The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) promotes Bulk Electric System (BES) reliability for the entire

Western Interconnection The Western Interconnection is a wide area synchronous grid and one of the two major alternating current (AC) power grids in the North American power transmission grid. The other major wide area synchronous grid is the Eastern Interconnection ...

system. WECC is the

Regional Entity A regional entity (RE) in the North American power transmission grid is a regional organization representing all segments of the electric industry: electric utilities (investor-owned, cooperatives, state, regional, and municipal), federal agenci ...

responsible for compliance monitoring and enforcement. In addition, WECC provides an environment for the development of Reliability Standards and the coordination of the operating and planning activities of its members as set forth in the WECC Bylaws. WECC is geographically the largest and most diverse of the eight Regional Entities with delegated authority from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The WECC Region extends from Canada to Mexico and includes the provinces of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, the northern portion of

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, Mexico, and all or portions of the 14 Western states between. Membership in WECC is open to all entities who meet the qualifications in the WECC Bylaws. WECC strives for transparency and open participation in all of its meetings and processes. WECC has a long history of assuring reliability in the West that began when it was originally formed in 1967 by 40 power systems, then known as the Western Systems Coordinating Council (WSCC). Thirty-five years later in 2002, the WSCC became WECC when three regional transmission associations merged. WECC was designated a Regional Entity for the Western Interconnection in 2007 after NERC delegated some of the authority it had received from FERC to create, monitor and enforce reliability standards. Today, WECC is an independent organization that works with entities across the West to further the common theme of

grid Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to: Common usage * Cattle grid or stock grid, a type of obstacle is used to prevent livestock from crossing the road * Grid reference, used to define a location on a map Arts, entertainment, and media * News g ...

reliability. Through its various reliability-related activities, WECC provides critical support to the Reliability Coordinator and the resource owners/operators throughout the Western Interconnection. One of WECC's functions is coordinating high voltage intertie paths throughout the region.

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{{North American Electric Reliability Corporation Electric power transmission system operators in the United States Electric power transmission system operators in North America Electric power transmission system operators in Canada Companies based in Salt Lake City American companies established in 2002 2002 establishments in Utah Energy companies established in 2002