NERC has posted its draft 2021-2023 Reliability Standards Development Plan (RSDP) for an informal comment period ending Sept. 9. The organization will consider stakeholders’ comments when drafting the final version of the RSDP to be presented at next month’s Standards Committee meeting.

The RSDP must be presented every year to FERC, along with Canadian and Mexican government authorities, following approval by NERC’s Board of Trustees in November. Each plan includes schedules and anticipated resource needs for each project under development or expected to begin, as well as a progress report on achievement of goals set in the previous year’s RSDP.

The draft RSDP shows there were four outstanding FERC directives being resolved through the standards process as of June 30. All projects from the previous RSDP are either complete or expected to be completed this year, except for the following projects that will continue into 2021:

• Project 2016-02: Modifications to Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards (virtualization);
• Project 2017-01: Modifications to BAL-003-1.1 (phase 2);
• Project 2019-04: Modifications to PRC-005-6;
• Project 2019-06: Improve reliability of the bulk electric system during cold weather;
• Project 2020-01: Modifications to MOD-032-1;
• Project 2020-02: Transmission-connected dynamic reactive resources;
• Project 2020-03: Supply chain low impact revisions; and
• Project 2020-04: Modifications to CIP-012.

Projects slated for completion this year include Project 2015-09 (Establish and communicate system operating limits), which according to NERC’s Project Tracking Spreadsheet is the oldest standard drafting project still in progress. One reason the project schedule has slipped several times is the decision to expand its remit beyond the original mandate, leading to both an increased workload for the standard development team and concern from industry about overreach. (See April Ballot Planned for SOL Standards.)

Project 2019-02 (BES Cyber System Information Access Management) and Project 2019-03 (Cyber Security Supply Chain Risks) are projected to finish this year as well. Both projects, along with Project 2015-09, are planned for presentation at the November board meeting.

Phase 2 of NERC’s Standards Efficiency Review project, focusing on reviewing CIP standards and data retention efforts, is also expected to continue into 2021. (See SER Phase 2 Targets Data Retention, Consolidation.) The effort began in 2017 to identify reliability standards that “may no longer be necessary to support reliability” in the BPS and has resulted in the complete retirement of 10 standards, along with the elimination of a number of requirements for other standards. (See “Standards Efficiency Review Retirements OK’d,” NERC Standards News Briefs: May 8-9, 2019.)

No standards are currently scheduled for periodic review in 2020, though emerging risks or action by FERC may result in new projects this year. In addition, the standards grading process — currently suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic — is expected to resume in 2021.