NERC Looking to Impose New Reliability Standards

Last May, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) instructed North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to develop a new mandatory reliability standard to address and mitigate risks of geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs). Since then, FERC recommended adoption of these reliability standards that tackle the potentially detrimental and elaborate effects on the reliability of the electrical grid.

Who does this proposed reliability standard affect? Reliability coordinators (RCs) and transmission operators (TOs) with an operator area that includes certain power transformers with terminal voltage greater than 200 kV need to be in compliance, if passed, with the GMD standards.

What does this proposed reliability standard ask of RCs and TOs? RCs must disseminate space weather information and develop, maintain and implement a GMD operating plan that coordinates the GMD operating procedures or processes within the reliability coordinator area. TOs must develop operating procedures and processes to address GMD events.

Upon assessment, the next stage of GMD standards includes identification of benchmark GMD events, which sets a scale for responsible entities (REs) to utilize when assessing severity and hypothetical impact of GMD events on the Bulk-Power System. The reliability standards would require REs to continually conduct potential impact assessment of said events on equipment and the system.

These proposed reliability standards prove the need for a regulatory change management solution. The ever-changing regulatory compliance space leaves entities scrambling to be in compliance, whether that is a proactive or reactive measure.

Source: Transmission and Distribution World