In their monthly open meeting April 15, members of NERC’s Standards Committee voted to disband a group formed three years ago to upgrade the ERO’s functionally defunct standards grading process.

In 2016 the SC created a team comprising the chairs of the SC, Operating Committee and Planning Committee (the latter two being predecessors to the Reliability and Security Technical Committee), along with representatives from the regional entities and NERC staff, to grade selected standards annually, in response to a directive by the ERO’s Board of Trustees to research whether revised standards resulted in improvements. But the process was performed sporadically at best and has not been conducted at all since 2022.

The SC and the Compliance and Certification Committee formed the Standards Grading Task Force in 2023 to develop improvements to the process, but they “struggled to find a recommendation on the path” forward, SC Chair Todd Bennett, of Associated Electric Cooperative Inc., told members.

Bennett cited several factors for the lack of results, including “competing priorities in the industry,” resource constraints and the perception among stakeholders that because the grading process does not produce standard authorization requests leading to new standards projects, there is “no net benefit” to participating.

Another reason for rethinking the standards grading task force is the upcoming changes to the standards development process, driven by the recommendations of the Modernization of Standards Processes and Procedures Task Force adopted by the board in February. Bennett said the MSPPTF’s proposals — which would see the SC disbanded by the end of 2027 and the standards process revamped to work more efficiently with the benefit of artificial intelligence — led NERC to conclude that the standards grading task force, and the grading initiative overall, were no longer needed.

“I don’t think that we’ve lost anything other than a mandated plan to do this annual review of a subset of standards … that [has] yet to display any real benefits,” Bennett said. “The capability [to improve existing standards] is still there, if a [potential] correction is identified by NERC, one of the subcommittees or an industry group.”

The proposal passed with no votes against it and a single abstention by Kimberly Janas, of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

Standards Actions

Members next voted to approve the addition of six supplemental candidates to the standard drafting team for Project 2023-09 (Risk management for third-party cloud services).

NERC selected the candidates from nominees submitted by industry in a solicitation approved by the SC at its February meeting after four of the SDT’s original 13 members left the project. (See Members Seek Clarity on NERC Standard Committee’s Future.)

The expansion will leave the project with 15 team members, including the chair and vice chair. NERC Manager of Standards Development Jordan Mallory explained that ERO staff felt the project needed a full complement because of “the very heavy lift this team has to do.” Also, despite the absence of a deadline imposed by FERC or NERC’s board, Mallory said the cybersecurity issues addressed by the project mean the team will “need to move relatively quickly” to finish the standards. The proposal passed unanimously.

The committee then voted to authorize posting the proposed standard PRC-029-2 (Frequency and voltage ride-through requirements for inverter-based resources) (found on page 16 of the agenda), the product of Project 2025-05 (Ride-through revisions) for a formal comment and ballot period.

In Order 909, issued last August, FERC directed NERC to modify its standards to account for IBRs equipped with choppers: equipment that protects offshore wind projects during grid faults. FERC ordered NERC to submit the updated standards by August 2026. (See FERC Approves IBR Ride-through Standards.)

Because of the approaching deadline, Manager of Standards Development Alison Oswald explained to the committee, NERC felt it necessary to shorten the normal 45-calendar-day comment period to 30 days. The committee therefore approved a waiver allowing this reduction, along with shortening any additional comment and ballot periods to as few as 20 calendar days and the final ballot period from 10 calendar days to as few as five.