Role-of-Reliability-818_279-HK-10152019

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Role of Reliability for the Energy Industry

Reliability is one of the cornerstones of the energy industry. To ensure the most reliable system possible, utilities need to follow Reliability Standards, which are also known as planning and operating rules. Without Reliability Standards, customers would not have access to a reliable electricity supply. In order to evaluate performance, the major electric utilities report industry-standard measures of the frequency and duration of outages annually. Also, without these Standards, utilities will not be able to meet the enormous energy demands that cities and energy providers call for.

To govern reliability performance, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) set up Reliability Standards in order to meet the required level of performance. Earlier this year, the FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. Within that announcement, FERC outlined the proposal to adopt Version 003.2 of the Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities. Version 003.2 was recently adopted by the Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB). Version 3.2 is the latest version and would include version 3.1 as well.

Some of the notable changes outlined in Version 003.1 include updated Redirect Standards, while updates to Version 003.2 include the Preemptive Process Standards. Essentially, FERC has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) that would incorporate, by reference, the bulk of the updated NAESB Business Practice Standards for the WEQ. Significant among these Standards are revisions to the handling of request to redirect transmission service to alternate points of receipt and delivery. In addition, the handling of the preemption of transmission service and exercising the right of first refusal as provided for in the pro forma Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT).

Stay Updated with OATI

OATI remains dedicated to being at the forefront of these changes as we are heavily involved with both the NAESB committees and FERC Technical Conferences. We will continue to provide updates about the status of these updates and work with customers to address anything that comes out of these decisions. To learn more or for in-depth knowledge of these updates, connect with our experts at Sales@oati.net.