IESO Weekly Bulletin

April 5, 2012

In this issue:

Corporate News
- 2011 Annual Report Now Available

Market and System Operations
- Michigan Phase Angle Regulators Come Into Service
- Changes to IESO Documents Available for Review
- March 2012 Pricing Events

Planned IT Outages

Upcoming Events

Corporate News
2011 Annual Report Now Available

The IESO has released its 2011 Annual Report: www.ieso.ca/annualreport-2011. The report outlines the changes that are transforming Ontario's electricity sector and the IESO efforts in supporting those changes.

Reliability remains the cornerstone of the IESO's operations through the transition to a greener and more diverse supply mix and the broadening of the market to include new participants. The IESO has been working with market participants to ensure this new supply is reliably integrated. By refining many of its current tools, processes and practices, the IESO is working to accommodate the operating characteristics of these new resources and the 2011 Annual Report points to progress being made in a number of areas.

The IESO has demonstrated a commitment to financial prudence since its inception in 1999. This commitment continued in 2011 as the IESO worked hard to hold its fee flat for the third consecutive year. Over the longer term, while demands on the business have continued to grow, the IESO's 2011 usage fee of $0.822 per megawatt hour was more than 14 per cent lower than the rate charged in 2003.

Market and System Operations
Michigan Phase Angle Regulators Come Into Service

The phase angle regulators (PARs) at Bunce Creek, Michigan are now fully operational. As planned, the IESO and the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) started controlling loop flows on the Ontario-Michigan Interface at 9:00 EST this morning. For more, please see the March 22 news item: http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/news/newsItem.asp?newsItemID=6003.

Changes to IESO Documents Available for Review

A number of IESO Market Manuals and forms are available for review in Baseline 27.1, including changes to a previously posted Interim Market Document Change. Draft revisions are available at: http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/changes/changeNoticeList.asp.

Changes in Baseline 27.1 include, but are not limited to:

-        SBG Reporting - As reported on March 16 (http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/news/newsItem.asp?newsItemID=6000) an Interim Market Document Change (IMDC 0173) has been introduced to support the implementation of changes to the Security and Adequacy Assessment (SAA) and System Status (SRR) Reports in order to highlight forecast, or occurring, Minimum Generation Events. IMDC 0173 has been revised since the initial announcement with further clarification of the criteria for publishing SBG Reports, Minimum Generation Alerts, and Minimum Generation Events as specified in Market Manual 7.2, Near-Term Assessments and Reports. Comments on the revisions may be made until April 12, 2012.

-        Contact and System User Access Forms - All forms used by Market Participants to register and update contacts and system users with the IESO will be revised to include information needed for the Customer Data Management System (CDMS), part of the IESO's registration system upgrade. A list of registration forms that will be made obsolete is also part of this baseline.

-        Variable Generation Facility Data Forms - Revisions to three forms will be available the week of April 23. They will be used in draft until Baseline 27.1 is finalized on June 6, 2012. The forms are:
o   Application to Register Variable Generation Facility Data (Form 1735),
o   Wind Generation Facility Data (Form 1736),
o   Solar Generation Facility Data (Form 1737).

-        Outage Management Market Manual - Market Manual 7.3 is updated to clarify when the IESO will approve a request for an outage to conduct a system test.

-        Transmission Reliability Margin Implementation Document (TRMID) - Used to ensure the consistent calculation of the Transmission Reliability Margins (TRMs) that factor into Available Transfer Capability (ATC) and intertie scheduling limits, the TRMID will become Part 7.11 of Market Manual 7.0: System Operations. The companion procedure, Available Transfer Capability Implementation Document (ATCID) will be Part 7.12. Formerly, these had been stand-alone documents. The new Market Manual 7.11 includes several changes to the TRM calculations including updates related to phase angle regulators (PARs) being in service between Michigan and Ontario and a change to how Transmission Rights (TRs) are calculated for the PQAT interface. The calculation of the quantity of TRs available in long-term auctions is also being modified.

-        Connection Assessment Agreements - The Feasibility Study Agreement and the System Impact Assessment Agreement clarify that applicants will be notified if costs exceed their deposits.

-        Market Participant Emergency Planning Guidelines - This guide has been updated with the 'All Hazards' approach for preparing emergency preparedness plans, consistent with the Ontario Electricity Emergency Plan.

Additional market document updates will be posted during this baseline as they become available.

Comments on Baseline 27.1 documents may be sent to pending.changes@ieso.ca by April 27, 2012 (as noted above, comments on IMDC 0173 are due by April 12). The current Baseline Plan is available at: http://www.ieso.ca/imowebpub/200801/Baseline-Plan.pdf.

The baseline is a formal process to revise Market Manuals and related documents that result from recently approved Market Rule amendments or technical system changes.

March 2012 Pricing Events

With sustained record-breaking warm temperatures throughout Ontario during March, there was lower-than-usual electricity demand and ample generation supply. During the month there were 44 hours when the Hourly Ontario Energy Price (HOEP) that was less than $0, most occurring mid-month.

The lowest HOEP for the month was -$128.18, set on March 14, hour ending 24. The lowest 5-minute interval price of -$128.40 was also during this hour, in interval 12. Five days later, as mild temperatures continued, the lowest hourly market demand for the month - 13,164 MW - occurred on March 19, hour ending 2.

The HOEP was greater than $200 twice, both times on March 4. The highest HOEP for the month was $389.66, for hour ending 20. In hour ending 19, HOEP was $263.82, including the highest 5-minute price for the month: $600.01 in interval 12. These prices were due to higher-than-forecast demand coupled with reduced supply availability.

Peak hourly market demand of 22,747 MW was set on March 5, hour ending 20.

Planned IT Outages
Due to a planned outage, market participants will be unable to retrieve meter data from 14:30 to 15:45 EST on Tuesday, April 10. On Wednesday, April 11 the Online Outage Request Form will be unavailable between 10:15 and 10:25 EST.

The IESO's Planned IT System Outages web page provides an easy way to view all planned outages: http://www.ieso.ca/it.outages. The page is updated frequently and planned outages are posted as soon as they are finalized.

Upcoming Events
April 12 - Inter-Jurisdictional Trading Standing Committee (Toronto)
April 16-17 - Ontario Power Perspectives Conference (Toronto)
April 24 - C.D. Howe Institute Roundtable: Leading Ontario's Power System through Change (Toronto)
April 30-May 1 - Renewable Energy Finance Forum Canada (Toronto)
May 8-9 - Ontario Power Summit (Toronto)
May 14-15 - CanSIA Solar Ontario 2012 (London)

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