is the aggregate firm load that the system could carry under 

 coordinated operation with critical period streamflow 

 conditions and with the use of all reservoir storage. 



To accomplish such coordinated operations, the combined 

 power facilities of the parties are operated to produce 

 optimum firm load-carrying capability. Prior to the start of 

 a contract year, a reservoir operating and storage schedule 

 is set up to provide the optimum FLCC of the coordinated 

 system. An energy content curve (ECC) is derived for each 

 storage reservoir from the same critical period operation 

 study that was used to derive FLCC. This curve represents 

 the schedule of levels that the reservoir should follow to 

 assure FLCC for the system. If, as may frequently happen, 

 the good of the system requires a utility to cut back on 

 releases and to hold storage for later use, thereby reducing 

 its present generation below its FLCC and perhaps below its 

 load requirements, it has the right to call for and receive 

 interchange energy from a party with excess capability. 

 Later, when the first party's storage is scheduled for 

 release, it will be able to return the energy. Provision is 

 made to pay for any imbalances in such interchange energy 

 exchange accounts that may remain at the end of a contract 

 year. 



The Coordination Agreement provides that, upon request, 

 a project is entitled to the energy that it could generate at 

 its plants if upstream reservoirs released all water above 

 their energy content curves. The upstream party can either 

 release the water, or, if it has surplus energy and wishes to 

 conserve its storage for later use, it may deliver energy in 

 lieu of the water. An intent of coordinating the system is 

 to maximize use of the water resource, minimize waste, and 

 consequently defer the need for new generating resources. 



Northwest Power Pool 



The Northwest Power Pool is another institutional 

 arrangement governing the operation of the regional power 

 system. The Northwest Power Pool was created in 1942 as a 

 result of the War Production Board order directing utilities 

 throughout the U.S. to cooperate to increase electric 

 capacity. After the war, the utilities continued the 

 coordinated operation on a voluntary basis. 



The Northwest Power Pool is a strictly voluntary 

 organization, a confederacy of autonomous electrical systems. 

 It is not a formal operating pool managed by a separate group 

 of officers. The operating organization of the pool consists 

 of an operating committee and a coordinating group. 



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