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The electric industry has performed well during the coronavirus pandemic but needs to improve its ties to state officials, maintain vigilance on cybersecurity and develop plans for operating control rooms remotely, NERC CEO Jim Robb said Thursday. "I know my workforce feels very, very stressed in the environment that they’re...

Citing an "increase in adversary capabilities and activity," the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are warning critical infrastructure facilities in the U.S. to "take immediate actions" to secure operational technology (OT) assets against cyber threats. In an alert issued last week, the agencies...

The Utilities Technology Council (UTC), National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and American Public Power Association (APPA) asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s ruling opening a portion of the 6-GHz band for unlicensed use. The FCC’s April 24 ruling came over...

FERC proposed adopting the latest updates to the North American Energy Standards Board’s Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities (RM05-5-29, et al.). Under a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking approved at the commission’s meeting on Thursday, FERC will move to Version 003.3 of the standards, which were...

FERC approved NERC reliability standard PRC-024-3 last week, capping a nearly two-year effort to ensure that inverter-based resources (IBR) — particularly solar panels — can "continue to support grid stability during defined system voltage and frequency excursions" (RD20-7). Work on the new standard, which replaces the existing standard PRC-024-2, began...

NERC issued its second Level 2 alert of the year on Wednesday to gather data on the bulk power system’s exposure to "foreign adversaries," at the same time the Department of Energy published a request for information on the industry’s practices for identifying and mitigating supply chain vulnerabilities for BPS...

Participants in the first panel of FERC’s two-day technical conference on the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic struck a hopeful tone Wednesday on the resilience of the North American energy industry. But they also warned that caution is still needed even as some utilities prepare to return to normal...

FERC has approved a set of amendments to SERC Reliability’s bylaws, jointly submitted by the regional entity and NERC last year, aimed at creating "a more strategic, efficient and effective governance body" (RR20-2). The new bylaws, approved July 1, will take effect Jan. 1, 2021, and will implement a number...

FERC on Friday accepted a slew of settlements for violations of NERC reliability standards, with American Electric Power, DTE Energy, Eversource Energy, Portland General Electric and Exelon among the utilities hit with monetary penalties by their regional entities. AEP’s violation carried the largest penalty at $1 million, followed by DTE...

FERC has approved NERC’s request for a $3.8 million budget variance to support development of the ERO Secure Evidence Locker (SEL), part of the organization’s Align software project to improve and standardize compliance monitoring and reporting processes across the ERO Enterprise (RR19-8). NERC requested the variance on June 8, after...