Western Resource Adequacy Program Advances with Approval of Tariff Changes, Business Practice Manuals

Weeks after the Western Resource Adequacy Program’s Resource Adequacy Participant Committee approved a revised transition plan, the Western Power Pool Board of Directors recently took a series of actions to move the program further along.

WRAP, which is the first region-wide reliability planning and compliance program in the history of the West, is being launched by the Western Power Pool. WRAP members include public power utilities.

The Board voted to approve seven WRAP business practice manuals, completing the full set of documents that detail how the program will operate; a set of corrections to the WRAP tariff, and the revised transition plan, which is intended to enable WRAP participants to participate in a fully binding program in 2027.

“Having a completed, approved set of business practice manuals is a major milestone,” said Sarah Edmonds, Western Power Pool President and CEO, in a Sept. 24 news release. “Our team created these from scratch after the approval of our tariff, through rounds of stakeholder reviews and revisions. The manuals spell out the details of the WRAP, including the forward showing and operations programs. They will provide participants with essential information they need to continue implementing the program.”

The Board’s approval of the transition plan and tariff corrections means the updates will next go to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval.

WPP expects to file the two proposals with FERC separately in the next few months. Following RAPC approval, the revised transition plan was open for public comment and reviewed by the Committee of State Representatives, before being submitted to the Board for consideration.

Current WRAP participants are: