NERC’s Standards Committee moved ahead on a number of standards development projects and organizational matters in a brief conference call on Thursday.

SAR Team Members Sail Through

The committee approved adding two members to the standard authorization request (SAR) drafting team for Project 2020-03 (Supply chain low impact revisions), following up on its appointment of the chair, vice chair and team members in July. (See “SDT Candidate Restored After Application Oversight,” NERC Standards Committee Briefs: July 22, 2020.)

Soo Jin Kim, NERC’s manager of standards development, told the committee that the project team had decided to solicit additional participants because none of the initial 10 members represented entities with only low-impact cyber assets with the potential to be affected by the project. Four people were nominated, of whom NERC recommended two based on the fact that their entities owned such assets. According to standard practice, none of the nominees was identified by name or organization in the meeting. The committee approved the two NERC-endorsed candidates unanimously.

Members also agreed to move forward with a proposal under NERC’s ongoing Standards Efficiency Review process (Project 2018-03) to retire Requirement R7 from reliability standard FAC-008-3 (Facility ratings). The team had originally intended to retire R8 as well, but this decision was revisited after FERC said in September that it was “not persuaded” that R8 was redundant with other standards. (See FERC Accepts Removal of 18 NERC Requirements.)

The meeting agenda had included a proposal to accept the SAR for Project 2020-01 (Modifications to MOD-032-1) and appoint members of the standard drafting team, but this item was struck after several members said they had not had a chance to read the final version of the SAR or review industry comments.

Organizational Updates Move Forward

Participants also approved several internal updates intended to help the committee manage its business more smoothly and simplify the transition process for new members. The first of these was a set of revisions to the Process Subcommittee’s (SCPS) scope document, along with its Technical Rationale for Reliability Standards, intended to clarify language and provide “better alignment with the … [Standards Committee] Charter.”

In addition, Chair Amy Casuscelli updated members on the drafting of a training packet for incoming members, an initiative passed at the committee’s meeting in June. (See “SOL, Training Proposals Accepted,” NERC Standards Committee Briefs: June 17, 2020.) The draft document, developed by the SCPS, is being circulated to committee members for feedback and will be implemented in January.

Some members asked if the orientation would be limited to new committee members only or if others would be allowed to participate; for instance, registered entity employees who wished to learn about the committee and its operations, or proxies for members. Casuscelli said the material was “meant for members as a whole,” but that others interested in joining the committee might be allowed to participate. In regard to proxies, she said the issue was not specifically addressed in the orientation materials but promised to have it added before they take effect.

Yeung, Brytowski to Continue Leading PMOS

Finally, Casuscelli named SPP’s Charles Yeung and Great River Energy’s Michael Brytowski for another two-year term as chair and vice chair, respectively, of the Project Management and Oversight Subcommittee (PMOS) on the unanimous recommendation of subcommittee members.

“We couldn’t do the work that we do without the PMOS; you guys are the eyes and ears on the standards projects, and … the team’s been doing great under your leadership, so thank you for that,” Casuscelli said.