FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The chairman of NERC’s Board of Trustees said last week the organization hopes to have a new CEO in place by the summer.

Roy Thilly told the Member Representatives Committee (MRC) during its Feb. 7 quarterly meeting that the selection process is “well underway,” with a goal for this spring.

“This is an important decision the full board needs to be involved in,” he said.

Russell Reynolds Associates has been conducting the executive search. Thilly said the board will select a group of about eight potential candidates, with a small group of trustees whittling that list down to two or three final candidates. The board will interview each of the finalists.

“Essentially, we want to be enthusiastic about the final candidate and have no hesitation that we have the right person for this job,” Thilly said. “If we don’t, then it’s important that we step back and take the time to do so.”

NERC has been without a CEO since Gerry Cauley resigned in November following his arrest for domestic abuse. General Counsel Charlie Berardesco stepped into the CEO role on an interim basis. (See Cauley Resigns; NERC Launches Search for Replacement.)

Thilly complimented NERC’s management team and staff for “really stepping up,” along with the Regional Entity CEOs.

“We feel like we’re in a good place right now,” he said. “The feedback I’ve gotten is that Charlie has stepped into the job in a seamless way and pulled the organization together.”

NERC also needs to hire a new chief security officer to replace Marcus Sachs, who resigned shortly after Cauley. (See NERC Parts Ways with Chief Security Officer.) Thilly said candidates have been “assembled,” but the agency won’t move forward until the new CEO is in place.

“It’s essential the new CEO participate in that hiring process and be very comfortable with the selection,” he said.

FERC’s McIntyre Says Resiliency Still of Interest in DC

FERC Chairman Kevin McIntyre told NERC trustees and stakeholders that the federal government still remains focused on grid resiliency, despite the commission’s rejection of the Department of Energy’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking meant to address the issue. FERC launched a new resiliency initiative Jan. 8 after declining to take up the department’s proposal.

“Interest in that subject is not waning on [Capitol Hill], and it is not waning in the administration,” McIntyre said. “When real-world engagements occur with resiliency, like it’s old-fashioned cousin, reliability, we should use that as a teachable moment, and take lessons forward into the game plan and be better prepared for future events.”

McIntyre said the commission looks forward to working with NERC, and that it must remain “vigilant” in ensuring the grid’s resiliency, “a phrase you’ve no doubt heard.”

McIntyre and Berardesco were among several industry witnesses who recently testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee about the January “cold-weather bomb.” (See FERC, RTOs: Grid Performed Better in Jan. Cold Snap vs. 2014.)

“Hanging in the air was the broader overall topic of grid resiliency,” McIntyre said. “I was very glad to be in a position to report that, based on various analyses, the bulk power system operated very reliably. My general impression was that my report, and those of the other witnesses, was well-received and appreciated in how well the grid performed.”

Resiliency is a priority at FERC, McIntyre said, and he expressed his gratitude to NERC for its work on the issue. He referenced the MRC’s Reliability Issues Steering Committee, which, at the trustees’ request, is developing a framework for resiliency.

The committee told stakeholders that most resilience definitions have two common elements: that it is “time-dependent” and differs from business-as-usual operations, and that it cannot be measured in a single-unit metric. It said the National Infrastructure Advisory Council’s framework for establishing critical infrastructure goals is a “credible source for further understanding and defining resilience.”

The framework includes four outcome-focused abilities:

• Robustness: the ability to absorb shocks and continue operating.
• Resourcefulness: the ability to skillfully manage a crisis as it unfolds.
• Rapid Recovery: the ability to restore services as quickly as possible.
• Adaptability: the ability to incorporate and improve with lessons learned from past events.

“We think this framework makes sense,” said ISO-NE’s Peter Brandien, the steering committee’s chair.

DOE Looks to Work with NERC, FERC to Shape Policies

Bruce Walker, assistant secretary of the Energy Department’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, said the department’s goal is to develop partnerships within the industry and provide resources to move issues forward.

“We have the opportunity to see the results of real work being done by FERC and NERC, and to shape policy through our coordination with both of these agencies,” said Walker, whose nomination was approved in October. “The [DOE] has stepped back to take a look at what our mission really is. It is … our mission-critical focus across the energy sector.”

Walker, formerly a deputy executive for Putnam County, N.Y., ran a boutique consulting firm focused on risk management at investor-owned utilities and served in leadership positions at National Grid and Consolidated Edison. He said his first goal is to develop a North American energy model “that integrates all different forms of energy so that we can run, like we do on our transmission system, a load flow.”

He said the bulk power system’s interdependencies will identify “those assets than can be enhanced, replaced or installed” to improve the system’s “affordability” as “we start moving forward” with the administration’s proposed $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill.

Other goals will focus on cyber and physical security, rapidly moving forward storage technologies, making use of sensing technologies and developing hardening strategies that add “some resiliency in a viable way.”

WECC: CAISO, SPP Efforts Pressure Peak Reliability

Jim Robb, CEO for the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, said recent developments within the Western Interconnection have put “substantial financial pressure” on Peak Reliability, the region’s delegated reliability coordinator (RC).

Within the past few months, Peak has announced it would team up with PJM Connext to attract participants to a new Western energy market. (See Peak, PJM Pitch ‘Marketplace for the West’.)

CAISO has responded by saying it will leave Peak and provide its own RC function. (See ‘Horse is out of the Barn’ for CAISO RC Effort.) Mountain West Transmission Group has gotten deeper into negotiations to join SPP, which would result in the RTO becoming its RC. (See SPP, Mountain West Resolving ‘Contentious’ Issues.)

“Obviously, significant changes are going on that create a lot of uncertainty about how the ultimate reliability landscape will play out,” Robb said. He thanked FERC staff for working with WECC staff “as we move to a multiple RC model.”

NERC, WECC, British Columbia Agree to MOU

The board unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding between the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC), WECC and NERC.

Modeled on recent MOUs with other Canadian jurisdictions, the agreement recognizes the parties’ roles under existing laws and authorities, maintains the status quo on funding arrangements, and provides for sharing of confidential and compliance-related information. WECC will periodically provide information on the Canadian province’s noncompliance for NERC’s review.

WECC General Counsel Steve Goodwill said a fully executed MOU should be in place in March, pending board approval from NERC and WECC.

NERC began formal correspondence with British Columbian authorities in 2006, while WECC has provided compliance monitoring for BCUC since 2009 through an administration agreement.

Goodwill said WECC is also negotiating similar terms with Mexico that recognize the changes in that country’s regulatory structure.

“Like the MOU with British Columbia, it will openly recognize for the first time the ability to share critical information on compliance enforcement in Mexico with NERC,” Goodwill said. “This is an all-around good story. The ability to share data among ourselves is critical.”

MRC Elects, Re-elects 4 Trustees to Board

The MRC approved two new members and re-elected two incumbents to the board. Suzanne Keenan was elected to a two-year term expiring in 2020 and Rob Manning to a three-year term expiring in 2021, while George Hawkins and Jan Schori were re-elected to three-year terms also expiring in 2021.

• Keenan served as CIO and senior vice president of process improvement for Wawa from 2008 to 2017. Her industry experience includes field services, re-engineering and performance, regulatory performance, and emergency preparedness experience with PECO Energy.
• Hawkins, CEO of the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority, was first elected to the board in 2015. He serves on the Standards Oversight & Technology and Corporate Governance & Human Resources committees.
• Manning was involved in transmission and distribution infrastructure research for the Electric Power Research Institute but will give up those duties with his election. He also spent six years with the Tennessee Valley Authority.
• Schori, former CEO of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District for more than 14 years, was elected to the board in February 2009. She chairs the Finance and Audit Committee and serves on the Compliance and Enterprise-wide Risk committees.

— Tom Kleckner