posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 3:55 PM by Andrea Kells

FERC Approves Violation Risk Factors for NERC Reliability Standards

With only days to spare before Reliability Standards go into effect on June 1, FERC has approved Violation Risk Factors associated with those standards.  The Violation Risk Factors rank violations by the relative risk each poses to the high-voltage transmission grid.  These rankings will factor into setting penalties for violations of the Reliability Standards.  The accepted Violation Risk Factors will, like the Reliability Standards they enforce, go into effect June 1. 

FERC approved over 700 Violation Risk Factors that the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) had proposed.   Each relates to the 83 Reliability Standards that FERC approved in its Order No. 693 earlier this year.  Violation Risk Factors associated with proposed but not yet approved Reliability Standards will be addressed when FERC acts on those Reliability Standards themselves.  NERC categorizes Violation Risk Factors as high, medium, and low.  High risk violations could cause or contribute to bulk-power system instability, separation, or cascading failures.  Medium risk violations can affect the electrical state or the capability of the bulk-power system, or the ability to monitor and control bulk-power flows.  Low risk violations are more administrative in nature.

To help transmission grid customers navigate this thicket of Standards and Risk Factors, FERC has directed NERC to prepare a matrix that explains the relationship between each Reliability Standard, its component Requiremenst, and associated Violation Risk Factor and penalties.