of the study. He believes the study is sound and the recommendations will address the issues. Chair Burns commented that he wants Mr. Thornton to have a clear understanding of the IMC's expectations. He asked Mr. Thornton to summarize what he can deliver and in what period of time. Mr. Thornton discussed that the next steps are to test and ensure that the response from the generation plants is appropriate to respond to outages, including batteries. Regarding timing, he noted that the retuning of SPP took several months in the planning and execution. Chair Burns commented that a reasonable expectation is for Mr. Thornton to bring to the next meeting an outline and Gantt chart from the IOC of the next steps to engage in this process. He IMC Meeting Minutes — July 29, 2022 5 noted that it is incumbent on the IMC to give the IOC support during the process. Mr. Thornton agreed. Chair Burns expressed appreciation for the information. There were no other questions. 9. MEMBER COMMENTS Mr. Laughlin thanked Chair Burns for his service as Chair and looks forward to Mr. Jenkin's service. He expressed appreciation for the updates from Ms. Howard, Mr. Bishop, and Mr. Thornton. Mr. Sinclair echoed Mr. Laughlin's comments of appreciation. Chair Burns thanked Ms. Bertolini and staff for their efforts. He expressed his pleasure serving and his appreciation for the Committee's active participation. Chair Burns commented that the Intertie is vitally important in realizing the opportunities for a highly functioning coordinated Railbelt system. He expressed appreciation for everyone's commitment. 10. NEXT MEETING DATE — September 30, 2022 Chair Burns informed that the next meeting is September 30, 2022. There were no questions. 11. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business of the AIMC, the meeting adjourned at 9:44 a.m. ry, Carey, AEA S tary IMC Meeting Minutes — July 29, 2022 6