Transmission Expansion Planning

Western Electricity Coordinating Council > Planning > Transmission Expansion Planning

The America Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) directs the Department of Energy (DOE) to provide assistance for the development of interconnection-based transmission plans for the Eastern and Western Interconnections, and for ERCOT. WECC received notification from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on December 18, 2009 that it has been awarded $14.5 million in funding from the ARRA to conduct interconnection-wide electric transmission planning studies in the Western Interconnection.

The funding allows WECC to significantly expand existing regional transmission planning activities and broaden stakeholder involvement in planning processes. These activities, managed by the Transmisison Expansion Planning Policy Committee (TEPPC), will evaluate long-term regional transmission needs that factor in variables including electric demand, generation resources, energy policies, technology costs, impacts on transmission reliability, and emissions. The resulting transmission plans will provide high quality, credible information on transmission infrastructure requirements to decision makers at all levels.

WECC will seek guidance throughout the process from a broad set of stakeholders including representatives from states and provinces, utilities, agencies, non-governmental organizations, energy developers, and consumer advocates and expects to begin the project in the first quarter of 2010 with the formation of a multi-stakeholder Scenario Planning Steering Group and the development of a transmission study work program.

For more information on the Regional Transmission Expanision Planning Project (RTEP), click here.

About Transmission Expansion Planning

WECC members, recognizing the need for a regional approach to transmission expansion planning, organized the Transmission Expansion Planning Policy Committee (TEPPC) to provide transmission expansion planning coordination and leadership across the Western Interconnection. TEPPC works in close coordination with subregional planning groups, transmission operators, and others in order to facilitate regional economic transmission expansion planning. The functions performed by TEPPC complement, but do not replace the responsibilities of WECC members and stakeholders regarding the planning and development of specific projects.

Each year TEPPC develops a study program that details the transmission system expansion studies they will perform. The program is based on study requests received during TEPPC’s open season request window (November 1^st – January 31^st). Any interested party can submit a study request to TEPPC for consideration. Analysis and studies performed by TEPPC focus on plans with interconnection-wide implications and include a high-level assessment of transmission congestion and operational impacts. Results from TEPPC’s studies provide useful insight into transmission expansion needs within the Western Interconnection.

TEPPC’s Annual Report, and other documents produced by TEPPC are located in the “Documents ” section of the TEPPC webpage. Links to the websites of WECC’s subregional planning groups can be found on the front page of the TEPPC webpage.

Funded through a grant from the Department of Energy, awarded on December 18, 2009, TEPPC will be undertaking addtional transmission planning activities under the Regional Transmission Expansion Planning (RTEP) project. All infromation about this effort is on the RTEP web page.