Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725E); Comment Request; Revision

AGENCY:

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

ACTION:

Notice of revised information collection and request for comments.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on revisions to the information collection, FERC-725E (Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Western Electric Coordinating Council), in Docket Nos. RD16-10-000, RD17-5-000 and IC17-6-000 and submitting the information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. Any interested person may file comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments to the Commission as explained below. The Commission published Notices in the Federal Register on April 6, 2017, in Docket No. RD16-10-000; and May 9, 2017, in Docket Nos. RD17-5-000 and IC17-6-000, requesting public comments. FERC received no comments in response to the Notices and is indicating that in its submittal to the OMB.

DATES:

Comments on the collection of information are due September 20, 2017.

ADDRESSES:

Comments filed with OMB, identified by OMB Control No. 1902-0246, should be sent via email to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: oira_submission@omb.gov. Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. The Desk Officer may also be reached via telephone at 202-395-0710.

A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Commission, in Docket Nos. RD17-5, RD16-10 and IC17-6, by either of the following methods:

• eFiling at Commission's Web site: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp.
• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426.

Instructions: All submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide.asp. For user assistance contact FERC Online Support by email at ferconlinesupport@ferc.gov, or by phone at: (866) 208-3676 (toll-free), or (202) 502-8659 for TTY.

Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of activity in Docket Nos. RD17-5, RD16-10, and IC17-6 or in viewing/downloading comments and issuances in these dockets may do so at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ellen Brown may be reached by email at DataClearance@FERC.gov, telephone at (202) 502-8663, and fax at (202) 273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: FERC-725E, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Western Electric Coordinating Council.

OMB Control No.: 1902-0246.

Type of Request: Revisions to the FERC-725E information collection requirements, as discussed in Docket Nos. RD16-10, RD17-5 and IC17-6.

Abstract: Docket No. RD16-10-000: On March 23, 2016 (and supplemented on November 16, 2016), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) filed a joint petition to retire regional Reliability Standard TOP-007-WECC-1a—System Operating Limits (“SOL”). The purpose of the proposed retirement is to shift away from the path-centric model and allow entities in the Western Interconnection to align their operating practices with the framework established in the continent-wide TOP/IRO Reliability Standards approved in Order No. 817, which, according to NERC and WECC, achieve the objective of operating within acceptable pre- and post-contingency reliability criteria (i.e., within SOLs and Interconnection Reliability Operating Limits (“IROL”). On March 10, 2017, the Commission approved the retirement of regional Reliability Standard TOP-007-WECC-1a.

Docket Nos. RD17-5 and IC17-6: On March 10, 2017, NERC and WECC filed a joint petition in Docket No. RD17-5-000 requesting Commission approval of: (a) Regional Reliability Standard VAR-501-WECC-3 (Power System Stabilizers), and (b) the retirement of then-existing regional Reliability Standard VAR-501-WECC-2. The petition states: “Regional Reliability Standard VAR-501-WECC-3 establishes the performance criteria for power system stabilizers to help ensure the Western Interconnection is operated in a coordinated manner under normal and abnormal conditions.” VAR-501-WECC-3 was approved by order in Docket No. RD17-5-000 on April 28, 2017.

FERC-725E, overall background: The information collected by the FERC-725E is required to implement the statutory provisions of section 215 of the Federal Power Act (FPA) (16 U.S.C. 824o). Section 215 of the FPA buttresses the Commission's efforts to strengthen the reliability of the interstate grid through the grant of new authority by providing for a system of mandatory Reliability Standards developed by the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO). Reliability Standards that the ERO proposes to the Commission may include Reliability Standards that are proposed to the ERO by a Regional Entity. A Regional Entity is an entity that has been approved by the Commission to enforce Reliability Standards under delegated authority from the ERO. On June 8, 2008, the Commission approved eight regional Reliability Standards submitted by the ERO that were proposed by WECC.

WECC promotes bulk electric system reliability in the Western Interconnection. WECC is the Regional Entity responsible for compliance monitoring and enforcement. In addition, WECC provides an environment for the development of Reliability Standards and the coordination of the operating and planning activities of its members as set forth in the WECC Bylaws.

There are several regional Reliability Standards in the WECC region. These regional Reliability Standards generally require entities to document compliance with substantive requirements, retain documentation, and submit reports to WECC. The following standards will be continuing without change.

• BAL-002-WECC-2a (Contingency Reserve) requires balancing authorities and reserve sharing groups to document compliance with the contingency reserve requirements described in the standard.

• BAL-004-WECC-02 (Automatic Time Error Correction) requires balancing authorities to document that time error corrections and primary inadvertent interchange payback were conducted according to the requirements in the standard.
• FAC-501-WECC-1 (Transmission Maintenance) requires transmission owners with certain transmission paths to have a transmission maintenance and inspection plan and to document maintenance and inspection activities according to the plan.
• IRO-006-WECC-2 (Qualified Transfer Path Unscheduled Flow (USF) Relief) requires balancing authorities and reliability coordinators to document actions taken to mitigate unscheduled flow.

• PRC-004-WECC-2 (Protection System and Remedial Action Scheme Misoperation) requires transmission owners, generator owners and transmission operators to document their analysis and/or mitigation due to certain misoperations on major transfer paths. This standard requires that documentation be kept for six years.

• VAR-002-WECC-2 (Automatic Voltage Regulators (AVR)) requires generator operators and transmission operators to provide quarterly reports to the compliance monitor and have evidence related to their synchronous generators, synchronous condensers, and automatic voltage regulators.

The Commission will be submitting a request to OMB to extend those requirements with no change for three years. The Commission's request to OMB will also reflect the following:

• eliminating the burden associated with regional Reliability Standard TOP-007-WECC-1a, which is being retired (addressed in Docket No. RD16-10); and

• implementing the regional Reliability Standard VAR-501-WECC-3 and retiring regional Reliability Standard VAR-501-WECC-2 (addressed in Docket No. RD17-5 and discussed below).

In this document, we provide estimates of the burden and cost related to those revisions to FERC-725E. Details follow on the changes due to Docket Nos. RD16-10, RD17-5-000, and IC17-6 and on the continuing burdens which are being submitted to OMB for approval in a consolidated package under FERC-725E.

Type of Respondents: Balancing authorities, reserve sharing groups, transmission owners, reliability coordinators, transmission operators, generator operators and generator owners.

Estimate of Annual Burden: We provide three tables below with burden estimates which show: (1) Reductions due to Docket No. RD16-10, (2) reductions, increases, and net changes, due to Docket No. RD17-5, and (3) resulting net ongoing burden for FERC-725E overall, which will be submitted to OMB for approval.

Changes Due to Docket No. RD16-10. The Commission estimates the reduction in the annual public reporting burden for the FERC-725E (due to the retirement of regional Reliability Standard TOP-007-WECC-1a) as follows:

Estimate of Annual Burden: Details follow on the changes in Docket No. RD17-5-000, and on the continuing burdens, which will be submitted to OMB for approval in a consolidated package under FERC-725E.

Net Burden for FERC-725E, for Submittal to OMB. The table below describes the new and continuing information collection requirements and the associated burden for FERC-725E. (The burdens and costs related to TOP-007-WECC-1a and VAR-501-WECC-2 [the standards being retired] are omitted.)

Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden and cost of the collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.