By Rich Heidorn Jr.

FERC on Wednesday approved revised NERC reliability standards on Balancing Authority Control (BAL-005-1) and Facility Interconnection Requirements (FAC-001-3) (RM16-13) and Remedial Action Schemes (PRC-012-2) (RM16-20).

The first order clarifies and consolidates existing frequency control requirements and will result in “more accurate and comprehensive” calculations of reporting area control error (ACE), FERC said. It will require balancing authorities (BAs) to maintain a minimum annual availability of 99.5% for calculating ACE. A BA unable to calculate ACE for more than 30 consecutive minutes must notify its reliability coordinator within 45 minutes of the failure.

The second order ensures that remedial action schemes (RAS) do not introduce “unintentional or unacceptable” reliability risks. An RAS is a plan to respond to predetermined system conditions with corrective actions such as adjusting or tripping generation, tripping load or reconfiguring a system to maintain voltages or power flows and avoid cascading system failures.

The new rule requires reliability coordinators to complete reviews of new or modified remedial action schemes before they are placed into service. It also requires planning coordinators to evaluate each scheme within its planning area at least once every five years and mandates an area-wide database of RAS that must be updated annually.

Emergency Preparedness NOPR

The commission also issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) that would revise emergency preparedness and operations reliability standards on Event Reporting (EOP-004-4), System Restoration from Blackstart Resources (EOP-005-3), System Restoration Coordination (EOP-006-3) and Loss of Control Center Functionality (EOP-008-2).

The NOPR (RM17-12) is intended to ensure accurate reporting of events to the NERC event analysis group; delineate the roles and responsibilities of entities involved in system restoration processes; and identify the elements required in plans for continuing operations when primary control functionality is lost.

NERC said the revised standards will streamline the current rules and make them more results-based while also addressing concerns the commission expressed in Order 749 regarding system restoration training.

Comments on the NOPR are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.