By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — Former NERC executive Brian Harrell, now assistant director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, last week lamented the federal government’s tardy response to the security threat drones pose to utilities. While many utilities are using drones in storm response...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — Assistant Energy Secretary Bruce Walker said Thursday that the Department of Energy is planning a megawatt-scale "Storage Launchpad" that he predicted will cut the cost of energy storage dramatically. Walker told attendees of the NERC Reliability Summit that funding for the initiative, which will...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — The changing resource mix and growth of distributed generation means planners must adopt new models and new mindsets, speakers said at NERC’s biennial Reliability Leadership Summit on Thursday. The event attracted more than 120 RTO officials, utility executives and regulators at the Mayflower Hotel.

By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — NERC CEO Jim Robb said Thursday he sees no "appetite" among policymakers for expanding the organization’s authority despite rising concerns over the visibility of distributed energy resources. NERC CEO Jim Robb speaking Thursday at the agency's biennial Reliability Leadership Summit at the Mayflower Hotel...

By Michael Brooks WASHINGTON — Compared to the rancor often on display when the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee discusses topics like climate change or grid resilience, Thursday’s hearing on preventing cyberattacks on the bulk power system (BPS) was less partisan, with senators soberly asking informational questions. That was,...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. A Government Accountability Office report on geomagnetic disturbances released last week found a lack of consensus on how much of a risk they pose to the U.S. electric grid, in part because of limited modeling capabilities. GMDs, which occur when the sun ejects charged particles that...

By Tom Kleckner FERC on Monday denied SPP’s request for waivers from regulations guiding the confidential treatment of information in its explanation of how it allocated costs related to a NERC fine, the amount of which has not been publicly disclosed because of grid security concerns (ER19-97). SPP filed the...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. FERC on Thursday approved NERC’s revised geomagnetic disturbance reliability standard, which broadens the definition of GMDs, requires grid operators to collect certain data and imposes deadlines for corrective actions (RM18-8, RM15-11-003). NERC created Reliability Standard TPL-007-2 (Transmission System Planned Performance for Geomagnetic Disturbance Events) in response...