Kansas City Power & Light
Organizational Description
February 9, 2004
KCPL Organization Chart - VP Transmission Services
KCPL Organization Chart – VP Generation Services
Organizational Description
Organization Position Descriptions
There are three departments that are active in providing either transmission services or wholesale merchant functions at Kansas City Power & Light (KCPL). The three departments are Transmission Services, Power Sales and Services, and Energy Resource Management. The Transmission Services department reports to the Vice-President of Transmission Services. The Power Sales and Services, and Energy Resource Management departments report to the Vice-President of Generation Services.
Three other departments and an Assistant to the Vice-President report to the Vice-President of Transmission Services that are not involved with offering and providing transmission services or wholesale merchant functions. The three departments are Transmission Construction & Maintenance, Transmission & Substations, and Substation Construction & Maintenance.
Four other departments and four Generating Station Managers report to the Vice-President of Generation Services that are not involved with offering and providing transmission services or wholesale merchant functions. The four departments are Fuels, Engineering Services, Plant Services and Maintenance Services.
Transmission Service functional departments or groups
Transmission Services
The Transmission Services department is responsible for the planning and operation of the bulk power transmission system to provide reliable and quality service to its transmission customers. The department is made up of four groups: Transmission Operations, Transmission Planning, Energy Management Computer System Support and Transmission Transaction Accounting.
The Transmission Operations group monitors and operates the transmission system. At least one transmission system operator is on duty twenty-four hours per day for all days of the year. The transmission system operator is responsible for monitoring the status of the transmission system and taking corrective action whenever a problem or potential problem exists. His or her responsibilities include voltage control, coordinating the scheduling of transmission equipment out of service for maintenance, switching, and the coordination of the operation of our system with the operation of the transmission systems of other utilities in the region. The Operator also responds to requests for non-firm and firm transmission service available under KCPL’s open access tariff over the OASIS and schedules transmission services.
The monitoring and control of the transmission system is accomplished through an energy management computer system (EMS), which is supported by an EMS Staff of engineers and programmers. The EMS system gathers information through remote terminal units at each substation and power station and is used by the transmission system operator to control and monitor the transmission equipment. This computer system also provides the transmission system operator with power flow and contingency analysis software to analyze the effects of transmission equipment outages and enables the system operator to optimize the transmission operation to minimize transmission losses, provide proper voltage levels, and maintain system security. The EMS and PC’s also support the Power System Operators and staff by providing unit scheduling tools, margin analysis tools, automatic generation control and generation system monitoring. The EMS is supported and maintained by a staff group responsible for data base quality, display quality, system troubleshooting and software support. This group is also responsible for maintaining the separation of data and the security of data between the transmission operations personnel and the wholesale merchant personnel.
The Transmission Planning group is responsible for the planning of the transmission system facilities to meet customer needs, to provide operations support and to perform transmission system impact studies. The engineers develop load flow models for the planning and operating horizons to study the reliability of the transmission system and effects of new customer loads, transmission service requests and generating facilities. They also perform seasonal operational studies to identify system constraints and remedial action to alleviate limitations. The Transmission Planning Group is responsible for providing system data to the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and the Mid-American Power Pool (MAPP). They are also responsible for ensuring that the seasonal TTC and ATC calculations as performed by SPP for the OASIS are accurate for KCPL and they will monitor these postings as system conditions change.
The Transmission Transaction Accounting group is responsible for the accounting, billing and record keeping for all transmission transactions, interconnection accounting, and calculation of KCPL load and inadvertent. This group is also responsible for preparing the annual FERC accounting reports.
Wholesale Merchant functional departments or groups
Power Sales and Services
The Power Sales and Services department is responsible for the economic operation of the generating resources of KCPL to meet native load and to purchase and sell energy and energy related products. The Power Sales and Services department consists of three groups: Power Operations, Power Sales, and Transaction Accounting.
The Power Operations group is responsible to economically allocate internal and external generation sources to meet all retail & wholesale commitments. This group also purchases and sells wholesale energy and related products. They are responsible for handling the hour-to-hour power operations maintaining adequate operating reserves as required by the Southwest Power Pool and NERC.
The Power Sales group consists of power marketers and an engineer. They evaluate and contract for interchange transactions of various duration’s, generally from weekly to multiple years. In addition, this group maintains and evaluates interchange market performance statistics and performs operational studies when needed.
The Transaction Accounting group is responsible for the daily and monthly reporting of generation and the accounting and reporting for all purchased power and power sales transactions. This group also is responsible for all annual reporting requirements for the above areas of responsibility.
Energy Resource Management
This department supports the Power Sales and Services department by performing market research, new product development, proposal development and customer surveys. This group is also responsible for resource planning and analysis of KCPL’s generating assets, to research and analyze the competitive position in the marketplace, to determine the levels of business risk to take regarding use of generation resources and interchange transactions, and to provide pricing analysis for short-term and long-term obligations.
Other departments in Transmission Services
Transmission Construction & Maintenance
The transmission construction and maintenance group is responsible for all activities associated with the construction and maintenance of overhead and underground transmission lines. The voltages include 69kv, 161kv, and 345kv. Tree and brush control along the transmission rights-of-way also are included. The work is accomplished primarily using outside contractors.
Transmission & Substations
The Transmission and Substations Department is composed of four groups: Substation Engineering, Substations, System Protection and Transmission Engineering. The Substation Engineering group is responsible for the design of all transmission and distribution substations with a high voltage side 34 kV or greater. This group is involved from substation site selection and zoning to final load testing. The Substation group is responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance of the Company's substations. The System Protection group consists of engineers and technicians. This group is responsible for the design and proper operation of the relay and protection schemes and periodic calibration and functional testing of system protective equipment. The Transmission Engineering group is responsible for route selection and design of new transmission lines 69 kV and above. This group also designs all modifications and relocations for existing transmission facilities.
Substation Construction & Maintenance
Substation Construction & maintenance group is responsible for all activities associated with construction and maintenance of system substations. The voltages include 4 kV, 13 kV, 34 kV, 69 kV, 161 kV, and 345 kV. The group is also responsible for the maintenance of all company owned 13 kV automatic switchgears located on customer premises. The group is also responsible for the operation and maintenance of certain company owned power plant switchyards.
Other departments in Generation Services
Fuels
The Fuels department is responsible for strategy development, purchase, delivery and contract administration of fossil fuel and related transportation services for KCPL including coal, oil and natural gas. This group is also responsible for the acquisition of fuel-related commodities and services including limestone, rail transportation equipment and railcar maintenance services. In addition, Fuels is responsible for strategy development and administration of KCPL's SO2 emission allowances, fuel inventory levels and coal combustion by-products sales.
Engineering Services
Engineering Services is responsible for the engineering and technology transfer associated with new fossil generating plants as well as plant betterment projects. This group also provides for generating unit diagnostic, reliability, and efficiency engineering services to improve unit performance and capability. In addition, this group provides those engineering and related services required to provide station-to-station consistency and to assure KCPL compliance with state and federal regulations.
Generating Station Managers
Each Generation Station Manager is responsible for the daily operation of the station including fuel receipt, inventory & delivery to the unit, operation and maintenance of generation equipment, and operation of the unit at the power levels required by the Power Operations Group. Managers develop plans with the assistance of Power Production Engineering, Plant Services, and Maintenance Services to ensure efficient and reliable short and long term unit operation, to coordinate their maintenance and budget requirements to meet operational requirements, and to ensure the generating assets long term value are maintained or enhanced. Plant Managers partner with the Fuels Department to ensure an adequate and economical fuel supply is provided at each facility. Each generating station is dictated the loading requirements for their generating unit(s) by Power Services and Transmission Services to support meeting the customer load and voltage demands of the KCPL system.
Plant Services
Plant Services provides support services to all the KCPL generating stations. This group helps to develop skills training programs for power plant personnel, develops and delivers skills training classes, develops power plant safety procedures meeting OSHA standards and requirements, develops and executes plant emergency drills, performs plant inspections, and performs plant safety audits. This group also provides materials management consulting and services for the plants. Additionally, the group provides financial analysis and reporting to provide the general and similar requirements needed for the generating stations.
Maintenance Services
Maintenance Services provides support services to all the KCPL generating stations. The support this group provides includes turbine-generator overhauls, soil compacting, asbestos abatement, and insulation installations. In addition, this group also provides project management for electrical, civil and mechanical projects.
