# Title 69 — Public Service Commission

## Article 69-09 — Public Utility Division

## Chapter 69-09-12 — Resource Plans and Security

### § 69-09-12-01. Definitions.

1. "Resource plan" means a set of resource options an electric public utility plans to use to meet
the electric capacity and energy requirements of the utility's customers over a planning
horizon, including an explanation of the electric supply and demand circumstances when each
resource option would be used to meet the capacity and energy needs in an adequate and
reliable manner.
2. "Externality" means numerical costs or quantified values assigned to represent environmental
costs that are not internalized in the cost of production, or the market price of electricity from a
particular electric resource or the alleged costs of complying with future environmental laws or
regulations that have not yet been enacted.
3. "Renewable integration cost" means the cost of measures to help meet the incremental needs
of the system as more renewable energy is added to the resource mix.
4. "Unserved energy" means the amount of end-customer demand measured in megawatt-hours
that cannot be supplied due to a deficiency of generation either generated or imported by the
electric public utility or transmission capacity.
5. "Security" means physical security and cybersecurity.
History: Effective January 1, 2023; amended effective April 1, 2024.
General Authority: NDCC 49-02-04
Law Implemented: NDCC 49-05-04.4, 49-05-17
### § 69-09-12-02. Resource plan procedure.

1. An electric public utility shall file a resource plan on a three-year cycle. The electric public
utility may file a supplement to the plan with necessary updates and shall file a supplement
upon commission request.
2. The commission may investigate a resource plan. Foregoing an investigation or inaction upon
completion of an investigation does not bind the commission in the commission's review of a
resource plan in conjunction with a rate case or bind the commission for the purpose of setting
rates.
3. The commission shall issue a notice of opportunity to comment on the resource plan when
opening an investigation under subsection 2. The comment period must remain open for a
period of sixty days, unless ordered otherwise by the commission.
4. During an investigation, an electric public utility may request a commission determination on
any issue related to the resource plan. Approval, rejection, or modification of a resource plan,
or a commission determination may be presented as prima facie evidence in other
proceedings.

5. The commission shall designate by order the commencement of the cycle wherein a resource
plan must be filed. The commission may allow for a variance from a filing requirement or
procedure upon request.
History: Effective January 1, 2023.
General Authority: NDCC 49-02-04
Law Implemented: NDCC 49-05-04.4, 49-05-17
### § 69-09-12-03. Resource plan attributes.

1. A resource plan must identify the resources needed to meet forecasted capacity and energy
needs, including a reserve requirement, subject to various objectives, including reliability,
planning, operational, and regulatory requirements. The resource plan must provide a North
Dakota preferred plan.
2. If an electric public utility's existing resources are inadequate to meet forecasted capacity and
energy requirements, the utility shall identify in the resource plan the proposed actions to meet
current and future electric capacity and energy needs, including generating facility additions of
various types, sizes, fuel types, any known new transmission facilities, life extensions of
existing generation facilities, load-modifying equipment, sponsored conservation programs,
market purchases, power purchases from other utilities, and contracted capacity.
3. All resources must be evaluated on a consistent and comparable basis, and the resource plan
must describe, and select resources representing the least-cost plan for providing adequate,
safe, and reliable service to ratepayers consistent with the public interest and North Dakota
energy policy.
4. The resource plan must have a planning horizon of at least fifteen years detailing both supply-
side and demand-side resources.
5. The resource plan must describe how the electric public utility intends to meet the forecasted
capacity and energy needs within the next five years, along with construction and in-service
timelines for generation and associated interconnection and network upgrade and new
transmission facilities. The resource plan also must describe how the electric public utility
intends to meet the forecasted energy and capacity needs for at least a fifteen-year planning
horizon.
6. Except as otherwise required by law or by order of the commission, the North Dakota
preferred plan may not select resources based on a carbon cost, greenhouse gas reduction
goals, renewable energy standards, emissions goal, or other externalities.
7. The electric public utility may provide alternative scenarios with sensitivities based on
proposed and current federal, state, and utility goals and mandates relating to carbon cost,
emissions goal, or other externalities.
8. The electric public utility shall describe how scenarios and sensitivities influenced the selection
of the North Dakota preferred plan. The scenarios and sensitivities must be evaluated on a
consistent and comparable basis, and the utility shall identify and assess the risks of each
scenario and sensitivity.
History: Effective January 1, 2023.
General Authority: NDCC 49-02-04
Law Implemented: NDCC 49-05-04.4, 49-05-17
### § 69-09-12-04. Filing requirements.

1. The resource plan must describe the:

a. Key data, assumptions, model inputs, information used in producing forecasts and
models, and how uncertainties in assumptions were incorporated into the analysis;
b. Type, cost, and relevant operating characteristics of demand-side and supply-side
resources considered and a description of the type and cost of additional transmission
facilities necessitated by the resources;
c. Modeling and methodological approach to load forecasting, an assessment of load
forecast uncertainty, and the cost and effectiveness of existing and future utility and
state-sponsored conservation and load management efforts;
d. Projected load for the electric public utility over the planning horizon and the underlying
assumptions for the projection. The information must be as geographically specific as
possible and describe how the electric public utility will meet the projected load; and
e. Criteria used in determining the appropriate level of reliability, including any required
reserve or capacity margin seasonal accreditation levels and how the determinations
influenced the resource plan.
2. The resource plan must include:
a. A robust set of scenarios and sensitivities, including changes to the resource mix, fuel
prices, load, resource costs, inflation, operating and maintenance costs, capital costs,
transmission interconnection and network upgrade costs, congestion costs, renewable
integration costs, and resource accreditation.
b. Reliability and resource adequacy assessments using quantitative metrics capturing the
size, frequency, duration, and timing during extreme weather events and normal weather
conditions for the fifth, tenth, and final year of the planning horizon. The assessment
should include the annual expected unserved energy, the annual expected cost of
unserved energy, peak seasonal capacity shortfall in megawatts, number of negative
capacity shortfalls, average capacity shortfall in megawatts, longest hourly capacity
shortfall, and number of hours requiring the utility to use the maximum available energy
imports during a capacity shortfall.
c. Reliability and resource adequacy assessments using quantitative metrics, including
expected unserved energy during correlated natural gas-fired generation fuel delivery
outages for the fifth, tenth, and final year of the planning horizon.
d. A description of energy conversion facilities and associated interconnection and network
upgrade and new transmission facilities the electric public utility intends to own and
operate, or from which the utility intends to purchase energy output during the ensuing
planning horizon, and the energy conversion facilities to be removed from service over
the planning horizon.
e. Plans for energy conversion facility retirements, asset extensions, derates, market
purchases and sales, and how scenarios affect cost, affordability, reliability, and
resiliency.
f. To the extent possible, qualitative benefits and quantitative value of baseload and load-
following generation resources and the value of proximity of such resources to load.
g. The estimated annual and total revenue requirement broken out by new and existing
resources by cost category, such as generation, transmission, fuel, and energy efficiency.
h. Any other information as may be requested by the commission.

3. The resource plan must include information on:
a. Expansion of, improvements to, and more efficient use of existing electric public utility
generation, distribution, and transmission facilities;
b. Opportunities for energy conversion facilities, including economic opportunities to partner
with other utilities in constructing and operating new facilities and extending the useful
lives of existing facilities;
c. Opportunities to pursue power purchase agreements with or develop baseload and load-
following generation within the state;
d. Opportunities to pursue power purchase agreements, demand- or supply-side resources,
or develop generation;
e. Distributed generation, including generating capacity provided by cogeneration
technologies relying on renewable resources, nonutility generation, and other sources;
f. Recent or expected changes to generation dispatch across all generation technologies;
g. Opportunities for existing and planned transmission facilities to reduce congestion,
transmission line losses, energy costs, and to increase export or import capability;
h. The accuracy of the peak demand and energy forecasts compared to the previous
integrated resource plan forecasts and an explanation for the causes of any deviation
from the previous integrated resource plan forecasts;
i. The risk of fuel supply disruption due to extreme weather or market events; and
j. How the electric public utility intends to reconcile potential jurisdictional differences in
resource selection.
History: Effective January 1, 2023.
General Authority: NDCC 49-02-04
Law Implemented: NDCC 49-05-04.4, 49-05-17
### § 69-09-12-05. Security.

1. An electric public utility shall meet with the commission annually to report on security
preparedness.
2. The report must provide:
a. Information on the policies, procedure, and process used to inform the management of
security risk;
b. Information on any critical technology, constraints related to procurement, supply chain
risk, impact of compromise to the supply chain, and controls to manage risk associated
with dependency on external entities;
c. An assessment of emerging threats and efforts taken by the electric public utility to
implement security measures;
d. A description of the process used to support compliance with applicable standards, laws,
regulations, and best practices;
e. A description of the policies and protections used to ensure the security of information
and operational systems and safeguard against loss of confidential information;

f. Information on activities to monitor, detect, and analyze information related to security
threats;
g. Information on the systems used for collaboration and communication of information and
intelligence sharing;
h. Information on activities used to address a detected security incident, contain impacts,
limit potential damage, and manage consequences of a security incident;
i. Information on any plans to maintain resilience and business continuity, timely recovery
to normal operations, and corrective actions after occurrence of an incident;
j. Information or plans for asset sharing with other electric public utilities and electrical
cooperatives to maintain services in the event of a security incident; and
k. Information on tabletop and field training exercises regarding security.
3. The commission may close the meeting to discuss the security report, unless the commission
orders otherwise.
History: Effective January 1, 2023; amended effective April 1, 2024.
General Authority: NDCC 49-02-04
Law Implemented: NDCC 49-05-17
