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By Holden Mann For Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI), the results of a 2016 audit for compliance with reliability standard FAC-008-3 came as a shock. The utility had assumed it was complying with the standard, which governs the determination of transmission facility ratings; instead, auditors discovered that the software it...

By Holden Mann NERC has opened a formal comment period on a draft reliability guideline covering the collection of data on distributed energy resources to run through April 24. The draft guideline was developed by the System Planning Impacts from Distributed Energy Resources (SPIDER) working group and approved for comment...

ATLANTA — NERC’s Operating, Planning and Critical Infrastructure Planning committees gathered this week for their last face-to-face meetings before turning their functions over to the new Reliability and Security Technical Committee (RSTC) in June. PC Discusses Distributed Energy White Paper In an unusual move, the Planning Committee opened up the...

By Amanda Durish Cook CARMEL, Ind. — MISO last week said preparations are in the works for the 2021 GridEx VI exercise, with the RTO drawing on lessons learned during last year’s event. Speaking at a Reliability Subcommittee meeting Thursday, MISO outage coordinator Trevor Hines said the RTO is already...

By Holden Mann The standard drafting team working on expanding options for entities to manage bulk electric system cyber information (BCSI) (Project 2019-02) is focusing on resolving overlaps both within the affected standards and with other ongoing projects. It hopes to post the proposed standard for final ballot by July...

By Holden Mann NERC has asked FERC for more time to revise its Rules of Procedure (ROP) to address concerns the commission raised in response to the ERO’s five-year performance assessment. In an order Jan. 23, the commission accepted the assessment overall but found "that NERC should take several actions...

By Holden Mann FERC on Thursday issued a Notice of Inquiry seeking industry comments on the "potential benefits and risks" to the bulk electric system posed by virtualization and cloud computing services (RM20-8). Separately, the commission ordered NERC to provide information on two existing draft critical infrastructure protection (CIP) reliability...

WASHINGTON — Cybersecurity and resilience were the subject of numerous discussions at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Winter Policy Summit this week, with NERC CEO Jim Robb previewing an upcoming report on GridEx V and a FERC official urging regulators to get security clearances. Cybersecurity and reliability were...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. WASHINGTON — State regulators this week endorsed Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ updated standard 1547-2018 on the interconnection and interoperability of distributed energy resources. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ board of directors approved a resolution Wednesday recommending state commissions adopt the standard. The...

By Holden Mann MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — NERC and utility operators see considerable benefit from applying digital technologies to the power grid, but adopters must take their vulnerabilities into account as well. During a panel on digitization at NERC’s Member Representatives Committee meeting on Feb. 5, moderator Sylvain Clermont, director...