On December 29, 2014, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ("NERC") submitted Reliability Standard EOP-011-1 to the Commission for approval.  If approved, EOP-011-1 would streamline the requirements for Emergency Operation of the Bulk Electric System, according to NERC.

The Emergency Preparedness and Operations ("EOP") group of Reliability Standards is presently composed of eight individual Standards that govern preparation for emergencies, required actions during emergencies and system restoration, and reporting following disturbances.  In its December 29, 2014 petition, NERC stated that the primary purpose of EOP-011-1 is to address the effects of operating emergencies "by ensuring that each Transmission Operator and Balancing Authority has developed Operating Plans to mitigate operating emergencies, and that those plans are coordinated within a Reliability Coordinator Area."

To accomplish this, EOP-011-1 is composed of six different requirements, and an attachment identified as "Attachment 1."  The six requirements may be briefly summarized as follows:

  1. Proposed Requirement R1 requires Transmission Operators to develop, maintain, and implement Reliability Coordinator-reviewed Operating Plans to mitigate operating Emergencies within their respective Transmission Operator Areas, and specifies minimum requirements for those plans.
  2. Proposed Requirement R2 requires Balancing Authorities to develop, maintain, and implement Reliability Coordinator-reviewed Operating Plans to mitigate Capacity Emergencies and Energy Emergencies within their respective Balancing Authority Areas, and specifies the minimum requirements for those plans.
  3. Proposed Requirement R3 requires Reliability Coordinators to review the Operating Plans submitted by Transmission Operators and Balancing Authorities, and specifies the requirements for such review.
  4. Proposed Requirement R4 requires Transmission Operators and Balancing Authorities to resolve any issues identified by the Reliability Coordinator during its review of plans submitted pursuant to Requirement R3, and resubmit any such plans to the Reliability Coordinator for additional review.
  5. Proposed Requirement R5 requires a Reliability Coordinator that receives an Emergency notification from Transmission Owners or Balancing Authorities within its Reliability Coordinator Area to notify other Transmission Owners and Balancing Authorities, as well as neighboring Reliability Coordinators, of the Emergency, within 30 minutes of receiving the notification.
  6. Requirement R6 requires a Reliability Coordinator that has a Balancing Authority experiencing a potential or actual Energy Emergency within its Reliability Coordinator Area to declare an Energy Emergency Alert, as detailed in Attachment 1.
    Attachment 1 provides the process for, and descriptions of, the three levels used by Reliability Coordinators when communicating the condition of a Balancing Authority that is experiencing an Energy Emergency.

NERC also proposed, among other things, that EOP-011-1 replace currently-effective Reliability Standards EOP-001-2.1b, EOP-002-3.1, and EOP-003-2, and offered justification as to how the approval of EOP-011-1 would consolidate the core requirements of those Standards without adversely impacting the reliability of the Bulk Electric System.  Additionally, NERC contended that EOP-011-1 satisfied seven Commission directives issued in Order No. 693—the landmark 2007 order in which the Commission approved 83 mandatory Reliability Standards and issued a large number of additional directives to NERC.

NERC's petition has been assigned to Docket No. RM15-7-000.  A copy may be found here.

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