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RRC CEO is announced
Ed Jenkin appointed to head organization overseeing Railbelt electrical system
Alan Bailey for Petroleum News
Ed Jenkin, currently chief energy transformation officer for Matanuska Electric Association, has accepted the role of president and chief executive of the Railbelt Reliability Council, the RRC announced on Nov. 13. Jenkin will join the RRC as CEO on Jan. 3.
"I am thrilled that Mr. Jenkin is taking the helm of the Railbelt Reliability Council," said RRC Board Chair Joel Groves. "Ed's experience, leadership and clear vision will directly empower the RRC to advance its core mission, ultimately producing long-term benefits for electric consumers across the Railbelt."
The RRC says that it picked Jenkin after an extensive international search of highly qualified candidates. The organization's board cited, as key factors in making its decision, Jenkin's widely recognized expertise, his reputation for stellar integrity and his consistent leadership in addressing efforts to improve the Alaska Railbelt electric industry.
"I am excited for the opportunity to lead the RRC and realize the value provided through Railbelt-wide standards and regional planning," Jenkin said. "I believe the stakeholder-led organization is the right vehicle to bring enforceable standards and regionalized resource planning to the Railbelt to help achieve long-term reliability, sustainability, and affordability. I look forward to building on the progress the RRC has already made to deliver on our commitment to Alaskans."
Approved by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska in 2022 as the electric reliability organization for the Alaska Railbelt generation and transmission system, the RRC has a role to maintain and mandate reliability standards for the Railbelt's high voltage electrical system; administer rules for open access to the transmission grid; and conduct Railbelt-wide integrated resource planning. The idea is to achieve more unified management of the system, thus minimizing electricity costs while also maintaining an acceptable level of supply reliability.
In a presentation to the RCA on Nov. 13 Groves overviewed what the RRC has achieved this year and its upcoming plans.
Interim management team In the absence of a CEO, earlier this year the organization hired an interim management team using a chief administrative officer and chief technical officer working under contract, so that work could begin towards achieving the organization's objectives. Subsequently, work on developing reliability standards began in June, Groves said. The first tranche of these standards will be presented to the board for approval in December, he commented. Following board approval, the standards will require approval by the RCA.
Four further standards are under development and are anticipated to be presented at some time in the new year, with further standards being queued up for preparation.
Work on the reliability standards involved the formation of a technical advisory committee, operating under the chief technical officer, and with a working group developing each standard. The standards development is using, as a template, voluntary reliability standards that the utilities had approved in 2018. However, bringing these standards up to date and into compliance with the North American Electric Reliability Corp. templates that they are based on involves quite a bit of work, mainly at the working group level, Groves said.
A public oriented process And the standards development requires a very public oriented process, involving consumer advocates and members of the public, Groves commented. He also commented that the technical advisory committee now has custody of the critical infrastructure protection standards that the Railbelt load serving entities have developed in the past -- in 2025 these standards will be moved through the same process as the other standards that the committee is working on.
In the near future the RRC also anticipates making some refinements to its process for developing an integrated resource plan. The organization anticipates completing these refinements during the first quarter of 2025, so that work on an IRP can begin in the first or second quarter.
The RRC's role in overseeing the electricity transmission system has changed as a consequence of the formation this year of the Railbelt Transmission Organization within the Alaska Energy Authority. The Alaska Legislature passed a statute requiring formation of the RTO to develop and oversee a new Railbelt electricity transmission tariff arrangement that removes current impediments to competition in the bulk power market in the Railbelt. The RRC retains responsibility for the planning of the transmission system and the RRC board chair is a member of the board committee of the RTO.
The RRC's structure In terms of the RRC's internal structure, the organization has been working on revisions to its rules and bylaws. For example, confidentiality concerns relating to some of the reliability standards require some clarification in the RRC rules, Groves said. The organization has also launched a new website that has improved capability to support product development, he said. Financial systems have also been implemented and are functioning well.
The RRC is governed by a 15-member board of directors, with 13 members appointed to represent specific stakeholder classes including electric utilities, independent power producers and electricity consumers. Two non-voting members represent the Regulatory Commission of Alaska and the Office of the Attorney General's Regulatory Affairs and Public Advocacy Section. Groves said that monthly board meetings are coupled with monthly training or workshop sessions that focus on governance issues, the technical products that come before the board and current events that are relevant to the RRC, such as Cook Inlet gas supply problems and electricity transmission system plans.
Currently much of the RRC's outreach to stakeholders in the electrical system comes from the fact that its board of directors encompasses a broad spectrum of those stakeholders. In addition, as needed, the organization can conduct one-on-one communication with individual stakeholders such as the CEOs of Railbelt utilities or independent power producers. The RRC also emphasizes the importance of outreach to its stakeholders through its budget development process, Groves said. The organization will soon be presenting its 2025 budget to the RCA, he added. Furthermore, the RRC is developing an outreach plan that will enable a broader engagement with the public, he said.
The work program Overall, the lengthy time required to find and appoint a CEO has resulted in some delays in the RRC's work program, relative to its originally conceived plan. The organization had anticipated completing the electrical system operating and planning standards in March 2025, Groves said. There is some difficulty in predicting exactly when these standards will now be finished, given unforeseen issues that can arise, but completion is anticipated in mid-2025, he said. However, the development of critical infrastructure protection standards is on track for completion in September 2025, he added. And work has yet to begin on standards for open access to the system, he commented.
The RRC anticipates completing an initial integrated resource plan for the Railbelt in June 2026, as originally envisaged, Groves said.
Meanwhile, activities expected for 2025, now that a CEO is in place, will include the hiring of employees and a transition from interim to permanent management, together with the establishment of RRC office space.
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