1. RPCG – CCTA Process Overview
WECC Staff: Colby Johnson, Vijay A Satyal
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

2. Western Electricity Coordinating Council
Outline
Criteria used in CCTA process review
Detailed working of the criteria
Status check on 2024 CCTA projects
Project Portal & Challenges
Recommendations
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

3. 5 criteria used for review
Criteria 1: Regional Significance
Based on Voltage:
230kV and above
Criteria 2: Construction Status
Is the project currently under construction?
Criteria 3: Financial Indicators
Financial questions added to project survey to indicate if the project has financial commitment
Criteria 4: Implementation Status Indicators
Environmental Impact Status (EIS – if required) questions added to survey
Criteria 5: Project Dependency
Is this project dependent upon another transmission project to be completed and used for its intended purpose? If so, did the dependent project pass the CCTA criteria?
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

4. CCTA Not CCTA Criteria 1 No Yes Criteria 2 Criteria 3 Yes No No Yes
Regional Significance No
Project A
Project …
Project Z
Yes
Criteria 2
Under Construction
Criteria 3
Financial Indicators
Yes No No
Yes
Criteria 4
Implement. Indicators
Yes No
Passed RPCG Screen
Criteria 5
Dependency Check
N/A No
CCTA
Yes
Not CCTA
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

5. CCTA Process Demo: “Everett – Madison Transmission Project*”
Similar table to be created for all potential transmission projects
This is the type of table we’d create for all potential candidates
Highlighted fields will be considered in CCTA criteria/flow
*This transmission project is fictitious, for process demonstration purposes only
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

6. Criteria 1: Regional Significance
Projects at 500 kV or above 
A project must meet one of the following voltage levels to be of regional significance and be further considered in the CCTA selection process
Projects at 230 kV and above, unless they are not a backbone1 facility
1 Backbone transmissions are facilities that connect smaller pockets of the transmission network
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

7. The sample project is a 500 kV line, which
Criteria 1
Regional Significance
Project A
Project …
The sample project is a 500 kV line, which
is considered “regionally significant”
The project proceeds to Criteria 2 for
further evaluation
Project Z
Yes
Criteria 2
Under Construction
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

8. Criteria 2: Construction Status
Yes
CCTA
Is the project currently under construction? No
Proceed to Criteria 3 
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

9. The project is not yet under construction
Criteria 1
Regional Significance
Project A
Project …
Project Z
Yes
Criteria 2
Under Construction
Criteria 3
Financial Indicators No
The project is not yet under construction
The project proceeds to Criteria 3
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

10. Criteria 3: Financial Indicators
Implement. Indicators
Does the project have a commitment for financing to construct the project? 
To be included in CCTA; Must answer “Yes” to at least one of the following questions
Does the project have executed transmission service agreements that commit the project developer to construct the project?
Yes
Is the project included in an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP)? No
If there is generation associated with the project, has the gen. project been identified in an LSE procurement process and/or have contracts for the generation been signed?
Does the project have executed participation contractions with other parties that commit the parties to construct the project?
Not CCTA
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

11. The project does have financial commitment for construction
Criteria 1
Regional Significance
Project A
Project …
Project Z
Yes
Criteria 2
Under Construction
Criteria 3
Financial Indicators No
Yes
Criteria 4
Implement. Indicators
The project does have financial
commitment for construction
The project proceeds to Criteria 4
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

12. Criteria 4: Implementation Status Indicators
Two key-implementation indicators for Criteria 4 evaluation
Does the project require a EIS and/or similar state/county/town-level environmental or siting process?
Criteria 5
Dependency Check No 
Yes
Filed required applications, applications must have been accepted or deemed completed, formal noticed public meeting (or equivalent) completed?
Not CCTA
Until these steps have been taken* No
Yes 
Criteria 5
Dependency Check
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

13. The project does require and has completed the EIS process,
Criteria 1
Regional Significance
Project A
Project …
Project Z
Yes
Criteria 2
Under Construction
Criteria 3
Financial Indicators No
Yes
Criteria 4
Implement. Indicators
Yes
Our project is included as a CCTA at this point. But we will proceed through the rest of the criteria checks
Criteria 5
Dependency Check
The project does require and
has completed the EIS process,
filings, public meetings, etc..
Proceed to Criteria 5
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

14. Criteria 5: Dependency Check
Is this project dependent on another transmission project to be completed and used for its intended purpose(s)? No
(N/A) 
Two primary dependency questions
CCTA
Yes
If so, did the dependent project pass the CCTA criteria?
Yes
Define project dependency: No
Not CCTA
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

15. Criteria 5 is not applicable (N/A) for the project, becomes
Regional Significance
Project A
Project …
Project Z
Yes
Criteria 2
Under Construction
Criteria 3
Financial Indicators No
Yes
Criteria 4
Implement. Indicators
Yes
Final position through CCTA process flow chart
Passed RPCG Screen
Criteria 5
Dependency Check
N/A
Criteria 5 is not applicable
(N/A) for the project, becomes
CCTA candidate
CCTA
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

16. Western Electricity Coordinating Council
2024 CCTA Update
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

17. Remaining 2024 CCTA Then vs. Now
Highlighted projects subject of special consideration during 2024 CCTA process
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

18. Western Electricity Coordinating Council
2024 CCTA Exclusions
This list includes transmission
projects that were excluded or
removed during the 2024 CCTA
process.
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

19. Project Information Portal (PIP)1 3
We have began an outreach/sent a letter to ask for project updates from present project contacts/sponsors 2
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

20. Edit existing projects through interactive map
*Paths shown are approximations and are provided to us in the form of Keyhole Markup Language (KML) by project sponsors/contacts
Add new/edit projects through “list view”

21. Current Challenges and Solutions to PIP Updates
System will only allow a “project creator” to edit their own project
The person who created the project in the PIP may no longer be the present contact/sponsor/etc…(responsibility may have “changed hands”)
Solutions:
We can manually associate any WECC User Account to any project, giving them editing privileges
Send project updates directly to me at
Make sure to tell them that we would like to have me update their info as a last ditch effort because we track changes and don’t want it to appear that WECC staff is just randomly making changes to others’ projects.
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

22. Western Electricity Coordinating Council
Recommendations
Use this list as a starting point for the 2026 CCTA
Update current transmission projects on PIP (100 total Tx lines), create sorting table by criteria (line voltage, construction status, etc…)
Outreach already begun
Include Planning Coordination Committee (PCC) to better align Production Cost with Powerflow data
Facilitate further CCTA discussion and development
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

23. System Adequacy Planning Western Electricity Coordinating Council
Contact Information
Colby Johnson
System Adequacy Planning
Western Electricity Coordinating Council
Office: (801)
Western Electricity Coordinating Council