ORDER NUMBER
R-8-19
IN THE MATTER OF
the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473
and
Upper Lillooet River Power LP
Application for Registration Required for Compliance with Mandatory Reliability Standards
BEFORE:
W. M. Everett, QC, Commissioner
on March 25, 2019
ORDER
WHEREAS:
A. On March 13, 2019, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), acting as the Administrator for the British Columbia Mandatory Reliability Standards Program (BC MRS Program), issued a Recommendation for Registration (Recommendation) of Upper Lillooet River Power LP (ULRP) for the functions of Generator Owner (GO) and Generator Operator (GOP);
B. Section 125.2 of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA) assigns exclusive jurisdiction to the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) to determine whether a “reliability standard,” as defined in the UCA, is in the public interest and should be adopted in BC. On June 4, 2009, the BCUC issued Order G-67-09 specifying that entities subject to reliability standards must register with the BCUC;
C. In accordance with the Administration Agreement between WECC and the BCUC, dated September 8, 2009 and renewed August 21, 2014, WECC makes registration recommendations in its role as the BCUC’s Administrator for the BC MRS Program;
D. Order R-40-17, dated September 1, 2017, approved the most recent version of the Rules of Procedure for Reliability Standards in British Columbia (ROP) Appendix 1: Registration Manual which states that every owner, operator and user of an element of the Bulk Electric System (BES), as that term is defined in the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Glossary of Terms and adopted by the BCUC, is a candidate for registration with the BC MRS Program;
E. On November 21, 2018, Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. (Innergex), owner of ULRP, submitted a registration application to WECC to register ULRP with the BC MRS Program;
F. WECC reviewed the ULRP operations and noted that the aggregate total capacity of the ULRP hydro project is greater than 75 MVA (96 MVA) and is connected through a system to a common point of connection at a voltage of 100 kV or above (230 kV), thus qualifying ULRP as an Inclusion I4 of the BES Definition approved by the BCUC. In addition, pursuant to Section 2.1.2 of the Registration Manual (Appendix 1 of the ROP), as an owner and operator of BES generating assets, ULRP qualifies for registration as a GO and GOP with the BCUC. WECC recommends that ULRP be registered as a GO and GOP with the BC MRS Program with an effective date of March 30, 2017, the date when ULRP commenced operations. WECC states that registration of ULRP as a GO and GOP is consistent with entity registration practice in the United States;
G. By letter dated March 20, 2019 and as prescribed by Section 2.3 of the ROP Registration Manual, Innergex submitted a response to the Recommendation to the BCUC stating that it agreed with the registration recommendation of ULRP by WECC and will not be appealing the decision; and
H. The BCUC reviewed WECC’s Recommendation as well as the additional information submitted by ULRP and considers acceptance of WECC’s Recommendation is warranted.
NOW THEREFORE, pursuant to section 125.2(10) of the UCA and in accordance with the Registration Manual that is Appendix 1 to the ROP, the BCUC approves the registration of ULRP for the GO and GOP functions effective March 30, 2017.
DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this 25th day of March 2019.
BY ORDER
Original Signed By:
W. M. Everett, QC
Commissioner