New Electric Reliability Standards Approved



Eighty-three electric reliability standards were finalized recently by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to assure the reliability of the nation’s bulk power system.


By CleanLink Editorial Staff  


Eighty-three electric reliability standards were finalized recently by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to assure the reliability of the nation’s bulk power system.

The standards were proposed by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) in July 2006 as the Commission-certified electric reliability organization.

The recent final rule approved 83 of 107 proposed reliability standards. These mandatory reliability standards apply to users, owners and operators of the bulk power system designated by NERC through its compliance registry procedures. Both monetary and non-monetary penalties may be imposed for violations of the standards.

FERC directed the ERO to develop modifications, using its reliability standards development process, to 58 of the 83 reliability standards approved today as mandatory and enforceable. The remaining 24 reliability standards will not be approved or remanded until further information is provided.

The standards address necessary improvements outlined in the recommendations of the U.S.-Canada report on the August 2003 Northeast blackout that affected an estimated 50 million people and 61,800 megawatts of electric load in the U.S. and Canada.

Included in the ruling are standards addressing facility load-shedding plans, disturbance reporting, and reliability coordination from individual facilities to wide areas. A full list of NERC reliability standards and their status can be found at the NERC Web site.

In a separate action, FERC proposed to eliminate the exemption from the reliability standards for qualifying facilities of 20 megawatts generating capacity or more.





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  posted on 3/16/2007   Article Use Policy




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