TITULO IV: DISPOSICIONES FINALES
1. La autoridad competente para resolver conflictos de interconexión en caso de desacuerdo entre las partes
200. Education Partnerships, included in previous GTAs in this section as part of Benefits, is now included in Section 5, USA account 566.
1.9
Operational Performance
201. AltaLink has developed a continuous improvement culture that seeks opportunities across the organization to bring improvements such as reduced cycle times, improved project estimating accuracy, sustainable operating cost reductions, sustainable capital cost reductions, reduced safety risk, improved reliability performance, and environmental footprint reductions. 202. AltaLink continues to utilize various operational performance measures or key performance
indicators (KPIs) as management tools to identify operational performance trends. Longer term trends in particular are useful as directional indicators. KPIs that are trending in a positive direction provide confidence to AltaLink that related practices, processes, external business factors and overall management decision making are creating positive business results. KPIs that are trending in a negative direction indicate business areas that require heightened
investigation to determine if changes to factors under AltaLink’s control could shift the negative trend. Efforts to improve Key Performance Indicator (KPI) trends in one area – such as reliability – may have a negative impact on short-term cost reductions and as a company responsible for the delivery of critical infrastructure services, AltaLink seeks a balance between safety,
203. The Canadian Electricity Association (CEA) produces annual reports on certain composite KPIs based on data supplied by utilities across Canada. AltaLink is including these high-level CEA averages as a peer comparator for information purposes but notes that such comparisons have limited value as each reporting utility operates within varying internal and external business parameters. The ranking of any single entity is, at best, only suggestive of relative performance and is used by AltaLink to determine if AltaLink is trending against the Canadian composite KPI trends. AltaLink is most interested in improving AltaLink’s KPI trends and works toward that end regardless of peer comparisons.
204. AltaLink’s reliability performance measures and improvements are provided hereunder in Section 1.9.1, safety performance measures and improvements are set out in Section 1.9.2, and operational efficiencies are provided in Section 1.9.3.
1.9.1 Reliability
205. Transmission reliability is a function of system planning and design, maintenance and operating practices and expenditures, and of the more immediate environmental conditions such as weather, vegetation, bird and animal contact, vehicle accidents and human contact. In Alberta, the AESO is accountable for system planning and the transmission utility is responsible for maintenance and operating decisions. AltaLink is cognizant of the duties it must discharge and has established design and maintenance standards that seek to find an appropriate balance between cost, safety, reliability and the environment.
206. To illustrate the many factors affecting reliability, Table 1.9.1-1 describes various reasons for interruptions on AltaLink’s system in 2011. AltaLink considers both the number and cause of interruptions in 2011 to be indicative of a typical year. However, AltaLink considers the lack of significant incidents in the fourth quarter to be most likely attributable to unusually favourable weather conditions.
Table 1.9.1-1 - Significant Outages in 2011 (Top 10 Events Ranked by MW-Minutes Lost) Date
Cause of
Outage Description
2011-01-12 Adverse
environment
869L (163S Empress - 204S Sandy Point) was forced out of service twice as a result of contamination. 204S was interrupted for a total of approximately 9 hours while a number of insulators were replaced and others were washed.
2011-04-25 Adverse
environment
715L (650S Hansman Lake - 545S Provost) tripped as a result of a crossarm fire caused by contamination. When the burnt crossarm was found the conductor was 4 ft from the ground. 545S was interrupted for approximately 2 hours.
2011-05-13 Adverse
environment
225L (385S Spring Coulee - 225S Magrath) tripped due to a crossarm fire caused by contamination. Due to planned activities on 146L/162L (415S Drywood - 229S Glenwood) the outage to 225L resulted in interruptions to 385S and 229S. They were interrupted for approximately 4 hours while repairs were made.
2011-05-14 Adverse environment
995L (17S Benalto - 68S Willesden Green - 62S Brazeau) tripped due to smoke contamination from a nearby fire. The line was left out of service until the fire chief confirmed that it was safe to do so. 68S was interrupted for approximately 13 hours.
2011-06-19 Defective
equipment
995L tripped due to a conductor sleeve letting go. 68S was interrupted for almost 16 hours while repairs were made.
2011-06-23 Foreign
interference
54L (118S Canmore - 29S Cascade - 35S Rundle - 177S W Cascade - 123SBanff) tripped as a result of a tree contact. 123S Banff, 945S Sunshine Village and 953S Lake Louise were interrupted for approximately 4 hours while the tree was removed.
2011-07-23 Foreign
interference
534S Eckville T1 tripped due to a fault caused by a bird contact on the 138 kV bus. The faulting switch at 534S Eckville initiated resulting in the remote breaker at 17S Benalto tripping as expected. 534S T1 was interrupted for 4 hours. As a result or being radially fed off the same line 297S Rimbey experienced a momentary interruption.
2011-07-29 Defective
equipment
760L/7L760 (A767S - A914S - 164S - 163S) tripped due to a fallen pole on ATCO's end of the line (7L760). The damaged section of line was isolated and 164S load was restored in just over 3 hours. ATCO repairs were
completed on July 30, and 7L760 (A767s-A914s) was back in service shortly thereafter.
2011-08-31 Foreign
interference
277S Hayter T1 tripped and locked out due to bird contact on the 25 kV bus. It was found that the bird cover-up was melted onto the post insulator. 277S T1 was interrupted for approximately 2 hours.
2011-09-13 Foreign
interference
277S Hayter locked out due to a bird contact on a 25 kV post insulator. This is the second bird outage at 277s, the substation is only partially covered-up. 277S T1 was interrupted for approximately 90 minutes.
207. AltaLink measures its reliability performance by five year average KPIs common to the industry. These longer-term averages depict general trends in reliability and avoid the pitfalls of
comparing individual years that may vary widely due to environmental conditions. This Application includes the following reliability indices which show lagging trends in respect of AltaLink’s transmission system reliability. Only forced outages are included. Pre-planned outages for maintenance do not form part of the reliability status reporting.
SAIFI: System Average Interruption Frequency Index SAIDI: System Average Interruption Duration Index
SAIFI =
Total No. Of Delivery Points Monitored Total No. of Momentary and Sustained Interruptions SAIDI =
Total No. Of Delivery Points Monitored Total Duration of All Outages (Sustained)
SARI = Total Duration of All Outages
Total No. Of Sustained Interruptions
208. AltaLink is also including the CEA Canadian composite reliability indices through 201011
Figure 1.9.1-1 - Transmission Delivery Point Outage Duration (SAIDI)
for comparison purposes. The CEA’s reporting standard is to report any delivery point interruptions caused by a transmission system problem exclusive of major events. AltaLink’s reliability indices provided herein reflect all transmission system outages including major events for pre-2005 data and excluding major events 2005 forward. The excluded major events are identified below each chart where applicable.
Excluded Major Events
CEA Composite – 2003 Eastern blackout
AltaLink – 2005 Empress tornado and Crowsnest storm; 2007 Ross Creek Rail Car; 2008 Bullshead Wind Storm; 2010 April Storms
209.
AltaLink’s outage duration performance continues to compare favourably with the CEAcomposite index. The rolling five year average indicates that the duration of outages tended to increase up until 2009, but in 2010 and 2011, the rolling five year average improved. AltaLink attributes this positive development to a combination of operating practices and Capital Replacement and Upgrade (CRU) projects. For instance, AltaLink and FortisAlberta Inc. (FortisAlberta) implemented a number of process improvements, identified through a Joint
11 2011 CEA data was unavailable at the time this Application was prepared.
0.9 1.1 0.9 1.7 0.6 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.7 0.7 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.8 1.4 2.6 1.3 1.3 1.5 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8 1.5 1.5 1.3 1.2 1.1 H o u rs /d e li v e ry p o in t/ y e a r
Operations Process Improvement Initiative (please refer to Section 1.10, Business
Improvements), to better coordinate field crews in response to an outage. This has helped to improve response times and reduce the duration of an outage. There are also a number of capital programs that are currently underway and expected to continue to sustain reliability performance through for 2013-2014. These programs are described in the reliability
improvements section below.
Figure 1.9.1-2 - Transmission Delivery Point Outage Frequency (SAIFI)
Excluded Major Events
CEA Composite – 2003 Eastern blackout
AltaLink – 2005 Empress tornado and Crowsnest storm; 2007 Ross Creek Rail Car; 2008 Bullshead Wind Storm; 2010 April Storms
210. Figure 1.9.1-3 demonstrates that outages to distribution delivery points resulting from an outage on AltaLink’s transmission system compare favorably with the CEA composite values. There is no appreciable trend in the frequency of outages on AltaLink’s system from 2002 through present. 0.9 1.3 1.4 1.0 1.0 1.4 1.1 1.0 1.3 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.0 1.5 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.4 1.7 1.2 1.7 1.7 1.5 1.6 1.5 In te rr u p ti o n s /d e li v e ry p o in t/ y e a r
Figure 1.9.1-3 - Transmission Restoration Time (SARI)
211. SARI is a ratio of outage duration (SAIDI) over the number of sustained outage events (SAIFI). As the SAIFI values have been relatively static, SARI follows the trend of the SAIDI index.
Reliability Performance Expected Range
212. AltaLink’s 2013 – 2014 reliability expected performance ranges are provided in Table 1.9.1-2 and are calculated as one standard deviation on either side of the 2007 – 2011 averages. Using historical data to set expected performance ranges takes the nature of reliability indices into account, namely:
• SAIDI, SAIFI and SARI are all lagging indicators of past decisions in system design and capital expenditures;
• interruptions can vary widely between years; and • targets must balance reliability levels with cost.
2.2 1.9 1.5 3.7 1.5 2.1 2.3 1.9 1.2 1.3 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.3 1.8 1.8 1.5 2.9 1.6 1.5 1.9 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.9 1.9 1.7 1.6 1.5 H o u rs /S u s ta in e d I n te ru u p ti o n
Table 1.9.1 2 - Reliability Performance and Expected Range Reliability Targets – All kV 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
2013 - 2014 Expected Range 2013 - 2014 Target SAIDI System Average Interruption Duration Index 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 – 1.0 0.8 SAIFI System Average Interruption Frequency Index 1.4 1.1 1.0 1.3 1.0 1.0 – 1.3 1.2 SARI System Average Restoration Index 2.1 2.3 1.9 1.2 1.3 1.3 – 2.3 1.8 Reliability Improvements
213. In addition to normal course capital maintenance, AltaLink has implemented the following initiatives to improve the reliability of its transmission system. Most of these reliability initiatives are intended to minimize environmental damage on transmission equipment as well as
protecting wildlife wherever possible. GREENJACKET
214. GREENJACKET
TM
TM is a unique material that insulates energized electrical equipment to prevent
animal and bird related outages and protect wildlife. In a typical year, wildlife related outages account for approximately 15% of all substation outages. In the period since this program began, wildlife related outages have declined by 60 to 95% at substations with a history of wildlife contacts following the installation of GREENJACKETTM. For further details on GREENJACKETTM Indoor Switchgear
please refer to Appendix 13-A7 Substation Components.
215. AltaLink installs indoor metalclad switchgear as standard design for new urban construction and where appropriate, under its 25 kV bus replacement program. The use of indoor switchgear, which is entirely built and tested by the manufacturer, replaces AltaLink’s previous practice of building and testing site-specific outdoor switchgear. In addition to being the best economic option for sites with more than two feeders, indoor switchgear improves reliability by reducing weather and wildlife related outages. Over a three year period from 2009 to 2011, AltaLink has installed indoor switchgear at a rate of approximately 2 sites per year.
Tapchanger Oil Analysis
216. AltaLink’s dissolved gas analysis (DGA) program measures the combustible gases in tapchangers to identify and remediate units most likely to fail. DGA is the most effective means to reduce tapchanger failures and related forced outages, and AltaLink’s DFA program tests all 138 kV and 240 kV transformers twice per year. Test results also help to prioritize preventative maintenance before failures occur and more costly repairs are required. For example:
• Tapchanger control issues were found as a result of DGA at both 65S and 198S. There were excessive operations that caused high H2 and C2H2
• 498S had coking on one main contact that was discovered using DGA. It was repaired potentially saving a failure or at least major repair costs.
. The control issues were repaired in both cases; and
Insulator Washing
217. AltaLink’s insulator washing program improves the performance capability of insulators and significantly reduces outages caused by dirty or contaminated insulators. The failure rate for cross-arms due to burn-off is increasing as a result of higher operating voltages, insufficient and degrading insulation qualities and contamination. Moreover, cross-arm fires due to
contamination on the underside of insulators may result in a pole fire and loss of the complete structure. Similarly, contamination on substation insulators can also lead to the failure of substation equipment. Consequently, AltaLink also targets substations exposed to
contamination for station-wide washing of all insulators. AltaLink experienced 59 cross-arms fires during 2005-2009, which prompted the renewed insulator washing program in 2011. In 2011, AltaLink completed insulator washing on 30 lines and approximately 4,000 structures. While it is too early to evidence the impact of this program, AltaLink expects this initiative to continue to have a positive impact on system reliability.
Station-wide Insulator Replacements
218. Substations located close to roadways are susceptible to unplanned power outages from contamination of high voltage insulators. The contamination is a result of buildup caused by seasonal road salting activities after which vehicular traffic causes the de-icing medium to become air born and settle on both conductive and insulating electrical components within the substations. This contamination mixed with abnormal weather conditions like heavy fog or excess moisture can lead to voltage tracking and eventual failure of these devices. Other sources of contamination include aerial discharge at industrial facilities at or near to existing substations. AltaLink’s new station-wide insulator replacement program replaces all insulators with a
contamination resistant model at sites with known contamination issues. This program began in 2011 with one station-wide replacement. While it is too early to evidence the impact of this program, AltaLink expects this initiative to ensure continued system reliability.
Partial Discharge Testing
219. In 2009, AltaLink implemented Partial Discharge (PD) Testing (i.e. leaking oil) and an attendant program to predict failures on each current transformer (CT) and potential transformer (PT) in AltaLink’s transmission system after experiencing several unexpected in-service failures. Examples of success include:
• In the first year of the program, PD testing identified eight CTs at imminent failure. AltaLink was able to avoid unplanned outages by replacing the CTs before failure;
• PD testing at 526S in 2011 detected leaking PTs. Based on these results, AltaLink increased its monitoring at the substation and prioritized replacement accordingly; and
• An infrared scan at 17S in 2011 lead to further PD testing of a PT. Although test results were inconclusive, the conclusions were of enough concern to prioritize an urgent repair.
CT/PT Replacement Program
220. As AltaLink’s transmission system is loaded close to its design limit, accurate voltage and current measurements become critical. In addition, as the age profile of AltaLink’s CT/PT inventory has increased so too have the number of failures. Between 2000 and 2008, there were a total of 7 CT/PT failures. Between 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, there were an additional 4 CT/PT failures, which prompted AltaLink to re-evaluate its CT/PT replacement program and increased the quantity of replacements to limit the risk of further failures.
221. Based on the engineering assessment of the failures AltaLink is targeting an age threshold of 35 years for CTs and 45 years for PTs. Units that have reached or surpassed their age threshold will be targeted for condition assessments and potential replacement. Where condition information is available through new testing methods such as Partial Discharge testing or through visual assessment, AltaLink may opt to replace a CT or PT that is not necessarily among the oldest in inventory. Before AltaLink re-evaluated the replacement program in 2010, it replaced 9 CT/PTs in 2009. This increased to 18 replacements in 2010 and 55 replacements in 2011, the first full year under the new program. Since the replacement program began in 2010, the rate of CT/PT failures has now slowed to 2 failures since 2010.
Aerial Mapping & Attributes
222. AltaLink currently has 418 lines to operate and maintain. Of those lines 204 have original design based operating ratings. In 2013 and 2014, AltaLink is expanding its existing Aerial Mapping & Attributes Program to identify opportunities to develop detailed engineering line ratings which may result in AltaLink being able to improve existing operating line ratings, raising the capacity of the particular line.
223. AltaLink’s Aerial Mapping & Attributes is included under the Line Components business case (refer to Appendix 13-A2). As part of the program AltaLink inspects existing lines to determine if conditions have changed since original construction. Any clearance issues to ground, adjacent facilities, or distribution underbuilds to ensure public safety will be mitigated. Past experience shows that approximately one third of the lines in study will have identified deficiencies to be resolved to meet thermal and safety code requirements. This repair scope is also included and discussed under the Line Components business case.
1.9.2 Safety
224. AltaLink’s on-going investment in safety training and equipment is a critical factor in both employee and public safety. AltaLink is faced with high workloads and an increased number of inexperienced employees, but despite these challenges, AltaLink’s safety performance remains strong.
225. AltaLink measures its safety performance by the following industry common indices, demonstrated in Figures 1.9.2-1 and 1.9.2-2.
AIFR: All Injury Frequency Rate LTSR: Lost Time Severity Rate
AIFR =
Per 200,000 Hrs Worked
Number of Medical Aid and Lost Time Incidents LTSR =
Per 200,000 Hrs Worked Number of Lost Time Days Not Worked VAFR =
Per 1,000,000 Kilometers Driven Number of Vehicle Accidents
226. Figure 1.9.2-1 represents lost time and medical aids for AltaLink employees and contractors. AltaLink’s frequency of medical aids and lost time personal injuries is significantly less than the CEA Transmission composite. Despite a period of unusually high workloads for both staff and contractors, the frequency of medical aids and lost time personal injuries has remained within AltaLink’s normal historical range.
Figure 1.9.2-1 - AltaLink All Injury Frequency Rate (AIFR)
227. Figure 1.9.2-2 shows AltaLink and CEA Lost Time Severity Rate (LTSR) which measures the degree of injury or the length away from work for the more serious incidents. As demonstrated, AltaLink’s LTSR is materially lower than the CEA composite.
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 AltaLink 1.1 0.8 1.3 0.2 0.8 AltaLink Contractors 0.9 0.7 1.5 0.2 0.5 CEA Composite 2.9 2.8 2.2 2.1 3.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 L T I & M A / 200, 000 H rs W o rked
Figure 1.9.2-2 - AltaLink Lost Time Severity Rate (LTSR)
228. AltaLink’s Vehicle Accident Frequency Rate (VAFR) is shown in Figure 1.9.2-3. For the 2007-2011 period, AltaLink’s VAFR remained stable, typically below the CEA composite, and within AltaLink’s normal historical range.
Figure 1.9.2-3 - AltaLink Vehicle Accident Frequency Rate (VAFR)
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 AltaLink 7.3 6.6 8.4 0.0 0.0 CEA Composite 12.7 26.1 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 L T D ay s/ 200, 000 H rs W o rked 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
AltaLink CEA Composite 2.3 1.5 2.3 1.3 1.9
CEA Composite 2.4 2.7 2.7 1.6 1.6 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 V eh icl e A cci d en ts / 1, 000, 000 K m s D ri v en
Safety Performance Expected Range
229. AltaLink has a strong culture dedicated to employee safety, and will continue to invest to required levels in equipment, tools, training programs and procedures to ensure AltaLink’s employees work in a safe environment. AltaLink’s expected range of safety performance for 2013-2014 is shown in Table 1.9.2-1. This expected range is based on 1 standard deviation from the most recent five years of historical data, but this should not be construed as a “target” range because in terms of employee safety, any statistic greater than zero is unacceptable. AltaLink strives for zero safety incidents through a number of programs, strategies, and initiatives described below.
Table 1.9.2-1 - Safety Performance Expected Range Safety & Environmental
Targets 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
2007 - 2011 1-Standard
Deviation AIFR All Injury Frequency
Rate
(# of MA & LTIs X 200,000 hrs/total hrs worked per year)
1.12 0.76 1.32 0.18 0.84 0.41 – 1.28
LTSR Lost Time Severity Rate
(# of days lost X 100 person-years/total person years worked)
7.31 6.62 8.38 0.00 0.00 0.34 – 8.58
VAFR Vehicle Accident Frequency Rate
(# of vehicle accidents per km driven)
2.33 1.53 2.26 1.33 1.86 1.42 – 2.30
Number of Reportable Releases
(# of releases into the environment)
MA = Medical Aid Injuries LTIs = Lost Time Incidents Safety Improvements
230. Safety of employees and the public is a key value at AltaLink. AltaLink has established an Environment Health & Safety (EH&S) Management System designed to manage the risks and liabilities associated with the construction, operation and maintenance of its transmission system. Additionally, AltaLink has implemented the following safety initiatives.
Contractor Safety Management Program
231. AltaLink’s Contractor Safety Management Program provides the due diligence required to meet legislated safety and environmental requirements, assure a safe work environment for all staff