Transmission performance report cover.

qxp 06/25/2008 11:50 AM Page 1

Transmission Network Performance Report

Fiscal Year 2008

CD4369 (6/08)
25 Research Drive
Westborough, MA 01582

www.nationalgrid.com
 National Grid US Transmission

Network Performance Summary Report

FY2008
This report has been prepared for National Grid’s customers and other
interested parties. The intention of this report is to provide its recipients
information on National Grid’s transmission reliability performance for Fiscal
Year 2008 (April 1, 2007 through March 31, 2008). Performance trends over
the previous nine years have also been provided.

National Grid USA is a registered public utility holding company

headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts. National Grid USA does
not directly own or operate any facilities for the transmission or distribution
of electricity; rather, such facilities are owned and/or operated directly by
National Grid USA operating subsidiary companies. However, for ease of
reference and for the convenience of the reader, the terms “National Grid” or
“Company” shall be used in this document to refer to the transmission
facilities and assets owned and/or operated by one or more of the subsidiary
companies of National Grid USA. This document does not cover the
performance of assets operated on Long Island.

This document is made available with the expressed understanding that

neither National Grid USA nor any of its affiliates, officers, directors,
employees or agents assumes or makes any representation with respect to
the contents, accuracy or completeness of this document. No part of this
document may be copied, reprinted or reproduced without the permission of
National Grid USA.

© Copyright National Grid 2008

FY2008 Contents

0 Contents

0.1 Table of Contents

0 CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................ 1
0.1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................................................................... 1
0.2 TABLE OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................................................... 1
0.3 TABLE OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................................................ 2
1 RELIABILITY .............................................................................................................................. 5
1.1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................................. 5
1.2 PERFORMANCE SUMMARY................................................................................................................................................ 6
1.3 SELECTED PERFORMANCE STATISTICS ............................................................................................................................. 6
1.4 TOTAL NUMBER OF DISTURBANCES .................................................................................................................................. 7
1.5 MOMENTARY DISTURBANCES ......................................................................................................................................... 10
1.6 SUSTAINED DISTURBANCES............................................................................................................................................ 12
1.7 DISTURBANCE TOTAL DURATION .................................................................................................................................... 13
1.8 SYSTEM AVAILABILITY .................................................................................................................................................... 14
2 CUSTOMERS ........................................................................................................................... 17
2.1 LOSS OF GENERATION (LOG) ........................................................................................................................................ 17
2.2 LOSSES OF SUPPLY (LOS)............................................................................................................................................. 18
3 DEVELOPMENT....................................................................................................................... 22
3.1 TRANSMISSION LINE REHABILITATION PROJECTS ............................................................................................................ 22
3.2 RELIABILITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM ............................................................................................................................ 23
3.3 PAS 55 ASSET MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION ................................................................................................................ 24
3.4 FIVE YEAR STATEMENT .................................................................................................................................................. 24
4 FEEDBACK AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.................................................................... 26
4.1 FEEDBACK ..................................................................................................................................................................... 26
4.2 SYSTEM INFORMATION ................................................................................................................................................... 26
4.3 GENERAL DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................................................................... 27
4.4 RELIABILITY METRIC DEFINITIONS................................................................................................................................... 29

0.2 Table of Figures

Figure 1-1: Cumulative Disturbances Per Month- FY2008 & FY2007 ........................................................ 7
Figure 1-2: Regional Weekly Number of Outages ...................................................................................... 8
Figure 1-3: UST - Outages by Type & Month ............................................................................................. 8
Figure 1-4: Long-Term Trend of TSAIFI ..................................................................................................... 9
Figure 1-5: Long-Term Trend of TMAIFI................................................................................................... 10
Figure 1-6: Causes of Momentary Disturbances ...................................................................................... 11
Figure 1-7: Trend of UST Lighting Exposure ............................................................................................ 11
Figure 1-8: Long-Term Trend of TSAIFI-S................................................................................................ 12
Figure 1-9: Causes of Sustained Disturbances ........................................................................................ 13
Figure 1-10: Long-Term Trend of TSAIDI ................................................................................................. 13
Figure 1-11: UST ITR Trend ..................................................................................................................... 14
Figure 2-1: Causes of LOG Events........................................................................................................... 17
Figure 2-2: Causes of LOS Events ........................................................................................................... 20

National Grid Performance Report 1

Contents FY2008

0.3 Table of Tables

Table 1-1: FY2008 Performance Summary ................................................................................................ 6
Table 1-2: Selected Performance Statistics FY2008 .................................................................................. 6
Table 1-3: UST & Regional System Availability ........................................................................................ 15
Table 2-1: Most Significant Customer LOS Events: FY2008 .................................................................... 19
Table 4-1: UST Circuit Counts .................................................................................................................. 26
Table 4-2: UST Circuit-Miles Statistics ..................................................................................................... 27
Table 4-3: General Definitions .................................................................................................................. 27
Table 4-4: Reliability Metric Definitions..................................................................................................... 29

2
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FY2008 Contents

National Grid Performance Report 3

Reliability FY2008

RELIABILITY

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National Grid Performance Report
FY2008 Reliability

1 Reliability

1.1 Introduction

This report is prepared primarily for National Grid’s transmission customers,

to inform you about the reliability performance of our transmission system
over the past year and also compare it to preceding years.

The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) defines reliability as

“the degree to which the performance of the elements of the system result in
power being delivered to customers within accepted standards and in the
amount desired”. This definition contains the concepts of adequacy and
security. Using NERC definitions again, adequacy is “the ability of the
system to supply the aggregate power and energy requirements of the
consumers at all times” and security is “the ability of the system to withstand
sudden disturbances”.

Transmission failures cause only a small percentage of power outages, yet

these can be significant in their impact on customers. This report provides
information on the various metrics that we use to monitor and improve
performance of our transmission system. These metrics measure the
reliability of the transmission system and consequently, the impact on
customers. This edition includes more focus on five-year and long-term
performance than in previous years, in an attempt to more clearly indicate
performance trends.

If you have any comments or questions about this report,

please contact your Account Manager

National Grid Performance Report 5

Reliability FY2008

1.2 Performance Summary

The overall performance of the system in FY2008 was, for the most part, in-
line with the five-year averages for most metrics, but with a significant
increase in outages compared to the previous year. This is reflective of a
year that was considerably stormier than the previous one. The number of
lightning ground strokes in the transmission system’s areas of operation (a
good indicator of overall storminess) was nearly 48% higher in FY2008 than
during FY2007. Two key customer impact metrics Loss of Supply and
Losses of Generation were also up compared to the five-year average.

The summary data presented on Table 1-1 below will be examined in

greater detail throughout the rest of the report.

Table 1-1: FY2008 Performance Summary

FY2008 vs. FY2008 vs.
Reliability Check
FY2007 Five-Year Average
total number of disturbances Up by 29% In-line with 5 year average

number of momentary disturbances Up by 26% In-line with 5 year average

number of sustained disturbances Up by 34% Worse than 5 year average

sustained disturbances total duration Up by 21% In-line with 5 year average

number of loss of supply incidents Up by 25% Worse than 5 year average

number of loss of generation incidents Up by 117% Worse than 5 year average

1.3 Selected Performance Statistics

Table 1-2 shows some other selected performance statistics for FY2008. All
of these results were very similar to the previous fiscal year and five-year
averages. It is notable that over half of the circuits on the system did not
experience any disturbances at all during the year.

Table 1-2: Selected Performance Statistics FY2008

% of circuits that experienced no disturbances 51%
% of circuits that experienced a single disturbance 23%
% of circuits that experienced 2 disturbances 9%
% of circuits that experienced 3 or more disturbances 17%
Overall ITR 99.963%
Overall Availability 98.6%

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National Grid Performance Report
FY2008 Reliability

1.4 Total Number of Disturbances

Figure 1-1 plots the cumulative system disturbances by month for FY2008,
FY2007 and the previous five-year average. The chart shows that FY2008
tracked closer to the five-year average than the previous fiscal year, which
was considerably lower. Note the steeper slope June through August. The
system experiences over half of the year’s disturbances in just these three
months.

Figure 1-1: Cumulative Disturbances Per Month- FY2008 & FY2007

UST Cumulative Disturbances Per Month

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

2008 2007 Five-Yr Average

The next two charts show the intra-year trends for disturbances for FY2008.

The first chart, Figure 1-2 shows the regional disturbances by week during
the year. The New England region is green and New York, blue. The
peaking of disturbances through the summer is clearer on this chart. There
are also several spikes during weeks when there were exceptional storms.

The worst week of the year occurred in July, when there were a series of
severe thunderstorms that worked through both regions of the transmission
system. Note also the several storm days in January and early February in
New York that caused a high number of disturbances for those weeks.

National Grid Performance Report 7

Reliability FY2008

Figure 1-2: Regional Weekly Number of Outages

FY2008 - Weekly Outages By Region

60
55
Thunderstorms
50 7/9/07 & 7/10/07
New York
45 Buffalo wind/ice
snowstorm storm
40 1/30/08 2/6/08
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
New England New York

Figure 1-3, a plot of disturbances by type and month, clearly indicates the
higher than normal activity in January, which had 50% more disturbances
than the five-year average, due to the several storms that month.

Figure 1-3: UST - Outages by Type & Month

UST - Outages by Type & Month

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

Momentaries Sustains

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FY2008 Reliability

The metric used to track the total disturbances rate is TSAIFI (the total
number of disturbances per circuit-year). The FY2008 result for this metric
was 1.17, indicating there was, on average, slightly more than one
disturbance per circuit over the year. The actual break-down of disturbances
for the year was 374 momentaries and 262 sustained.

Figure 1-4 below plots the results for this metric for the past nine years.
There long-term trend of disturbances is slightly lowering, though there is a
large amount of variability from year to year.

Figure 1-4: Long-Term Trend of TSAIFI

UST TSAIFI Trend

1.35

1.25

1.15

1.05

0.95

0.85
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
TSAIFI Trend

The year-to-year variability in the total disturbance rate reflects differences

in the regional weather patterns, particularly thunderstorms, from year to
year. The weather, in general, and storms in particular have a very
pronounced influence on the number of momentary disturbances, as will be
shown in more detail in the discussion in Section 1.5. And since normally
about 2/3 of all disturbances each year are momentary in nature, the trend
in total disturbances is driven by the trend in momentary disturbances.

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Reliability FY2008

1.5 Momentary Disturbances

This section discusses the most prevalent type of system disturbance, those
that are momentary (a trip and reclose operation where the total outage
duration is less than or equal to one minute) in nature. There were 374
momentary disturbances on the system in FY2008, which was slightly fewer
than the five-year average of 380, but 26% higher than the previous year’s
result of 298.

The metric used to track momentary disturbances is TMAIFI (the total

number of momentary disturbances per circuit-year). The long-term trend of
this metric, shown on Figure 1-5, indicates that this type of disturbance has
been trending downward moderately over the past nine years with a large
amount of variability year to year.

Figure 1-5: Long-Term Trend of TMAIFI

UST TMAIFI Trend

1.00

0.90

0.80

0.70

0.60

0.50
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
TSAIFI Trend

The variability in the number of momentaries year-to-year is strongly

influenced by the weather, particularly the frequency and severity of
thunderstorms during the summer stormy season. The break-down of
causes of momentary disturbances over the past five years is shown on
Figure 1-6 on the following page. Note that the categories of Weather and
Lightning make up 36% of the causes of momentaries. But there is a
stronger influence than that.

Our research into the largest category of causes of momentaries, those that
we were unable to identify a definitive cause for, found that over two-thirds

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National Grid Performance Report
FY2008 Reliability

of these “Unknown” momentaries also occurred during storms. These

“Unknown” operations may be caused by the severe winds, heavy
precipitation, or blowing debris that is encountered during storms. But the
transient nature of both storms and momentary system disturbances makes
finding the specific causes very difficult. Figure 1-7 shows the trend of
lightning exposure to the system, which has been up significantly over the
past four years.

Figure 1-6: Causes of Momentary Disturbances

Causes of Momentary Disturbances - UST - Five Year
Configuration 2% Substation Equip. 5%

Other 7%
Syst. Protection Equip.
External 2% 3%
Vegetation 2% Line Equip. 4%

Weather 9%

Unknown
39%

Lightning
27%

Figure 1-7: Trend of UST Lighting Exposure

UST System Lightning Exposure per Fiscal Year

900

800

700
Total Strokes (thousands)

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Fiscal Years
Total Strokes NE NY trend

National Grid Performance Report 11

Reliability FY2008

1.6 Sustained Disturbances

There were 262 sustained (> 1 minute in duration) disturbances on the

system in FY2008, which was higher than the previous year’s result and
26% higher than the five-year average.

The metric used to track sustained disturbances is TSAIFI-S (the total

number of sustained disturbances per circuit-year). The long-term trend of
this metric, shown on Figure 1-8, indicates that this type of disturbance has
been trending upward over the past nine years. There are a number of
initiatives the company is undertaking to counteract this trend. These
programs are outlined in Section 3.

Figure 1-8: Long-Term Trend of TSAIFI-S

UST TSAIFI-S Trend

0.50

0.40

0.30

0.20

0.10
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
TSAIFI Trend

The break-down of sustained outage causes over the past five years, on
Figure 1-9 on the following page, does not show any one category to be
driving these events. A comparison of one-year and year-to-year trends also
does not reveal any one outage category as a driver.
The three equipment problem categories (Substation Equipment, System
Protection Equipment & Line Equipment) make up about 42% of the
sustained outage causes, which is to be expected.

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National Grid Performance Report
FY2008 Reliability

Figure 1-9: Causes of Sustained Disturbances

Causes of Sustained Disturbances - UST - Five Year

Configuration
2%
Other Substation Equip. 15%
14%

Syst. Protection Equip.

6%

External
12%

Line Equip. 21%

Vegetation
10%

Weather
Unknown
3%
12% Lightning
5%

1.7 Disturbance Total Duration

The duration trend of sustained disturbances is tracked by the TSAIDI

metric, which is the total outage duration (in minutes) per circuit-year. This
trend generally follows the trend in sustained outage rate, with the exception
of a single year when there were some very-long duration outages due to
the need to replace some 230 kV circuit breakers following a fault.

Figure 1-10: Long-Term Trend of TSAIDI

TSAIDI

310.0
290.0
270.0
250.0
230.0
210.0
190.0
170.0
150.0
130.0
110.0
90.0
70.0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
UST UST Trend

National Grid Performance Report 13

Reliability FY2008

1.8 System Availability

This section examines the percentage of the time that system circuits were
available for the transmission of electricity. The first section deals with the
availability of circuits after disturbances are accounted for, and the second
section looks at the total availability of system circuits when considering
both automatic and planned outages.

1.8.1 Unplanned Unavailability (ITR)

The UST metric that has been used for measuring availability after
unplanned outages are accounted for is the Index of Transmission
Reliability (ITR). It is the percentage of the specified time period that the
system was available for the transmission of electricity after the total
duration of unplanned outages is accounted for.

The ITR metric finished FY2008 at the five-year average of 99.963%,

slightly below last year’s result of 99.970%. The long-term trend of this
metric, on Figure 1-10, shows very little change over the past eight years
that this metric has been in use.

Figure 1-11: UST ITR Trend

UST ITR Trend

100.000%

99.980%

99.960%

99.940%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Index of Transmission Reliability Trend

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National Grid Performance Report
FY2008 Reliability

1.8.2 Total Availability

Total availability takes both unplanned and planned outage durations into
account. But of the two, the overwhelming majority of the outage duration is
due to planned outages. Availability last year was higher than the previous
year, and at about the five-year average.

Table 1-3: UST & Regional System Availability

Change Change
5 Year
Region FY2008 FY2007 vs. vs. 5 Yr
Average
FY2007 Average
UST 98.6% 98.1% 98.5% 26% 7%

NE 98.5% 98.1% 98.5% 18% 3%

NY 98.7% 98.2% 98.5% 31% 13%

National Grid Performance Report 15

Customers FY2008

CUSTOMERS

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National Grid Performance Report
FY2008 Customers

2 Customers

This section focuses on the impact of transmission performance on our

customers. There are primarily two metrics that are used to track the impact
of transmission system disturbances on customers. They are Loss of
Generation (LOG), and Loss of Supply (LOS).

A Loss of Generation event is defined as a transmission disturbance that

results in an on-line generator tripping off-line. LOG events impact system
reliability directly through transmission impact and also contingency effects;
both which serve to disrupt the wholesale market. A Loss of Supply event is
when any transmission or distribution customers’ supply of electricity is
interrupted due to a sustained transmission disturbance.

2.1 Loss of Generation (LOG)

There were 39 LOG events in FY08 over the whole system. This was up
sharply from the previous year and was above the five-year average. An
examination of these events over the past five years found that about 60%
were the result of momentary disturbances and most of the events (83%)
occurred on 115 kV circuits.

Figure 2-1: Causes of LOG Events

Causes of LOG Events - Five Year

Configuration Substation Equip. 9%

4%
Other
12% System Protection
Equip. 4%

Vegetation Line Equip. 12%

7%

Weather
8%

Unknown
19%

Lightning
25%

National Grid Performance Report 17

Customers FY2008

The leading cause of LOG events over the past five years has been
lightning strikes on the system. Lightning and other storm-related causes
make up about 45% of the cause break-down. Note that our analysis of
“Unknown” events found that 2/3 of these occurs during storms.

The company has a long-term strategy in place to improve the lightning

performance of circuits, which should reverse the rising trend in the number
of LOG events

2.2 Losses of Supply (LOS)

There were 74 LOS events in FY08, which was higher than the previous
year and 16% above the five-year average. The average number of
customers interrupted by each event was 4064 for an average duration of
71 minutes. This compares somewhat favorably to the five-year averages of
5200 customers interrupted for an average duration of 80 minutes. But the
averages don’t accurately describe the impact of LOS events.

Our analysis of all LOS events over the past nine years (the extent of our
data) found that half of the events had a relatively moderate impact; < 1000
customers interrupted for < 30 minutes, while a small number of the most
significant events (8%) accounted for most of the Lost Customer Minutes
(Number of customers interrupted times the duration, in minutes).

Table 7-3 on the following page lists the most significant customer impact
LOS events that occurred in FY2008. These five events account for 75% of
the total Lost Customer Minutes for the year.

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National Grid Performance Report
FY2008 Customers

Table 2-1: Most Significant Customer LOS Events: FY2008

Date Circuit(s) Details Impact

Several trees were blown

down on the I161 line in a
I161
severe thunderstorm. The
North Approximately 13,800
static wire and conductors of
Chelmsford- customers were
I161 broke. The static wire
10/20/07 Sandy Pond & interrupted for an
wrapped the A153 conductor,
A153 average duration of
causing it to lockout also,
Tewksbury- 460 minutes
removing both 115 kV
Meadowbrook
sources to several large
substations.

During a wind and ice storm,

Approximately 8,900
Boonville- the conductor broke near
customers were
Rome #3 & Structure 134 and wrapped
04/23/07 interrupted for an
Boonville- around the parallel Boonville-
average duration of
Rome #4 Rome #4 circuit, causing
160 minutes
lockout there as well.

Approximately 22,660
A high-amp lightning strike on
J16 customers were
the H17 circuit resulted in the
07/30/07 Riverside - interrupted for an
Riverside 879 disconnect
Staples average duration of
switch failing on one phase.
60 minutes

During construction work on

the new Wakefield sub, the Approximately 17,300
S145 contractor’s excavator boom customers were
12/17/07 Tewksbury - contacted the S145 line. The interrupted for an
Salem Harbor fault also resulted in a average duration of
lightning arrestor failure at 67 minutes
Burtt Avenue substation.

Approximately 4,500
Locked out during severe
customers were
Spier - thunderstorm. An open loop
07/10/07 interrupted for an
Rotterdam #2 was found at the Ballston
average duration of
substation tap.
240 minutes

National Grid Performance Report 19

Customers FY2008

Figure 2-2: Causes of LOS Events

Causes of LOS Events - Five Year

Configuration
3%
Other Substation Equip. 11%
13%
System Protection
Equip. 2%

Vegetation
14%

Line Equip. 32%

Unknown
14%

Lightning Weather
6% 5%

The leading causes of customer-interrupting outages are those caused by

Line Equipment problems and those due to trees coming into contact with
lines (mostly during storms).

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National Grid Performance Report
FY2008 Development

DEVELOPMENT

National Grid Performance Report 21

Feedback FY2008

3 Development

National Grid wants to provide excellent customer service. To that end, the
company will operate, maintain and invest in our transmission networks to
meet our obligations and to minimize the risk of supply interruption. This
section outlines some of the current activities the company has undertaken
to achieve this.

3.1 Transmission Line Rehabilitation Projects

A number of line rehabilitation projects were implemented in FY2008 to

improve the transmission equipment condition and reliability performance
which enhances service to our customers. This section identifies the circuits
where significant projects were undertaken.

3.1.1 New England Projects

Figure 3-1 shows the major projects undertaken in New England this past
fiscal year. The notations on the system map are a relative indication of
where the circuit is geographically located and not necessarily the location
of the construction. The projects outlined include reconfigurations,
installation of new conductors, repair and replacement of structures, and
replacement of other equipment.

Figure 3-1: New England Projects FY2008

NH NH

I135N
W149N C203
W149S D204 G133W
B154N

C155N
S145
F132 I161 339
J136S T146
A179
Q169
A53
B54

N14 O15 U2
O15S R144
331

G185S

L190
1870N

1870

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FY2008 Development

3.1.2 New York Projects

Figure 3-2 shows the bigger projects undertaken in New York this past fiscal
year. The projects outlined include reconfigurations, installation of new
conductors, repair and replacement of structures, and replacement of other
equipment.

Figure 3-2: New York Projects FY2008

T3170

T3280

T3030

T3080

T2350

T2720
T1490 T1540

T1530 T1550
T5750
T1500
T4070

T4210
T1260

T1270
T1280

T1

3.2 Reliability Improvement Program

This program was initiated several years ago to perform the analyses and
develop the strategies necessary to define the investments in the system
required to improve the overall reliability. This phase of the program was
completed this year, when the comprehensive reviews of the asset condition
in both New York and New England were completed. The implementation
phase of the program has begun. The plan is the guideline for major
increases in capital investment in the system over the next decades.

National Grid Performance Report 23

Feedback FY2008

3.3 PAS 55 Asset Management Certification

Last fiscal year, the company achieved a certification of compliance with

PAS 55. This standard, the Publicly Available Specification for the
Optimized Management of Physical Infrastructure Assets, sets forth the
‘best practice’ asset management program that is defined as: systematic
and coordinated activities and practices through which an organization
optimally manages its assets, and their associated performance, risks and
expenditures over their lifecycle for the purpose of achieving its
organizational strategic plan.

3.4 Five Year Statement

The National Grid Five Year Statement, 2008-2012 provides insights into
generation development and transmission system loadings and limitations
across the New York and New England regions. It also provides information
on the impacts of some proposed transmission projects on transmission
congestion, and provides indications of where market prices for electricity
may be higher or lower than the regional average. This report is available
upon request.

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National Grid Performance Report
FY2008 Feedback

FEEDBACK & ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

National Grid Performance Report 25

Feedback FY2008

4 Feedback and Additional Information

4.1 Feedback

As part of our effort to improve both reliability performance and customer

satisfaction, we welcome your feedback. We hope that this report has
provided both useful and interesting information about our performance and
about our continuing efforts to make improvements.

Please contact your Transmission Account Manager to share your

views and comments.

If you need additional information on this Report, please contact:

Bill Malee
Manager, Transmission Commercial Services
National Grid
25 Research Drive
Westboro, MA 01582
phone: 508 389 2062
Email: [email protected]

4.2 System Information

The following tables contain the system statistics used for calculation of the
various normalized metrics in this report. These counts are for the end of
FY2008. Note that these are the data that OPR uses in its performance
analysis and are not the official statement of circuits or mileage. The official
counts are contained within the Power System Statement.

Table 4-1: UST Circuit Counts

Voltage NE NY UST
345 26 26 52
230 11 21 32
115 132 288 420
69 40 40
Bulk 37 47 84
Load 172 288 460
System 209 335 544

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National Grid Performance Report
 FY2008 Feedback

Table 4-2: UST Circuit-Miles Statistics

Voltage NE NY UST
345 471 683 1,155
230 421 524 945
115 1,620 4,449 6,069
69 537 537
Bulk 893 1,207 2,100
Load 2,156 4,449 6,605
System 3,049 5,656 8,705

4.3 General Definitions

Table 4-3: General Definitions

Term Definition
A transmission voltage classification used for the purposes of internal
performance analysis that is composed of circuits of 230 & 345 kV. Note that this
Bulk definition is used for convenience in statistical analysis and does not align with
Transmission the NERC/NPCC definition of Bulk Power System. The inclusion of circuits in the
"bulk class” in this report does not suggest or imply that it they should be
considered bulk from the NERC/NPCC perspective.

An electrical asset that is in place for the purpose of transmitting or delivering

Circuit electrical energy between two or more terminals. A circuit is composed of a
breaker-to-breaker or breaker to load segment of the transmission grid.

The total length of a designated circuit in miles. This would be the sum of all
Circuit-Mile
the span lengths (pole, tower, etc.), in a given circuit, including taps.

Used in calculation of normalized metrics. The total number of circuits in the

Circuit-Year
class (or system) multiplied by the study time period, in years.

The ultimate consumer of electricity supplied by the transmission system. A

Customer customer can be residential, commercial, industrial, or municipal. Municipal
Utilities served by the transmission system are considered one customer each.

A delivery point is the location where the transmission system delivers

Delivery Point electricity to the distribution system. The National Grid defined delivery point is
the low-side bushings of the transformer or metering point.

National Grid Performance Report 27

 Feedback FY2008

An event which results in the automatic operation (open, open-close, open-

close-open) of one or more terminals (circuit breakers, sectionalizing devices) of
Disturbance a transmission circuit. The voltage on the circuit DOES NOT need to drop to
zero to be considered a disturbance. Customers may or may not be interrupted
by the disturbance.

A phase-to-phase or phase-to-ground condition on a circuit, which may result

Fault in the operation of the protective devices of the circuit. A fault may be transitory
and clear before the first re-close of a circuit, or result in a lock-out condition.

An interconnection is a point where transmission service from the transmission

provider is transferred to another entity (ex. National Grid to NStar). These are
Interconnection
normally closed points of service to generators, non-affiliated utilities, wholesale
customers, municipalities, etc.

One or more openings of a protective device, resulting in zero voltage or

Interruption
discontinuity, occurring on a single circuit or on adjacent connected facilities.

Key Performance Indicator. A metric that represents an important facet of

KPI
transmission system performance.

Line See Circuit. The two terms are used interchangeably.

A transmission voltage classification used for the purposes of internal

Load
performance analysis that is composed of circuits of 69 and 115 kV in New
Transmission
England and 115 kV only in New York.

A catastrophic event occurs, such as a natural disaster (eg. Ice Storm), which
results in sustained transmission disturbances where:
a. Restoration crews were assigned to related storm duty for greater than 48
Major Event hours.
b. Extensive damage to the transmission power system
c. More than a specified number of customers simultaneously out of service (i.e.
in line with the associated Distribution state-related regulatory requirements)

The point at which 50% of systems (or circuits) perform at or above and 50%
Median
perform at or below.

A disturbance with a total duration of less than or equal to 1 minute. Multiple

Momentary operations of a protective device followed by a successful re-close within the
Disturbance defined momentary duration above would be considered one momentary
disturbance.

Operation The single opening or closing of one or more protective devices.

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Interruption of a transmission circuit, either by a disturbance or planned or

Outage unplanned maintenance operation, which causes the circuit to become
unavailable for normal power flow.

The total time a circuit is not available for power flow to an interconnection,
Outage delivery point or between two or more terminals. The duration is measured in
Duration minutes and is the time difference from when a circuit is interrupted from normal
power flow to when it is restored to normal power flow.

Q1 (First The top quartile, the range in which the best-performing 25% of systems (or
Quartile) circuits) perform.

Q2 (Second The range below the First Quartile and above the Median containing the
Quartile) second-tier 25% of systems (or circuits).

Q3 (Third The range below the Median and above the Fourth Quartile containing the
Quartile) third-tier 25% of systems (or circuits).

Q4 (Fourth The bottom quartile, the range in which the worst-performing 25% of systems
Quartile) (or circuits) perform.

A disturbance with a total duration of greater than 1 minute. Multiple

Sustained operations of a protective device followed by a lock out or a terminal remaining
Disturbance open for other reasons is considered one sustained disturbance. Note that the
definition of "sustained" for all NY-PSC related metrics is > 5 minutes.

A point where transmission line conductors terminate and they are connected
to one or more sectionalizing devices. The purpose of the terminal is to isolate
Terminal
the given circuit. Typically, a terminal would be in a substation or switch station,
where sectionalizing devices are also connected to a station bus or transformer.

A voltage level used for analysis purposes, by grouping together circuits with a
Voltage Class
common transmission voltage for transmission performance reporting.

4.4 Reliability Metric Definitions

Table 4-4: Reliability Metric Definitions

Metric Definition
Percentage of time the transmission system (or a class or circuit) is available for
the transmission of electricity. Calculated by dividing the sum of the total duration of
Availability
all planned, unplanned, and disturbance outages in a given period by the total hours
in the same period. The highest attainable value is 100%.

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The Index of Transmission Reliability: A measure of the unplanned unavailability of

the transmission system. Normally calculated as a percentage of the specified time
period that the system was available for the transmission of electricity. ITR = ((Ca-
ITR
Cu)/Ca)*100 Where Ca (Circuit Availability) = Total minutes in time period X Total
Circuits and Cu (Circuit Unavailability) = Total duration, in circuit-minutes, of all
unplanned outages in the time period after all sanctioned exclusions are deducted.

Lost Customer Minutes: A transmission customer impact metric that is the product
of the customers interrupted multiplied by their interruption durations, in minutes.
LCM Usually multiple feeders are involved with differing interruption durations. In these
cases, the LCM is the sum of the products of the same calculation as above for each
feeder. Often expressed as MLCM (Millions of LCM)

Loss of Generation. A transmission customer impact metric that is a count of the

events when a disturbance on the transmission system caused an in-service
LOG
generator to trip offline. The cause of this disturbance can be initiated by either a
distribution or transmission event, but not the generator itself.

Loss of Supply. A transmission customer impact metric that is a count of the

LOS events when a sustained disturbance on the transmission system resulted in the
interruption of one or more customers for greater than 1 minute.

Transmission Customer Average Interruption Duration Index: the average duration

TCAIDI of interruptions of customers due to transmission disturbances, in minutes. This
metric includes Retail, Industrial, Municipal & Foreign Utility customers.

Transmission Momentary Average Interruption Frequency Index: The total

TMAIFI momentary disturbances in a given period divided by the number of circuit-years in
the period.

Transmission System Average Interruption Duration Index. The total duration of all
TSAIDI the disturbance outages in a given period divided by the number circuit-years in the
period.

Transmission System Average Interruption Frequency Index. The total number of

TSAIFI disturbances (momentary and sustained) in a specified period divided by the number
of circuit-years in the period.

Transmission System Average Interruption Frequency Index - Sustained. The total

TSAIFI-S number of sustained disturbances in a specified time period divided by the by the
number of circuit-years in the period.

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