OASIS Insights & Observations Transmission Customer Forum September 21-22, 2006 Jim Viikinsalo September 21-22, 2006 Jim Viikinsalo

Outline Historical Background OASIS Data Posting Requirements Transmission Service Overview Short-Term Request Processing Tips of the Trade (Helpful Query Methods)

Evolution of OASIS Open Access Same-time Information System FERC Order 889 (April 1996) –Transmission Providers post transmission data to OASIS Web sites –Standards and Communications Protocol (“S&CP”) Standard data exchange formats required by the FERC Customers/vendors can access data and display in their own desired format Basic core data set is unchanged, but functionality has increased throughout the years –From “horseless carriage” to a vehicle with A/C and automatic transmission

OASIS Data Posting Requirements ATC/TTC values on each posted path: –at least 13 months of Monthly service –at least 30 days of Daily service –at least 168 hours of Hourly service 82 different paths posted on the Southern Company OASIS Result – tons of data, only pounds useful (desired) (most inquiries seeking only a very small and specific subset of the data)

Daily Study Process - Summary Near-term studies update Daily and Hourly TTC postings –System conditions for a given day are not known 30 days in advance, so Monthly TTC value used initially –2-Day Study: Forecast developed based upon real-time conditions. Daily/Hourly TTCs updated and posted to OASIS. –Next-Day Study: Daily and Hourly TTCs updated and posted again with more recent system conditions. –ATC updated continuously every time a customer: Confirms transmission service Redirects transmission service Schedules partial transmission service Result – “pounds” of useful information –Daily and Hourly TTCs/ATCs based on real-time conditions –Postings for Days 3-30 based on estimated system conditions as projected in monthly studies

Other Information Posted on OASIS Schedules Interruptions and Curtailments Planned Transmission Outage Schedule Significant Transmission Outages Tariff and Rate Summaries System Impact Studies and Facilities Studies Interconnection Requests and Information See the “General Information” page for more details

Transmission Service Overview Southern Companies Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT) developed from pro-forma tariff of Order 888 Transmission capacity to deliver energy from a Point of Receipt (POR) to a Point of Delivery (POD) Different types and priorities of service exist –Network Integration service (Firm, Secondary) –Point-to-Point service (Firm, Non-firm, Secondary)

Service Priorities

Maintaining Reliability Interruption – A pre-emption of lower priority service when ATC is needed to grant requests for higher-priority service –Usually implemented in advance of a schedule start –Example: Hourly non-firm request bumps Hourly redirect request Curtailment – A reduction in schedules for reliability to relieve a transmission constraint –Usually happens after a schedule begins –All firm curtailed pro-rata –Non-firm curtailed by economics (value of service) and Last in First Out (LIFO)

Daily Request Processing Central M-F: Begin answering next-day requests Tips –Daily requests can be queued several days ahead of time Avoid queue flooding and displacements –Query TTC in System Data to view the time of last update –Make note of Section 13.2 in the OATT (conditional acceptance) Redirect activity makes ATC more volatile –Initial request may be refused, but a subsequent redirect may allow a similar request to be accepted (non-discriminatory for both responses) –Capacity made available as a result of redirects is offered on a first- come, first served basis

Request Volume Many requests are approved, but not confirmed by customers

Service Availability – 2006 YTD Firm service –3 planned outages required reductions of the SOCO-FL interface –1 unplanned outage required curtailments during an off- peak period on the DUK-SOCO interface Non-firm service –11 reliability events required curtailment of non-firm service No TLRs initiated by SOCO Reliability Coordinator

There’s Gold In Them Thar Hills! OASIS contains a great deal of data in standard format –SOCO OASIS provides access via Web browser View service offerings, requests, outages, and more Audit Templates available for specific queries of the database –Standard FERC format also allows users to access data directly Using custom or third-party tools, users can display information in the manner most valuable to their own operations S&CP allows for customized presentations of information from the OASIS sites of multiple providers –Users usually discover that the data they want is on OASIS today

Query the database using Audit Templates Use audit queries to view changes in offerings and reservations Follow the “Audit Templates” link from the Customer Menu page –requires only elementary knowledge of S&CP –Service Offerings audit trail – via transofferingaudit –Reservation Status audit trail – via transstatusaudit Follow “System Data” link to see TTC/ATC timestamps Data, such as ATC, changes very frequently when customer activity is high

Audit Query - Example Input follow link to Audit Templates from Menu page input is case-sensitive can query by different sets of input parameters (Path, Seller, POR,POD, etc.) date format is yyyymmddhhmmssTZ

Audit Query – Example Output Results are sorted from latest to earliest updates ATC can vary significantly as reservations are confirmed, redirects away are granted, and schedules are approved Results can be viewed inside Web browser (html) or downloaded as a CSV text file (data)

Other possibilities –request submittal and response –redirect / resale management –post analysis Vendor solutions –exist today Build Your Own User Interface

Demonstration

Questions or Comments? Jim Viikinsalo (205)