The 11th annual Western Transmission Summit will bring together top executives from the Western area’s regional planning entities, transmission developers, utilities, and state regulatory agencies to discuss and debate the most critical issues surrounding transmission expansion in the Western region. You will have the opportunity to brainstorm with these thought leaders on how to address complex planning, siting, and market structure issues while balancing reliability, policy directives and economic interests. Hear key project managers reveal the inside details of the most important transmission projects in the region in case study sessions.

Learning Outcomes

• Explore barriers and the potential path towards western regionalization
• Discuss FERC Order 1000 and its impact on transmission projects
• Discuss complex transmission planning, siting and market structure issues with industry thought leaders
• Hear transmission leaders reveal the inside details of major transmission projects in the region, in an exclusive project showcase session
• Explore renewable integration in the West
• Understand physical & cyber security threats and best practices to protect your company
• Explore energy storage as a transmission planning resource

Credits

EUCI has been accredited as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).  In obtaining this accreditation, EUCI has demonstrated that it  complies with the ANSI/IACET Standard which is recognized internationally as a standard of good practice. As a result of their Authorized Provider status, EUCI is authorized to offer IACET CEUs for its programs that qualify under the ANSI/IACET Standard.

EUCI is authorized by IACET to offer 1.0 CEUs for this event and 0.4 CEUs for the workshop.

Instructional Methods

Case studies, PowerPoint presentations and group discussion will be used in this event.

Requirements for Successful Completion of Program

Participants must sign in/out each day and be in attendance for the entirety of the course to be eligible for continuing education credit.

Monday, February 25, 2019

8:00 – 8:30 a.m. :: Registration & Continental Breakfast

8:30 – 8:45 a.m. :: Opening Remarks by Chairperson

8:45 – 9:30 a.m. :: Western Regional ISO – Inevitable Shift or Elusive Dream?

Many observers of western energy policy believe that a move to a regional wholesale market has become inevitable.  Escalating climate goals across many western states, decreasing costs for renewables and increasing costs for conventional power plants all contribute to this directional shift, as does an inefficient use of the existing power grid. We will explore the economics, politics and drivers pointing toward the establishment of a regional wholesale energy market run by a regional independent system operator and examine the possible timeline for such a change.

Carl Zichella, Director of Western Transmission Climate and Clean Energy Programs, NRDC

9:30 – 10:15 a.m. :: DEEP DIVE: FERC Order 1000

Get ready for a deep dive! This presentation will cover important aspects of FERC Order 1000 as it relates to current and future transmission projects in the West, including:

• Regional planning
• Status & current considerations
• Lessons learned
• Long-term view
• Planning process

Laura Hatfield, Transmission Contract Manager, Puget Sound Energy

10:15 – 10:45 a.m. :: Networking Break

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. :: PANEL DISCUSSION: Overcoming Key Transmission Planning Challenges

There are many drivers shaping the energy industry today. In this session, we’ll take a look at some of the most critical current issues that are influencing transmission development, such as:

• FERC 1000
• Grid modernization
• Transmission siting & permitting challenges
• Transmission upgrades and technological innovations
• Evaluating non-wire alternatives

Panelists:

Robert Smith, VP, Transmission Development, TransCanyon

Charles Adamson, Principal Manager, T&D Major Projects, Southern California Edison

Tracy Rolstad, Senior Power Systems Consultant, Avista

Gary DeShazo, Director, Regional Transmission North, CAISO

David Getts, General Manager, SouthWestern Power Group

12:15 – 1:15 p.m. :: Group Luncheon

1:15 – 2:15 p.m. :: CASE STUDY: Project Updates

Join us for an update on major Western projects including:

Southern California Edison

Renewing the Infrastructure, a Case Study in Optimizing the Grid

Two significant projects in construction and one in development to deliver new generation sources and replace old ones. This presentation will review the challenges and progress for the following projects:

1.  Mesa Substation 500kV upgrade, the in-place rebuild and upgrade of a 220/66/16 kV substation to 500/220/66/16 kV. The enlarged substation will deliver additional power to load to replace retiring coastal power plants.
2. West of Devers Upgrade, the replacement of four 220kV transmission lines for approximately 40 miles to improve import capability from renewable rich areas to load.
3. Eldorado-Lugo-Mohave Series Capacitor Upgrade, six new and upgraded 500kV series capacitors to improve transfer capability from Southern Nevada to Southern California.

Charles Adamson, Principal Manager, T&D Major Projects, Southern California Edison

SunZia Project Update

Update on the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project, including current status of rights-of-way, permits, commercial arrangements and timing. 

David Getts, General Manager, SouthWestern Power Group

2:15 – 3:45 p.m. :: PANEL DISCUSSION & PROJECT SHOWCASE: Transmission Supporting the Integration of Renewable Energy in the West

Rooftop solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources are becoming a significant part of the energy mix in the West. How will incorporating DERs into electricity generation and infrastructure planning processes affect developing transmission planning? How are our assumptions about transmission planning changing? What are the current challenges in reflecting renewable energy data in regional transmission planning models?

Panelists:

Mark Milburn, Vice President, LS Power

Carl Borgquist, President & CEO, Aboraska Energy

Johnny Casana, External Affairs & Government Relations, Pattern Energy Group

Showcase:

Major Interregional Transmission Project – Southwest Intertie Project-North (SWIP-North)

SWIP-North is a proposed 2,000 megawatt (MW), 275-mile, 500 kV single circuit overhead AC transmission line that will complete a critical link between the California ISO and the rest of the Western Grid. SWIP-North represents the third and final phase of the 566-mile, 500 kV Southwest Intertie Project (SWIP) corridor developed by LS Power to enable access to premium renewable resources and EIM opportunities with the flexibility to address over-generation and congestion issues.

Gordon Butte Pumped Hydro Storage            

The 400 MW Gordon Butte PSH Project is designed with best-in-class quaternary configured equipment to enable improved utilization of the transmission system in the Northern Tier / Pacific Northwest region. The Project will produce abundant flexible capacity to provide grid operators with the ability to time-shift significant amounts of energy. The fast-acting facility will market a suite of ancillary services, including but not limited to, spinning reserves, inertia, voltage regulation, load following, frequency control and the collection, storage and firming of variable renewable resources for tactical deployment.

3:45 – 4:15 p.m. :: Networking Break

4:15 – 5:15 p.m. :: DEEP DIVE: Energy Storage for Transmission Planning

Storage interconnection & Applications in the West

Storage is rapidly becoming an integral part of the grid as a resource, transmission services and as a transmission asset.  With multiple-use applications and evolving rules and market structures at the federal, state and local level assessing economic and operational benefits are complex.  Deployment of storage projects in the west will continue.  How are utilities evaluating and justifying storage and what are key factors in grid investment? How are storage interconnections combines with other technologies affecting interconnection and transmission needs?

Laura Hatfield, Transmission Contract Manager, Puget Sound Energy

Demystify the Value of Energy Storage

Several North American utilities and EPRI have collaborated to develop an energy storage analysis framework and tools such as StorageVET® to implement the following:

• Explore potentially beneficial locations for energy storage deployment
• Investigate the locational and system benefits and impacts of energy storage systems at specific locations to optimize size and operation of energy storage deployments
• Improve methods for incorporating energy storage systems and other DER into distribution capacity planning and evaluation of locational benefits

Specifically, this presentation will apply this analysis framework to a vertically integrated utility exploring distribution-connected storage to address a transmission planning need, while comparing storage on a benefit-cost basis to other non-wires alternatives and conventional alternatives.  EPRI will also feature an overview of the range of the other 25+ energy storage cases EPRI and utilities are investigating, which demonstrates the potential of evaluating a range of different use cases and locations with the storage analysis framework and tools.

Eknath Vittal, Technical Leader, Transmissions Operations and Planning Power Delivery and Utilization, EPRI

Giovanni Damato, Senior Project Manager Energy Storage and Distributed Energy Resources, Power Delivery & Utilization, EPRI

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

8:00 – 8:30 a.m. :: Continental Breakfast

8:30 – 9:15 a.m. :: DEEP DIVE: Emerging ICS Threats and the Value of Intelligence

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) continue to be a growing target for compromise. This presentation will provide an overview of current threats and vulnerabilities to ICS, as well as discussing the threat intelligence plays in developing effective cybersecurity defenses. The presentation will also discuss the recent approval of NERC CIP-013, its implementation and Lessons learned in the industry with the ongoing NERC CIP standards.

Jerome Farquharson, Director of Compliance & Critical Infrastructure Protection, Burns & McDonnell

9:15 – 10:00 a.m. :: 2018-2019 RAC Study Program: Evaluating Potential Future Reliability Risks

The world in which Bulk Power System planners and operators in the Western Interconnection work in 2018 and into the future is changing rapidly.  Essential Reliability Services such as frequency support, ramping and balancing and voltage support, will continue to be significant concerns into the foreseeable future.  Additionally, public policies, technological developments, regulatory changes and other broad drivers will also have significant impacts on the reliability of the Bulk Electric System.  WECC and its stakeholders have developed a study program for 2018-2019 to enable WECC to understand and, potentially recommend mitigations for, potential future reliability risks between 2018 and 2038.

Byron Woertz, Manager, System Adequacy Planning, Western Electricity Coordinating Council

10:00 – 10:30 a.m. :: Networking Break

10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. :: Transmission Leaders Policy Panel—Transmission Expansion and the Pathway Towards Facilitating Robust Energy Markets in the West

U.S. transmission planning has changed dramatically over the past two decades with the development of Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs). The Southwest Power Pool (SPP), the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) have found success in developing transmission lines that have unlocked low-cost renewable resources in their regions, while also reducing power costs for their customers. Transmission experts from those regions, as well as from the Intermountain West, will share their experiences and offer insight into how improved coordination and regionalization in Western transmission planning can yield similar results.

Panelists will discuss: 

• How MISO, SPP, and ERCOT developed major transmission projects enabling dozens of gigawatts of low-cost renewable energy of past decade, including lessons learned from those experiences applicable to the grid expansion and modernization in the Western region.
• The current state of transmission planning in each of region, including a discussion of: (1) chief obstacles to interregional planning; (2) key reforms needed to develop interregional lines across RTOs and balancing areas; and (3) key reforms and next steps needed for closer collaboration among RTOs and balancing areas.

Moderator:

Betsy Beck, Director Transmission and Markets Policy, AWEA

Panelists:

Gary DeShazo, Director, Regional Transmission North, CAISO

Johnny Casana, External Affairs & Government Relations, Pattern Energy Group

Rocky Mountain Power Representative

Bonneville Power Administration Representative

CYBER SECURITY: Who’s in Your Network and How Long Have They Been There?

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Overview

In the current state of cybersecurity affairs, a common theme is the time elapsed between compromise and detection. In many cases, this time period can be days, weeks, or even months. This workshop lays out a foundation of distribution, transmission and generation communications, and how a communications network may be implemented with weak points inherent to its design. It identifies the importance of understanding the traffic within a network and how logging, monitoring (network, operating system and applications) and alerting provides visibility into potential attack surfaces.

The workshop also introduces “Kill Chain Analysis” and how that helps create understanding of an adversary’s objectives. Understanding the objectives and result in more targeted defensive measures, as well as avoid expending effort on controls that are ineffective, or at worst, counterproductive. In addition to traffic analysis, logging, and monitoring, workshop instructors will detail how threat intelligence from outside sources can assist in preventing attacks.

The final portion of the workshop introduces steps to performing a vulnerability assessment (passive or active) to not only identify risks but also to test current controls that are in place. This includes a basic overview of penetration testing and red teaming, and how these more sophisticated assessment techniques can be beneficial (if executed appropriately) on both IT and OT networks.

Agenda

1:00 – 1:30 p.m. :: Workshop Registration

1:30 – 5:00 p.m. :: Workshop Timing

• Introduction
• Context
• Protocols and Architecture
• Time to Detection
• Logging, Monitoring and Alerting
• Threat Intelligence
• Attack Models
• Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing
• Mitigation
• QA

Learning Outcomes

• Increasing awareness of the cyber security threats that exist for control systems
• Understanding the basic elements of attacks how your network will be attacked
• Understanding what mitigation tools a business can put in place to increase defensive mechanisms.

Instructors

John Biasi, CISSP, CISA, Burns & McDonnell

Mr. Biasi is an accomplished professional with notable success directing a broad range of IT and cyber security initiatives while participating in planning, analysis, and implementation of solutions in support of business objectives.  He has hands-on experience developing solutions for a broad range of regulations and security frameworks including HIPAA, ISO 27001, NEI 08-09, NERC CIP, NIST, PCI-DSS, and SOX.  Mr. Biasi assisted in the design and development of system implementations and developed and implemented standards and operating procedures per regulatory compliance requirements.  Mr. Biasi developed Disaster recovery plans, exercises, and actual events.  Mr. Biasi also worked with vendors, application developers, database administrators, corporate IT, and other technology groups to resolve any problems and conducted routine hardware and software audits of all supported systems to ensure compliance with established standards, policies, procedures, and requirements.  Mr. Biasi validated policies, procedures and documentation as they relate to the NERC CIP and other regulatory compliance requirements and audited regulatory compliance documentation and generate variance reports.  Mr. Biasi also provided staff expertise on cyber security.

Kevin Madis, CISSP, Burns & McDonnell

Mr. Madis is a highly skilled and dedicated professional with over seventeen years of experience in large, fast paced organizations. He has wide-ranging experience in the design and implementation of IT projects, business and IT risk analysis and mitigation.  As a member of the technical team, Mr. Madis regularly works with clients at the asset level to improve their security posture, review processes and procedures, preform vulnerability assessments, and participate in the design and maintenance of electronic security perimeters. Mr. Madis possesses extensive experience with NERC CIP, SCADA devices, network design, Cisco IOS, Checkpoint, FortiNet, VMware Virtual Infrastructure, Active Directory, QRadar, SEIM, etc. He has written and updated RSAWs, presented on Cyber Security Incident Response as well as Change Control and Configuration Management, and has been a company representative for an onsite audit by multiple Regional Entities.

Charles Adamson, Principal Manager, T&D Major Projects, Southern California Edison

Boris Andino, Manager, T-Line Asset Management, Pacific Gas & Electric

Betsy Beck, Director Transmission and Markets Policy, AWEA Gary DeShazo, Director, Regional Transmission North, CAISO

Carl Borgquist, President & CEO, Aboraska Energy

Johnny Casana, External Affairs & Government Relations, Pattern Energy Group

Giovanni Damato, Senior Project Manager Energy Storage and Distributed Energy Resources, Power Delivery & Utilization, EPRI

Gary DeShazo, Director, Regional Transmission North, CAISO

Jerome Farquharson, Director of Compliance & Critical Infrastructure Protection, Burns & McDonnell

Laura Hatfield, Transmission Contract Manager, Puget Sound Energy

Mark Milburn, Vice President, LS Power

Tracy Rolstad, Senior Power Systems Consultant, Avista

Robert Smith, VP, Transmission Development, TransCanyon

Eknath Vittal, Technical Leader, Transmissions Operations and Planning Power Delivery and Utilization, EPRI

Byron Woertz, Manager, System Adequacy Planning, Western Electricity Coordinating Council

Carl Zichella, Director of Western Transmission Climate and Clean Energy Programs, NRDC

Please Note: Confirmed speakers do not need to register and are encouraged to participate in all sessions of the event. If you are a speaker and have any questions please contact our offices at 1.303.770.8800

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Cancellation Policy

Your registration may be transferred to a member of your organization up to 24 hours in advance of the event. Cancellations must be received on or before January 25, 2019 in order to be refunded and will be subject to a US $195.00 processing fee per registrant. No refunds will be made after this date. Cancellations received after this date will create a credit of the tuition (less processing fee) good toward any other EUCI event. This credit will be good for six months from the cancellation date. In the event of non-attendance, all registration fees will be forfeited. In case of conference cancellation, EUCIs liability is limited to refund of the event registration fee only. For more information regarding administrative policies, such as complaints and refunds, please contact our offices at 303-770-8800