The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week proposed revisions to several sets of reliability standards.

FERC said it expects sufficient resources to meet peak electric demand this summer despite coal-fired retirements, while NERC approved its summer reliability assessment.

FERC gave preliminary approval to the second stage of its reliability standard to protect the grid from geomagnetic disturbances (GMD).

FERC has required NERC to determine the severity of a “benchmark” GMD event — the threshold against which covered entities would evaluate their system’s vulnerability and develop protective strategies.

Since the EPA proposed its Clean Power Plan, the idea that the final rule should include a reliability safety valve has become an article of faith among utility, state and RTO officials.

A summary of measures and issues discussed at the SPP Board of Directors/Members Committee meeting on April 28, 2015.

The U.S. electric industry will face reliability concerns in four years if the interim goals of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan aren’t relaxed, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. said last week.

At its April 16 open meeting, FERC issued new reliability standards, denied rehearing on business practices and ordered a new format for electronic filing reports.

FERC on Thursday approved a rule to improve coordination of the natural gas and electric markets, adopting two gas scheduling changes but declining to move the start of the gas day to 4 a.m. CT from 9 a.m.

A round-up of news from the PJM Operating Committee on April 7, 2015.