How to map balancing authorities within EIA and FERC regions?

[dt-woods]

In the provided data file, BA_Codes_930.xlsx, the EIA 930 data table is used to match balancing authority names/codes to EIA regions (and their codes). In a separate worksheet (in the same workbook), FERC regions are identified. The source link provided is https://www.ferc.gov/market-oversight/mkt-electric/overview.asp, which throws a "Not Found" error when accessed.

The FERC website includes a map that provides a generalized look of the RTOs and ISOs, notably without data file(s) to support it. There are 10 FERC regions identified:

• CAISO
• ERCOT
• ISO-NE
• MISO
• Northwest
• NYISO
• PJM
• Southeast
• Southwest
• SPP

In search of FERC regions, I found the "NERC Regions" and "Independent System Operators" data files on the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (HIFLD) website. The ISO data file matches seven of the 10 above.

• Independent System Operators
  • Midcontinent Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.
  • Southwest Power Pool
  • PJM Interconnection, LLC
  • Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc.
  • California Independent System Operator
  • ISO New England Inc.
  • New York Independent System Operator
• FERC Regions
  • Portland
  • Chicago
  • New York
  • Atlanta
  • San Francisco

Not sure how to identify the "Northwest," "Southeast," and "Southwest" regions that aren't identified in the HIFLD data.

From DOE white paper, "How it Works: The Role of a Balancing Authority," notes that there are three ISOs and four RTOs that operate in the US:

• ISO
  • CAISO
  • NYISO
  • ERCOT
• RTO
  • PJM
  • MISO
  • SPP
  • ISO-NE

The issue is that large swaths of the US are not covered by one of these seven (i.e., the northwest, southwest and southeast).

In the blog, "Comparing FERC and EIA electricity demand data" by Tyler H. Ruggles, a CSV for mapping FERC respondents (as found in FERC Form 714) to EIA balancing authorities is provided, but without explanation of methods (see CSV), but not sure how to condense the 200 FERC respondents down to the ten regions.

The main questions are:

1. What reference was used to map between EIA balancing authorities and FERC regions for the 2016 baseline?
2. Are NERC and FERC balancing authorities the same as EIA balancing authorities, or does each organization have their own?
3. How to manage the mapping of active balancing authorities (given that the active list changes over time) to EIA and FERC regions?
4. What data are available for performing this type of mapping?

[m-jamieson]

Well this seems problematic. Based on this FERC webpage, it seems like FERC has largely given up on trying to track this data themselves.

Regarding your questions:

1. I'm sure all we needed was the now dead link.
2. The various FERC regions comprise the balancing authority areas. The one reason we had FERC region as a level of aggregation was because it was a clear mapping of BAAs to FERC regions. NERC regions are different and don't cleanly align in all cases.
3. Great question. Will need to see if we can hunt down something.
4. See question 3. TBD at this point with the one missing link.

[dt-woods]

Does the electricity baseline need to support mapping to FERC/NERC regions or are EIA regions and their balancing authorities good enough?

[m-jamieson]

I don't have an immediate negative reaction to using the EIA regions (Southeast, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest, California, Carolinas, Texas, Florida, New England, New York, Mid-Atlantic, Central, Tennessee). I might need to check in with Greg Cooney to see if there was a real strong desire for getting FERC specifically or if the desire was more around having some sort of level of aggregation between BAA and US.

After looking all this over, the mapping of EIA region to FERC region might have just been a visual assessment rather than an explicit crosswalk. To that end, it might be reasonable to keep using the existing EIA region to FERC region mapping that exists in that file and simply using the new version of EIA930.

I would prefer to maintain the ability to do FERC rather than having to go in an make changes to all instances of FERC to EIA or something.

[dt-woods]

Can do. Thanks, Matt.

[dt-woods]

BTW, from a cursory look at EIA 930, there may be some-to-a-few more BAs added the mix since 2016. Shall we employ the same "based on visual inspection" mapping and just update the existing workbook?

[m-jamieson]

Well the mapping I believe is from EIA region to FERC region, so we shouldn't need to evaluate each BAA. The BAAs are already mapped to EIA regions in the 930 data. Just need to reuse the lookup table I think.

[dt-woods]

Good point! (until they introduce new regions)

[dt-woods]

To replace 'BA_Codes_930.xlsx' (reference by read_ba_codes in utils.py) and its supplement 'BA code match.csv' (used in utils.py and eia860_facilities.py):

See Microsoft Excel workbook: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/930-content/EIA930_Reference_Tables.xlsx

Columns from the 'BAs' worksheet include:

• 'BA Code'
• 'BA Name'
• 'Region/Country Name' (i.e., EIA Region)
• 'Region/Country Code' (i.e., EIA Code)

Apply the following EIA region to FERC region mapping:

EIA Region	FERC Region
California	CAISO
Carolinas	Southeast (SE)
Central	SPP
Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc.	ERCOT
Florida	Southeast (SE)
Mid-Atlantic	PJM
Midwest	MISO
New England ISO	ISO-NE
New York Independent System Operator	NYISO
Northwest	Northwest (NW)
Southeast	Southeast (SE)
Southwest	Southwest (SW)
Tennessee Valley Authority	Southeast (SE)

This mapping is based on the now defunct 'Electric Power Markets' map provided by www.ferc.gov (displayed below for posterity):

Note that additional information is also available, including active status (Yes/No), activation/retirement date. For mapping purposes, all BAs (active and inactive) should probably be included.

[dt-woods]

Note to self, the EI923_Schedules_2_3_4_5_M_12_2022_Final.xlsx, page 7 'File Layout' has a section called Balancing Authority Code, which includes the BA Code and BA Name.