FERC & Federal

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By Rich Heidorn Jr. QUEBEC CITY, Quebec — Regulators’ call for a generator weatherization requirement faces an uphill battle if prior history and feedback at last week’s NERC Member Representatives Committee meeting are any indication. Steven Noess, NERC’s director of regulatory programs, and FERC attorney-advisor Heather Polzin brief the MRC.

By Amanda Durish Cook DES MOINES, Iowa — To mitigate cyberthreats to grid infrastructure, utilities must train their employees and become less wary of sharing information with other utilities, according to experts speaking at the Mid-America Regulatory Conference (MARC) on Monday. Illinois Commerce Commissioner D. Ethan Kimbrel kicked off a...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. Despite nearly daily news of cyber breaches, most computer users practice poor password security, and many people working in information technology and security would not recognize a phishing attempt if they saw one. Those are some of the disturbing takeaways from a survey of 5,000 people...

The Department of Energy on July 24 celebrated its research collaborations with the electric industry at the annual National Labs Day on Capitol Hill, featuring remarks by members of Congress, a reception and displays on current projects. Here’s some of what we heard. Dozens of people listened to presentations during...

By Amanda Durish Cook INDIANAPOLIS — State regulators considered the impact of a prolonged blackout for about half the country during the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ first-ever "black sky" exercise July 21. The simulation, part of the 2019 Summer Policy Summit, focused on terrorist-originated electromagnetic pulses. John Heltzel,...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. Grid modernization and security were the focus of two U.S. House of Representatives committees last week as four bipartisan bills cleared the Energy and Commerce Committee and a second panel held hearings on two other legislative proposals. The House SST Committee's Energy Subcommittee held hearings on...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. FERC on Thursday called for reliability rules requiring generator owners and operators to winterize their units and provide their reliability coordinators (RCs) and balancing authorities (BAs) with information about their preparations. The commission issued the directive as a result of a joint FERC-NERC investigation into the...

By Michael Brooks WASHINGTON — House Energy and Commerce Committee members seeking details about foreign cyber threats were left wanting Friday as grid reliability officials declined to discuss specifics. Appearing before the committee’s Subcommittee on Energy, NERC CEO Jim Robb, FERC Office of Electric Reliability Director Andy Dodge and Karen...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — Utilities asked FERC on Thursday to lobby against a Federal Communications Commission proposal that the companies say could disrupt their mission-critical wireless communications. Speaking on the final panel of the commission’s annual technical conference on reliability, representatives of the Edison Electric Institute and the...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — Registered entities asked FERC on Thursday to clear the way for their use of cloud computing, which they said could improve system visibility, security and availability while saving money. Speaking at FERC’s annual reliability technical conference, representatives of the American Public Power Association, MISO,...