1. This notice of a recommendation and assessment concerning the Electricity Governance Rules 2003 (“Rules”), Rule Amendment Proposal No. 94, is issued by the Electricity Commission (“Commission”) pursuant to section 172E (2) (c) of the Electricity Act 1992 (“Act”).
2. Section 172E (2) (c) of the Act provides that, no later than 10 working days after making a recommendation concerning the Rules to the Minister of Energy, the Commission must publicise the recommendation and the assessment completed under section 172F of the Act.
Recommendation
3. The Commission made a recommendation that the existing Schedule C4 of Part C of the Rules, which contains the system operator policy statement, be replaced in its entirety with a new Schedule C4 on 14 July 2006.
Recommended Amendment to the Rules
4. The key differences between the existing Schedule C4 and the one now recommended by the Commission are set out below:
(a) Specific inclusion of events arising during asset commissioning (clause 12.1) as possible credible events that might cause cascade failure;
(b) defining the term “transmission circuit”, the loss of which is described as a contingent event in clause 12.4, as being any transmission line owned by
the grid owner, or any distribution line owned by a participant to which not less than a sum of 60MW of generation is connected and which distribution line is connected to the grid primarily for the purpose of injection into the grid;
(c) a minor drafting change to the wording of clause
24 relating to frequency keeping and time error management;
(d) inclusion of a new section on regional contingency planning (clauses 40 and 41) to reflect the role the system operator plays in co-ordinating management of power security in regions as may be required from time to time;
(e) inclusion of new clauses (56 to 59) in the “Allocation of Demand Reduction” section, to outline the existing demand shedding process and, in particular, the status of, and process for, issuing demand allocation notices;
(f) inclusion of new clauses (83 to 85) which provide a process by which asset owners can notify the system operator of temporary unexpected changes to asset capability via an urgent change notice (a newly defined term); and
(g) inclusion of a new clause (108) to inform asset owners that they can use a template, which the system operator will publish on its web site, to inform the system operator of asset capabilities during commissioning or other testing.
5. A copy of the Commission’s recommendation and assessment is available, at no cost, on the Commission’s web site:
http://www.electricitycommission.govt.nz/rulesandregs/recommend
Dated at Wellington this 14th day of July 2006.
For and on behalf of the Electricity Commission:
ROY HEMMINGWAY, Chair.