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By Rich Heidorn Jr. QUEBEC CITY, Quebec — NERC will delay the first release of its Align software project from September to 2020 to allow inclusion of security features originally planned for a later release. NERC Chief Technology Officer Stan Hoptroff announced the change at a meeting of the Technology...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. SERC Reliability used part of its quarterly open forum last week to provide lessons learned from a series of attacks on Arkansas’ power grid in 2013. Jason Woodring after his arrest Bill Peterson, SERC’s manager of outreach and training, told the story of Jason Woodring, who...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. The electromagnetic spectrum could be the next field for war, and China is already planning for it, an Air Force strategist told NERC’s Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Task Force. Air Force Col. Douglas "Cinco" DeMaio said the U.S. must place weapons in orbit between the earth and...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. NERC has changed the scheduled rollout of its Align software program, with the Texas Reliability Entity and Midwest Reliability Organization turning the switch on "Release 1" in September and other regional entities joining in late October or early November. "For the longest time, we were saying...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. Transmission owners will not be covered by revisions to NERC reliability standard PRC-024-2 concerning inverter-based generation resources, the standard development team said Wednesday (Project 2018-04). In a comment period that closed July 26, respondents gave a "resounding yes" to extending the standard to cover the setting...

By Rich Heidorn Jr. The head of the standard drafting team considering modifications to NERC’s frequency response standard predicted generators will oppose a standard that mandates they provide the service. Ethos Energy Group’s David Lemmons, chair of the team considering revisions to BAL-003-1.1 (Project 2017-01) said at least 60% of...

NERC’s Standards Committee approved the posting of proposed changes to its geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) standard and authorized new initiatives on cyber system information access management and operator certifications during a brief meeting Wednesday. Revised GMD Standard Set for Posting The committee authorized the initial posting of proposed reliability standard TPL-007-4...

By Amanda Durish Cook INDIANAPOLIS — State regulators should establish standards to ensure the cybersecurity of distributed energy resources, experts said at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ 2019 Summer Policy Summit last week. More DERs means more consumers joining the grid — and "more credit card numbers, more...

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. NERC stakeholders have until 8 p.m. ET Friday to weigh in on proposed changes to reliability standard PRC-024-2 concerning inverter-based generation resources. The proposal is intended to ensure that generator owners (GOs), operators, developers and equipment manufacturers understand how their plants are expected to respond to...