20080418Cupparo Direct.pdf

In the matter of the Application of )
Rocky Mountan Power for a Certificate )
of Convenience and Necessity Authorizing )
Construction of the Populus to Terminal )
345 kV Transmission Line Project )
BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION APR J 7 PHIL: 30Ii) ..'1-. I",. ~n... ,., . "I j iJ
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DIRECT TESTIMONY OF
JOHN CUPP ARO
Case No. PAC-E-08-o3
Direct Testimony of John Cupparo
APRIL 2008
1 Q.Please state your name, business address, and present position.
2 A.My name is John Cupparo. My business address is 825 NE Multnomah, Portland,
3 Oregon, 97232. My present position is Vice President of Transmission.
4 Q.How long have you been in your present position?
5 A.I have been in my present position since August, 2006.Before being appointed to
6 this position I was Chief Information Officer for PacifiCorp.
7 Q.Please describe your education and business experience.
8 A.I have a Bachelor Science degree in Computer Information Systems from
9 Colorado State University. My experience spans 23 years in the energy industr
10 including oil, gas and electrc utilties. The majority of my experience has been in
11 information technology supporting natual gas pipelines, energy commodity
12 trading and end to end electrc utility operations. I have been employed at
13 PacifiCorp since September, 2000. My job responsibilities have covered many
14 aspects of utilty operations - commercial & trading, outage management,
15 customer service, transmission scheduling and reguatory issues. My experience
16 within PacifiCorp includes management of multi-fuction organzations, large
17 project delivery and resolving complex scheduling and contract scenaros.
18 Q.What is the purpose of your testimony?
19 A.The purose of my testimony is to establish the purose and need for the
20 Populus-to- Terminal 345 kV transmission line (the "Transmission Project" or
21 "Project").
22 Q.Would you please summarie your testimony in this proceeding?
23 A.In sumar, the Transmission Project is needed to support long term load growt
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and strengten the overall transmission system. By constrcting ths Project,
overall reliabilty of the trsmission system will be enhanced by adding
incremental new capacity for northbound and southbound flows between SE
Idaho and Utah. In addition to load service requirements ths Project will also
improve our ability to recover from certain system and plant outage conditions.
These conditions tyically occur durng winter/sumer peaks and when
generation or transmission forced outage events occur in varous sections of the
Company's eastern control area.
Please describe the Transmission Project.
The major components of the project consist of a substation and the transmission
line. A new substation (referred to as the "Populus Substation") will be
constrcted near the existing Jim Bridger 345 kV transmission line corrdor in
southeast Idaho near the town of Downey. A new double-circuit 345 kV
transmission line wil be constrcted from the Populus Substation to the existing
345 kV Termal Substation in Salt Lake City, Uta southwest of the Salt Lake
International Airport. A map showing the route of the Transmission Line is
attched as Exhbit A; mior adjustments to the route may occur durg final
design. The transmission line will also tie into the existing Ben Lomond
Substation in Box Elder County, Uta. Intially, only a 345 kV substation yard
wil be developed at the Populus Substation and the existing Jim Bridger-Borah,
Jim Bridger-Kiport, and Ben Lomond-Borah 345 kV lines will be looped in and
out of the Populus Substation. However, the Populus Substation will be
confgured to facilitate the addition of planed future 345 kV and/or 500 kV
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transmission lines. The Ben Lomond Substation and Terminal Substation will be
expanded to accommodate the new 345 kV transmission lines and termation
points.
What analysis or process did the Company base its determination that
additional transmission capacity was need?
The Company utilizes an Integrated Resource Plan ("IRP"). this is a public
process used to develop a framework for the prudent futue actions requied to
ensure the Company continues to provide reliable and least cost electrc service to
its customers, while strking an expected balance between cost and risk over the
planng horizon and taing into consideration environmental issues and the
energy policies of our states. As stated in Chapter 2 of the 2007 IRP,
"PacifiCorp's IRP mandate is to assure, on a long-term basis, an adequate and
reliable electrcity supply at a reasonable cost and in a maner 'consistent with the
long-ru public interest.'"
How does this Transmission Project meet those IRP requirements?
The Project is designed to meet load growth and enhance grid reliability. Based
on the Company's 2007 Integrated Resource Plan ("IRP") forecasts, PacifiCorp's
network load obligation, is expected to grow durng the next ten years at an
anual average rate of 3 percent. In addition, plang reserves as required to
maintan reliability obligations wil increase. The existing transmission capacity
from southeastern Idaho into Utah is fuly utilzed and no additional capacity can
be made available without the addition of new trnsmission lines. The primar
purpose of ths Project is to add signficant incremental transmission capacity
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between Southeast Idaho and Nortern Uta and fuer to facilitate a stronger
interconnection to systems feeding Idaho, Wyomig and the Nortwest in genera.
The Company determed that the best means of makg a signficant incrementa
increase in transmission capacity necessar to continue to reliably and
economically serve these growing electrcal loads would be to constrct a new
double circuit transmission line connecting the southeast Idaho transmission
system to the Uta load center in the Wasatch Front. The addition ofthese new
345 kV circuits wil not only provide access to existing and future generating
resources, but will enhance the reliability of the existing system. I believe the
recognized need for such improved transmission capability was what led
MidAerican Energy Holdings Company and other paries to agree upon the
commitment to increase the transmission capacity from Idaho to Uta by June
2010. This commitment was made as par of the acquisition ofPacifiCorp in
2006.
Were alternatives to the Project considered?
Yes, two other alternatives were considered, but rejected. The first alternative
was to not build the line. Ths option was rejected since it did not provide any
new incremental transmission capacity and precluded the ability of new resources
to be delivered into Uta from Wyomig, Idaho, or the Northwest in general.
New incrementa transmission capacity is needed for both load service and for
contingencies. Another alternative considered was to rebuild some of the existing
138 kV lines interconnecting Uta and Southeast Idaho. This alternative provided
only a small incrementa increase of300 MWs in tranmission capacity across the
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1 curently constrained path between Southeast Idaho and Uta. In addition to the
2 marginal increase in transmission capacity this alternative had serious
3 constrctabilty issues as it required key segments of the path to be removed from
4 service for extended periods as existing facilties were upgraded. Ths placed
5 significant exposure to the overall transmission system serving the area and
6 exposure to Rocky Mountain Power customers during constrction. As this
7 alternative did not meet the long-range resource plans for the 10 and 20-year
8 periods, but had only small increases in over all transmission capacity and
9 unacceptable reliabilty exposures during constrction it was determined that ths
10 option was insuffcient to meet long -term customer needs.
11 Q. Please describe further why the Project was selected?
12 A. The Project was selected based on several factors:
13 . The Project will add significant incremental trsmission capacity
14 (planed rating 1,400 MWs) across the curent constrained transmission
15 path
16 . The Project wil allow import of up to 1,400 MWs of forecast renewable
17 resources capacity from Wyoming and Southern Idaho. This new
18 capacity is required based on long-term planng horizons of 10 years or
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20 . The Project will use some existing corrdors that were acquired just for
21 this purose and optimzes use of limted and scarce transmission corrdor
22 lands.
23 . The Project can be constrcted with existing facilties remaig in
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service without increased reliabilty exposure to the curent system.
. Curently line and station maintenance windows are limted. When
completed, ths Project wil improve our ability to perform requied
maintenance without significant derate of the system, and it will reduce
outage risks when portions of trsmission facilties are removed from
service for maitenance.
As I have indicated, flows across Path C, which is the existing transmission path
tht the Populus-to-Terminalline wil supplement, is a heavily used path withi
Rocky Mountain Power's system and the WECC. The Project satisfies not only
the load growth requirement, but strengthens the system for Rocky Mountain
Power customers generally.
How wil the Transmission Project benefit Rocky Mountain Power
customers?
The Transmission Project will provide an effcient and reliable supply of
transmission capacity to meet existing and futue electrcal loads by June 2010.
Without the new capacity, PacifiCorp would have to rely on the existing
transmission interconnections to the Desert Southwest, Centrl Uta, Four
Corners, and Eastern Wyoming. These transmission paths are curently fully
utilized and do not provide any meangful transmission capacity requied for
future projected load. Without the increased transmission capacity provided by
the Project, PacifiCorp would be faced with an increased and unacceptable risk of
not being able to meet its load service obligations durng all periods. The Project
will enhance the Company's ability to provide reliable and effcient service to all
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1 customers. Furer, in order to provide low-cost energy, the Company must have
2 the ability to acquire power from numerous generation sources in order to
3 negotiate the most competitive pricing. By adding transmission capacity we
4 expand our ability and options to obtan additional generation sources at
5 competitive pricing. Curently there is only one 345 kV line from Idao to the
6 Wasatch Front in Uta. The Transmission Project will result in a stronger
7 interconnection with Idaho Power Company and the existing Wyomig-to-Idaho
8 transmission system, as well as providing better transmission system access to the
9 Nortwest Power Pool and electrcal generation reserves. The Transmission
10 Project, especially when complemented with the other proposed Energy Gateway
11 projects, will also facilitate the development of renewable and other generation
12 sources in Idao and Wyoming by providing trasmission capacity from proven
13 areas of resource development to load centers. Generally, the addition of the
14 Transmission Project will be an importt piece in strengthening the Western
15 grd's transmission infastrctue, which I believe is necessar, based upon our
16 customers long-term load growth projections, and the contingencies and
17 restrctions we are beginng to see on the network durng outage conditions. The
18 Project is widely regarded as necessar, as indicated in the Rocky Mountain Area
19 Tranmission Study (RM TS) report dated September 2004 Executive Sumar
20 Pages III, IV and V, and Chapter 3 pages 3-1 to 3-5. Also, reports initiated by the
21 Western Governor's Association showed Path C as a constraint tht needs to be
22 addressed.
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Wil the Transmission Project provide increased reliabilty for the
Company's wholesale transmission customers?
Yes. Besides PacifiCorp, Uta Associated Muncipal Power Systems
("UAMPS"), relies on Utah-based generation to support loads in Idaho. Increased
capacity in the nortbound direction provides better reliabilty for long-term load
service in Idaho. Without increased nortbound transmission capacity, both
PacifiCorp and UAMS would be requied to find alternative resource suppliers
for Idaho loads, potentially increasing their purchased power costs. In addition,
the curent Path C is utilzed by other transmission customers as a means to move
short-term and non-firm energy into and from the northwest. Increasing capacity
across ths path will signficantly improve a point of constrait on the system that
curently affects numerous transmission customers.
Wil the Transmission Project provide other benefits to the Company's
transmission system?
Yes. As has been seen in the West as well as other pars of the countr, the
transmission grid can be affected in its entirety by what happens on an individua
tranmission line. For example; the transmission path between Idaho and Uta is
comprised of several individual trsmission lines or line segments. A single
outage on any of the individual lines due to storm, fire, or other external human
interference can and does cause signficant reductions in transmission capacity.
This reduction occurs on a portion of the system between Idaho and Uta that is
already constrained at times with all elements in service, and can cause adverse
impacts on other portions of the Company's tranmission serving Idaho and Uta.
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Additionally, these lines improve our abilty to send energy from the northwest to
the southwest and from the southwest to the northwest dependig on economic
conditions. Limitations on our abilty to move energy across these lines can
impact costs to serve our customers and can reduce potential revenue credits from
third-pary wheeling purchases. Strengthening ths path with the new
transmission line will benefit all customers due to these factors.
Are there other benefits you see from this Project?
Yes. While this Project provides the next necessar increment of transmission
capacity it also supports and complements other futue transmission investments
that are curently proposed by PacifiCorp and other utilities in the region. Ths
Project positions PacifiCorp to be strongly interconnected to other regional
projects curently being planned and provides options for access to additional
resources.
Is the Company seeking a determination of rate treatment for the cost of the
Transmission Project at this time?
No. Cost recovery is not being sought though this fiing but will be made
though a futue general rate case.
Does this conclude your direct testimony?
Yes.
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