ORDER NUMBER
R-5-19
IN THE MATTER OF
the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473
and
Conifex Power Limited Partnership
Application for Registration required for Compliance with Mandatory Reliability Standards
BEFORE:
W. M. Everett, QC, Commissioner
on February 14, 2019
ORDER
WHEREAS:
A. On December 7, 2018, 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 Conifex Power Limited Partnership (Conifex) 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. In response to a request by BCUC staff, Conifex submitted an application to WECC for registration with the BC MRS Program;
F. WECC reviewed the Conifex facilities and noted that Conifex is a biomass project that meets the requirements of the BES definition, adopted by the BCUC, as an Inclusion I2 because the aggregate total capacity of the biomass project is greater than 20 MVA and is connected through a system to a common point of connection at a voltage of 100 kV or above (138 kV). Operation of the Conifex biomass project commenced on April 1, 2015. WECC recommends that Conifex be registered as a GO and GOP with the BC MRS Program with an effective date of April 1, 2015 and states that registration of Conifex as a GO and GOP is consistent with entity registration practice in the United States;
G. By letter dated December 28, 2018 and as proscribed by the Section 2.3 of the ROP Registration Manual, Conifex submitted a response to the Recommendation to the BCUC. In its response, Conifex submitted additional information that it considered may be relevant in the review of its registration;
H. On January 7, 2019, the BCUC forwarded the Conifex submission to WECC requesting comment;
I. On January 29, 2019, WECC responded to the Conifex submission stating that despite the additional information provided by Conifex, Conifex meets the registration criteria under the BC ROP and Registration Manual for registration as a GO and GOP; and
J. The BCUC reviewed WECC’s Recommendation as well as the additional information submitted by Conifex and WECC’s response to the Conifex submission 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 Conifex for the GO and GOP functions effective April 1, 2015.
DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this 14th day of February 2019.
BY ORDER
Original Signed By:
W. M. Everett, QC
Commissioner