Bonneville Power Administration Laboratory Business Plan ...

Bonneville Power Administration Laboratory Business Plan
Progress to Date and Planned Activities
May 22, 2009

BPA Laboratory Business Plan Development Project
Project Description: The Office of Technology Innovation (TI) is funding and managing a project to develop a business
plan for the BPA Laboratories. This project is sponsored by the Transmission Business Line Vice President of Engineering
and Technical Services, Larry Bekkedahl. The BPA project team members are listed below along with the names of the
Energetics’ Inc. consulting team hired to assist BPA in developing the business plan. The Energetics team will be working
closely with the BPA project team, BPA senior management, BPA Laboratory staff and the internal and external
customers of the Laboratories to develop the business plan.
Project Vision: The BPA Laboratory will: A) Provide services that are important to ensuring regional system reliability;
B) Provide a conduit for the development and demonstration of new technologies needed to modernize the electrical
energy infrastructure; C) Engage BPA expertise in power system planning, design, construction and operation to
accelerate the adoption of new and sustainable technology; D) Foster collaborative partnerships supporting regional and
national priorities in energy security, supply sufficiency, operational reliability, greenhouse gas reduction, economic
stimulation and create a dynamic work environment that attracts and trains the next generation of power engineers and
energy professionals; E) Support the operational testing needs of the BPA Transmission Business Line, research agenda
of the Office of Technology Innovation and the grid modernization initiatives of the Department of Energy; and, F)
Maximize BPA ratepayer and societal net benefits derived from laboratory operations.
Project Team Members:
B PA Team:
E nergetics Team:
Larry Bekkedahl TBL Project Sponsor, VP Engineering and Technical Services Ndeye Fall Energetics Incorporated, Lead Analyst
Jeff Hildreth TBL Laboratory Technical Services Richard Scheer Energetics Incorporated, Strategic Advisor
Gordon Matthews TBL Analysis and Compliance Rick Hartlein Director, NEETRAC Laboratories
Ernie Estes Attorney/Advisor Frank Lambert Associate Director, NEETRAC Laboratories
Marty Gault Contracting Officer Jack Shaver Technical Coordinator, CEATI Inc.
Terry Doern TI Support Contractor Brian Marchionini Energetics Incorporated, Project Manager
Kathy Tyre Washington D.C. Office Liaison to DOE
Lori Bonn
TI Administrative Support
Dennis Phillips TI Project Manager & COTR
NEETRAC: National Electric Energy Testing Research & Applications Center, CEATI: Center of Electric Advancement through Technology Innovation
*SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses (internal), Opportunities and Threats (external)

Project Methodology
Phase 1:
Situation
Analysis
Phase 2:
SWOT
Analysis
Phase 3:
Business Plan
Development
Est. completion
date: 6/5/09
Est. completion
date: 7/17/09
Est. completion
date: 8/31/09

The Critical Success Factors for this Project Include:
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2
3
4
5
6
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Ensuring that all recommendations that result
from this project are explicitly tied to the four
pillars in BPAs strategy map and support
management’s vision and value proposition for
the BPA Laboratories;
Developing a plan that best positions the BPA
laboratories to support regional system
reliability and to contribute to the safety of BPA
personnel;
Ensuring BPA labs are not perceived as
competing with domestic private industry and
improve customer service
Establishing a framework for measuring and
documenting the value-added benefits provided
by the laboratories;
Establishing a framework to prioritize, schedule,
track and manage laboratory projects;
Identifying the internal and external customers
of the Laboratories, their needs and the
potential volume of business they may bring to
the labs;
Identifying programs, processes and practices
by which BPA can exploit the collaborative
relationships and potential business
opportunities that exist between BPA
laboratories, the national laboratories,
universities, industry, industry consortia, BPA
utility customers and the Department of Energy;
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10
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12
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Establishing a marketing outreach and customer
feedback action plan for the Laboratories that will
support regional system reliability, attract projects
that take advantage of BPA’s unique capabilities,;
Identifying programs, processes and practices that
will enable the labs to attract and train the next
generation of power engineers;
Identifying programs, processes and practices that
will ensure the Labs are more fully integrated with key
BPA internal skill groups in transmission and
generation operations planning, design, maintenance,
energy efficiency, etc;
Identifying business programs, processes and
practices to improve laboratory accounting and
financial systems and overall efficiency of the
laboratories;
Identifying business programs, processes and
practices that will enable the Laboratories to measure
and document business opportunities missed due to
resource constraints (e.g., measuring the degree to
which the Laboratories failed to respond to customer
requests or customers chose not to use the
Laboratories due to excessive response times that
were real or perceived);
Identifying business programs, processes and
practices that will ensure the maintenance role of the
laboratories is maintained or enhanced;
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Identifying human, capital and expense resources
required to achieve project recommendations and
vision;

Project Timeline
Project Team Formed – Charter Written –
Weekly Meetings Begin
Trip to DC to Brief DOE on Lab Capabilities &
Project
Statement of Work (SOW) Written – RFP
Issued to Develop Laboratory Business Plan
Energetics Incorporated Wins Contract – Work
Starts April 1, 2009
Situation Analysis Workshops May 5 & 6 2009
Phase 1: Situation Analysis Report Due –
June 5
SWOT Workshops for BPA (Internal) Lab Staff
& Customers – June 16 & 17, Interviews with
University Reps & Former Lab Employees –
June 16,17,18
Round Table Discussion for External Utility
Customers – July 8, SWOT Workshop for
Managers – July 9, Interview University Reps
& Former Lab – July 7,8,9
Managers and CI/I Council Round Table
discussion to Review, Discuss and Modify
Draft Business Plan – August 12, Interview
University Reps & Former Lab –
August 11,12,13
Phase 3: Final Laboratory Business Plan Due
– August 31
Final Laboratory Business Plan Presented to
TC/I Council – September 29
Final Laboratory Business Plan Presented to
BOB (No Date Set)
2008 2009
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct

Situation Analysis Workshops (Completed)
Purpose of Workshops: To conduct a systematic process for analyzing the internal environment of
the BPA Laboratories, including the technical, financial, political, social and programmatic aspects
that influence Laboratory operations. This workshop is being performed for the purposes of
determining a future course of action for improving the Laboratory’s program management,
performance and sustainability. The information and insights gleaned from this workshop will be
value added input to the Laboratory Business Plan Development Project.
Workshop #1: Lab Staff
Tuesday, May 5
Name
Org Code
Michael Anderson
TETL
Pete Anderson
TETL
Ron Denis
TETL
Roland Dizon
TFVJ
Darryl Fujita
TETL
Salvador Hernandez
TETL
Mick Johnson
TETL
Andrea Mueller
TETL
Daniel Mullen
TETL
Kellie Robinson
TETL
W. Christopher Robinson TETL
Brian Tuttle
TETL
Charles Williams
TETL
Workshop #2: Internal BPA
Customers, Tuesday, May 5
Name
Gerald Lee
Mike Hulse
Pat Timm
Christine Goldsworthy
Sam Perkins
Frank Weintraub
Jennifer Havel
Allen Van Leuven
Curtis Akesson
George Green
Mike Riley
Dan Goldsworthy
Jack Callahan
Len Custer
Jim Burns
Larry Stanks
Org Code
TESM
TESM
TESM
TESM
TESD
TELC
TELC
TELC
TESM
TELD
TELD
TECS
KLJD
TELC
TOT
TFHG
Workshop #3: Internal BPA
Customers, Wednesday, May 6
Name
Jennifer Bailey
Don Swanson
Ken Brown
Anders Johnson
Karl Mitsch
Steve Yang
Ken Slye
Cheri Benson
Christopher Jenks
Org Code
TELM
TELM
TELM
TPP
TEP
TECM
TFHG
DKE
NSLU

Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities & Threats (SWOT)
Workshops
Purpose of Workshops: These workshops employ a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in planning a business venture.
• Strengths: attributes of the organization which are helpful in achieving its mission objective.
• Weaknesses: attributes of the organization which are harmful to achieving the objective.
• Opportunities: internal and external conditions which are helpful in achieving the objective.
• Threats: internal and external conditions which could do damage to the performance of the business venture.
A SWOT analysis involves specifying the objective of the business venture and identifying the internal and external factors
that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. If SWOT analysis does not start with defining a desired end
state or objective, it runs the risk of being useless. Identification of SWOTs is essential because subsequent steps in the
process of planning for achievement of the selected objective may be derived from the SWOTs. The decision makers have
to determine whether the objective is attainable, given the SWOTs. If the objective is NOT attainable a different objective
must be selected and the process repeated. These workshops are being performed for the purposes of determining a
future course of action for improving the Laboratory’s program management, performance and sustainability. During these
workshops there will be several interviews conducted with universities to identify collaborative research opportunities as
well as explore the potential for engineering coop programs. The information and insights gleaned from this workshop will
be value added input to the Laboratory Business Plan Development Project. These workshops will be facilitated by
Energetics Incorporated.
Lab Staff and Internal BPA Customer SWOT Workshops 1 & 2:
Lab staff and internal BPA customers will attend one of two SWOT workshops at the Ross Complex in Ampere Building,
Conference Room C on June 16 from 1:00-3:00 pm or on June 17 from 9:00-11:00 am.
Senior Management SWOT Workshop 3:
BPA managers will attend a SWOT workshop at the BPA Headquarters building in Room 122 on July 9 from 1:00-3:00
pm.
Note: Participants of this meeting will also be invited to a follow-up round table discussion on the August 12 in which management will
have an opportunity to review the draft business plan which is due on August 31.
(see attached Map of Ross Complex)

External Customer Round Table Discussion
Purpose of Round Table Discussion: The purpose of the workshop is to explore new ways in which BPA, its
customers, other regional utilities, COE, WAPA, Bureau of Reclamation, etc can work together to build a
collaborative business model for the BPA Laboratories that will provide the following benefits to BPA, the region
and the nation:
1. Support regional and national priorities in energy security, supply sufficiency, operational reliability, greenhouse gas
reduction and economic stimulation.
2. Provide cost effective services that facilitate the development and demonstration of new technologies needed to
modernize the region’s electrical energy infrastructure;
3. Engage the region’s collective expertise in power system planning, design, construction and operation to accelerate the
adoption of new and sustainable technology;
4. Create a dynamic work environment that attracts and trains the next generation of power engineers and energy
professionals;
5. Support the operational testing needs of the BPA Transmission Business Line (TBL), the research agenda of the Office
of Technology Confirmation/Innovation and the grid modernization initiatives of the Department of Energy.
6. Maximize BPA ratepayer and societal net benefits derived from laboratory operations.
The workshop agenda includes a tour of laboratory facilities, a briefing on the technical capabilities of the Labs, and a
facilitated brainstorming session.
It is important to note that BPA intends to reposition its laboratory facilities and operations to fill a gap -- a scarcely
populated business niche in the research-to-development-to-demonstration (RD&D) process that is critical to our industry’s
moving technology rapidly into commercial service. BPA is not proposing to compete in a private-sector laboratories market
to make money. Rather, BPA is proposing to take full advantage of the services its facilities and their operations can
provide -- in the interest of making the Laboratory as efficient and cost-effective and fully-utilized as possible.
This round table discussion will be held at the Ross Complex in the DOB Auditorium on July 8 from 9:00-12:00 pm and will
be facilitated by Energetics Incorporated
(See attached map of Ross Complex)

Individual Interviews with Representatives from
Regional Universities, National Laboratories (PNNL) and
Former BPA Employees
Purpose of individual Interviews with universities and national Labs: The purpose of these interviews is
to explore new ways in which BPA, northwest universities and national labs can build a collaborative business
model to:
• Create a dynamic work environment that attracts and trains the next generation of power engineers and
energy professionals;
• Support regional and national priorities in energy security, supply sufficiency, operational reliability,
greenhouse gas reduction and economic stimulation;
• Conduct research that facilitates the development and demonstration of new technologies needed to
modernize the region’s electrical energy infrastructure;
• Engage academic and national lab expertise in power system planning, design, construction and
operation to accelerate the adoption of new and sustainable technology;
• Support the operational testing needs of the BPA Transmission Business Line (TBL), the research agenda
of
the Office of Technology Confirmation/Innovation and the grid modernization initiatives of the Department
of Energy;
• Maximize BPA ratepayer and societal net benefits derived from laboratory operations.
These interviews will include a tour of laboratory facilities and a briefing on the technical capabilities of the
Labs.
(See attached map of Ross Complex)

TC/I Sponsored Round Table Discussion for
BPA Management to Review Draft Business Plan
Purpose of Round Table Discussion: The purpose of this round
table discussion is to brief management on the results of the
situation analysis and SWOT workshops, external customer round
table discussion and individual Interviews with universities, national
labs and former employees and to receive feedback from the
Technology Confirmation/Innovation (TC/I) Council and other BPA
managers on the preliminary recommendations outlined in the draft
business plan. Management’s feedback will be incorporated into
the final report which is due August 31, 2009.
This round table session will held at BPA Headquarters building in
Room 670 on August 12 from 2:00-3:30 pm and will be facilitated
by Energetics Inc. Copies of the draft business plan will be sent to
attendees one-week prior to this meeting.
Note: The participants of this meeting will also be invited to attend the July 9 BPA Senior Manager’s SWOT workshop

•I-5 North (From Portland)
Ampere Bldg. Conference
Room C, Located in
North-west corner of
bldg., 2 nd floor
Hwy 99
DOB
Dittmer
Control
Center
From I-5 Take Hazel Dell Exit to Hwy 99, turn right at first light (next to BPA Ross Complex sign)