WASHINGTON, D.C. – Cold weather standards, 2024 work plan priorities and the long-term reliability outlook were key topics at the final NERC Board of Trustees’ meeting of the year. Specifically, Board Chair Ken DeFontes described the urgent need to strengthen winterization standards and expressed disappointment that the recent vote on the cold weather preparation standard failed to garner the support of the Registered Ballot Body.
“The Board has stated many times that there is an overwhelming need to have standards that provide strong protections against the reliability impacts of extreme cold weather conditions. As directed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last February, NERC and industry have been working on a set of changes to address weaknesses in the original generator cold weather preparation standard (EOP-012-1),” DeFontes said. “However, the most recent ballot failed to achieve industry approval. As a result, we are now in danger of not meeting FERC’s February 16, 2024, deadline for a revised standard.”
DeFontes noted that NERC staff was submitting a request to the Standards Committee to authorize a further procedural waiver to attempt another ballot immediately following the holidays and urged the Standards Committee to give the request full consideration.
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