Mediator Details

January 1,1997 to present: Barker, Dunn & Rossi, Inc.
Director.  Founding co-principal of firm that provides management consulting services on electric industry restructure, organization, and trading to international base of clients.  Mr. Barker has served as President of the firm and then President – International operations.
 Mr. Barker was appointed as the arbitrator for a dispute under terms of the Western Systems Power  Pool Agreement. 

In the U.S., Mr. Barker is managed development of cost estimates, organizational staffing, and business processes, and procurement specifications for services and systems for the proposed West Connect transmission company. He led the BDR team that assisted Edison Electric Institute’s Alliance of Energy Suppliers Division in documenting and updating U.S. wholesale market tariffs, rules and agreements in a Users Guide to Regional Transmission Organizations.  He advised Sierra Pacific and Nevada Power Co. on the negotiation of governance arrangements, establishment of a Steering Committee, and he drafted parts of the FERC filing for the Mountain West Independent Scheduling Administrator.  He assisted the California ISO in development of contingency plans for a possible failure within its settlement system.  He assisted ISO New England on organizational issues related to its implementation and permanent operation of the new market.  He participated on the BDR team that was responsible for assisting in implementing the California Independent System Operator.  That team drafted the detailed rules (sometimes referred to as Protocols or Normatives) and contractual agreements that were required to translate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) filings into working operational arrangements. He also participated on the BDR team of consultants in providing operations support to Cameron McKenna LLP for filing of contractual agreements with the FERC for the California Independent System Operator.

Internationally, Mr. Barker led the team that  developed the market rules for Thailand’s proposed open access wholesale market.  The government changed its policy and decided not to implement that market.  He served for four years on the Market Surveillance Committee for the Panama wholesale electricity market. He has advised the municipal utilities in New Brunswick on restructure in that province and the Australia Competition Commission on the status of capacity obligations and related markets in the US.

Mr. Barker continues to advise East China Grid Corp. (ECG) on regional market  and transmission tariff design issues. He assisted ECG’s predecessor companies, the East China Electric Power Group Corp. (ECEPGC) and State Power East China (SPEC) in the design of a wholesale market for the East China Grid.  He then directed the multinational team of consultants that assisted ECEPGC by drafting a Market operating Agreement, a Market Operations Manual, Pro Forma Generation Contracts, and a transmission tariff methodology. Previously, Mr. Barker completed a study of a regional electricity market and commercial and operational rules for operation of a pumped storage plant in East China. Mr. Barker has advised the State in P.R. China on development of a framework for power sector reform and implementation of competitive markets in China.    Mr. Barker has also assisted The World Bank in market reform projects in South China and in Zhejiang Province.  He has assisted in developing a road map for the new regulator of electricity markets in China.

Mr. Barker has advised the Regulator in Panama and a Market Implementation Team in El Salvador on implementation of wholesale electricity markets.  He also advised The World Bank and the governments of Guatemala and Dominican Republic on implementation of electricity reform.  He advised The World Bank and State governments (Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, & Haryana) in India on restructure, open access transmission, and privatization of the electricity sector. He advised The Bank and the Government of Pakistan on its reform program.  Mr. Barker advised The Bank on development of a bulk power market strategy for the Mekong subregion in Southeast Asia.

1981 to 1997: KEMA-ECC, Inc.
Executive Consultant & Vice President, KEMA-ECC’s Management Consulting Services.  Vice President & Executive Consultant, ECC’s Management Consulting Services.  Mr. Barker created ECC’s management consulting services business in 1988.  He presented testimony to the Arizona Corporation Commission on commercial and operational effects of retail competition in electricity markets.  He reviewed the planning and operating criteria of a major US utility with regard to its competitive position in the region, taking into account the potential requirements of industry restructure.  He reviewed proposed methods for charging for generation reliability and recommended alternative methods to meet comparability tests.  He also advised this utility on the costs and benefits of its participation in a major power pool.

He assisted Edison Electric Institute (EEI) on Mega NOPR issues relating to the proposed Capacity Reservation Tariff, and on pooling, comparability, and ancillary services.  He provided market and industry restructure advice to an ad hoc industry committee, the Interconnected Operating Services Working Group, and developed definitions of ancillary and interconnected operations services.   He chaired a subgroup of the IEEE Power Engineering Society that developed national standard definitions for system operations.

Mr. Barker served as an alternate member of the El Paso Electric/Public Service of New Mexico arbitration panel in their dispute over the transfer capability to be provided by a major new EHV transmission line.  He advised the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) power pool during the early stages of development of a new market structure and transmission arrangements.

Internationally, Mr. Barker advised the City of Calgary Electric System on issues relating to the power pool and transmission during implementation of the industry reforms in Alberta. He advised the National Grid Company (NGC) in England with respect to staffing levels, work processes, tools and procedures as necessary to minimize transmission constraint costs.  He also has assisted NGC in identifying technical and commercial issues needing to be resolved in order to implement possible reforms to the England/Wales electricity market. From 1988 to 1990, Mr. Barker managed ECC’s team of on-site advisors on privatization and restructure for NGC in England.  He advised NGC’s Board Member with responsibility for commercial matters on operational, commercial, and managerial issues relating to development of pooling agreements, transmission service contracts, ancillary services, and interconnection agreements.  He assisted in early development of the Grid Code (the technical conditions governing planning, connection to, and operation of the transmission network, and scheduling and dispatching generation) and developed the organizational structure and process for the Task Force that completed drafting of the initial issue of the Grid Code.  He participated as a member of NGC’s Grid Code Coordinating Committee.  He participated in negotiation of the British Grid Systems Agreement and other interconnection agreements with Scotland and France.

At the beginning of restructure in England, Mr. Barker investigated the transportability of other pool settlement systems for possible application in England.   This work was performed for a Task Force within the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) that was studying options for implementation of the new market.  As part of this work, he presented a discussion on pooling and implementation options to the CEOs and executive management of the electric supply industry at a meeting chaired by the Chairman of NGC.

He advised The World Bank on reform of the State owned electric utilities in India and facilitated implementation of restructure in the States of Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.  He directed ECC’s multi-disciplinary team that recommended, to the Government of India, reform of bulk power and transmission tariffs and regulation of Central Sector generation and transmission corporations. Mr. Barker conducted a workshop on third-party access (retail wheeling) for the Electricity Supply Board National Grid in the Republic of Ireland.  He participated on the ECC team that advised Trans Power Ltd. in New Zealand and he completed a market structure study for Vattenfall in Sweden.  He advised the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (Australia) and Northern Ireland Electricity on issues related to industry restructure and retail competition.  He participated on a multi-disciplinary team that advised the Energy Directorate of the European Commission on third party access to transmission.

Additional work in the U.S. has included presentation of testimony on behalf of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  He also advised the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power with respect to organizational issues relating to its telecommunications functions.  Other projects include: a study of the U.S. power pool operating accounting practices and procedures for the restructure and privatization of the Central Electricity Generating Board in England and Wales; assisting Kansas City Power and Light Company in developing a new organization for system operations; proposing revised pricing of operating capacity services for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power; a qualitative assessment of operations of members of the Mid-Continent Area Power Pool (MAPP); development of pooling concepts and a pooling agreement for the Northern California Power Agency; screening interchange options, development of functional requirements for an interchange operation, and support for negotiation of an interchange scheduling service agreement for Oglethorpe Power Corporation; and assisting the Southern California Utility Power Pool in implementation of coordinated operations.

1975 to 1981: Federal Energy Administration and U. S. Department of Energy.

1964 to 1975:  Potomac Electric Power Company.
Senior Project Engineer, Substation Design.  Mr. Barker managed a design section that was responsible for engineering transmission substations and for providing engineering support for the system operations control center.  He led design of PEPCO’s first 500 kV substation providing 1200 MVA inter-tie with PJM’s EHV system.  He represented PEPCO on PJM committees:  Substation Thermal Equipment Ratings Task Force, Computer Interface Task Force, and Transmission and Substation Design Subcommittee.  He served as secretary to the committee responsible for design of transmission and substation facilities associated with Keystone and Conemaugh joint ownership generating stations.

1962 to 1964:  U. S. Army Signal Corps.

First Lieutenant, Communications Center Officer.

Technical Papers/Presentations:

1. Transmission Expansion in PJM, lessons learned from a fully developed network Market Reforms presented to The World Bank Energy Week, 9 March 2004
2. Practical Aspects of Planning and Implementing Power Market Reforms presented to The World Bank
   Energy Markets  Workshop, 26 February 2003
3. Wholesale Market Formation and Rules: Generator Concerns by Jim Barker, EEI Strategic issues Conference, April 3, 2000; New Orleans, Louisiana.
4. US Experience in Market Reform, presented to the European Electricity Regulation Forum, European University Institute, Firenze, Italy, February 1998.
5. Regulation of Power Pools and System Operators: An International Comparison, by James Barker, Jr., Bernard Tenenbaum, Fiona Woolf: Energy Law Journal, Volume 18, No. 2, 1997.
6. Governance and Regulation of Power Pools and System Operators, An International Comparison, by James V. Barker, Jr., Bernard Tenenbaum, Fiona Woolf: The World Bank Technical Paper No. 382, 1997.
7. Analogues for Industry Change: Electricity Market Restructure Outside the U.S., Risk Publications.
8. Pool Governance; presentation made at EXNET Seminar, Arlington, Virginia; January 1996.
9. Power Pools and Evolving Markets in India; the keynote address presented at CIGRE Regional Meeting on Power Pool Arrangements and Economic Load Dispatch, Delhi, India, October 1995.
10. Real World Pooling, Grid Code and Implementation Issues; presented to World Bank, September 1994.
11. Changing International Electric Utility Bulk Power Markets and Structures; presented to the Pennsylvania Electric Association, January 1994.
12. Integrating Market Structures into Electric System Planning; presented at World Bank Annual Energy Sector Workshop, November 1993.
13. Bulk Power Market Structures and Pooling Arrangements in the United States; presented at Second Electricity Law Seminar:  “It’s a Small World,” in Hanbury Manor, Hertfordshire, England, November 1993.
14. Practical Considerations in Restructuring of Electricity Supply Industries; a chapter published in the book From Regulation to Competition:  New Frontiers in Electricity Markets, May 1993.
15. Electricity Privatization: Structural, Competitive, and Regulatory Options; Energy Policy, December 1992.
16. Transmission Pricing: The U.K. Experience; presentation to Conference on The New Electric Regulatory Order, Session on Pricing Transmission in Competitive Bulk Power Markets; The Management Exchange, Washington, D.C., November 5, 1992.
17. International Electric Industry Restructure; presentation to Edison Electric Institute Power Supply Policy Task Force, Chicago, Illinois; October 1992.
18. The England and Wales Electric Supply Industry Restructure: A Critique; presentation at Regional Energy Law Seminar, Hanbury Manor, Hertfordshire, England, November 1991.
19. Restructure of the British Electric Supply Industry: Operations and Commercial Arrangements; Presentation to Edison Electric Institute Interconnection Arrangements Committee, Phoenix, Arizona, April 1991.
20. A Workable Test of a Workably Competitive Bulk Power Market, Public Utilities Fortnightly, April 1988.
21. Assessing Electric Interchange Operations, Public Utilities Fortnightly, May 1986.
22. Implementation of Coordinated Planning and Operations, World Bank Power Week, Tysons Corner, Virginia, June 4, 1985.
23. Interchange Regulations and Incentives, Iowa State Regulatory Conference, Ames, Iowa, May 1984.
24. Interchange Regulation and Operating Requirements, Pennsylvania Electric Association, Suffern, New York, May 1984.
25. Regulatory Treatment of Interchange and Wheeling Rates, ECC, Inc., Interchange Arrangements, Transmission, and Power Pooling Seminars, New Orleans, November 1983, through 1992.
26. Electric Energy Brokering: An Explanation and Status Report, Public Utilities Fortnightly, February 1982.
27. Current Status of Pooling in the USA, Center for Professional Advancement course, System Planning, Power Pooling, and Coordination, October 1981.
28. Introduction to DOE/NERC Energy Broker Conferences and Seminars, New Orleans, April 1981, Salt Lake City, April 1980, Kansas City, March 1980.
29. DOE System Coordination Program, Public Meeting on Interconnection, Wheeling and Pooling, Oklahoma City, November 1978.