
[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 123 (Wednesday, June 26, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38311-38313]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-15185]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


 Reliability Technical Conference Agenda

Reliability Technical          Docket No. AD13-6-000
 Conference.
North American Electric        Docket No. RC11-6-004
 Reliability Corporation.
North American Electric        Docket No. RR13-2-000
 Reliability Corporation.
                               Not consolidated.
 

    As announced in the Notice of Technical Conference issued on May 7, 
2013, the Commission will hold a technical conference on Tuesday, July 
9, 2013 from 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. to discuss policy issues related to 
the reliability of the Bulk-Power System. The agenda for this 
conference is attached. Commission members will participate in this 
conference.
    After the close of the conference, the Commission will accept 
written comments regarding the matters discussed at the technical 
conference. Any person or entity wishing to submit written comments 
regarding the matters discussed at the conference should submit such 
comments in Docket No. AD13-6-000, on or before August 8, 2013.
    Information on this event will be posted on the Calendar of Events 
on the Commission's Web site, www.ferc.gov, prior to the event. The 
conference will be transcribed. Transcripts will be available 
immediately for a fee from Ace Reporting Company (202-347-3700 or 1-
800-336-6646). A free webcast of this event is also available through 
www.ferc.gov. Anyone with Internet access who desires to listen to this 
event can do so by navigating to www.ferc.gov's Calendar of Events and 
locating this event in the Calendar. The event will contain a link to 
the webcast. The Capitol Connection provides technical support for 
webcasts and offers the option of listening to the meeting via phone-
bridge for a fee. If you have any questions, visit 
www.CapitolConnection.org or call 703-993-3100.
    Commission conferences are accessible under section 508 of the 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations, please 
send an email to accessibility@ferc.gov or call toll free 1-866-208-
3372 (voice) or 202-208-1659 (TTY), or send a FAX to 202-208-2106 with 
the required accommodations.
    For more information about this conference, please contact: Sarah 
McKinley, Office of External Affairs, Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-8368, 
sarah.mckinley@ferc.gov.

    Dated: June 19, 2013.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN26JN13.000


Reliability Technical Conference
Commissioner-Led Reliability
Technical Conference
July 9, 2013,
8:45 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
 


8:45 a.m. Commissioners' Opening Remarks
9:00 a.m. Introductions--Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur, Conference Chair

[[Page 38312]]

9:15 a.m. Panel I: State of Reliability and Emerging Issues

    Presentations: Panelists will be asked to address the state of 
reliability, including NERC's May 2013 State of Reliability Report and 
its findings with respect to the adequacy of Bulk-Power System 
reliability. In addition, panelists will be invited to address related 
issues that have affected or are expected to affect the state of 
reliability going forward. Specifically, panelists will be asked to 
address some or all of the following:
    a. What does the 2013 State of Reliability Report show about the 
state of reliability? What metrics are most useful for measuring 
reliability? Has NERC developed new or improved metrics over time? How 
do the results in the 2013 Report compare to the results in the 2012 
Report? How have NERC and the industry implemented recommendations from 
the 2012 Report? What have been the lessons learned in implementing 
last year's recommendations?
    b. What are the most critical issues affecting the state of 
reliability today and what should NERC, the industry, and the 
Commission do to address them? What trends have been identified with 
respect to bulk electric system events that resulted in load loss, 
e.g., protection system misoperations or equipment failures, and how 
can the frequency of such events be reduced? How have NERC's event 
analysis reports, lessons learned, and related documents contributed to 
industry's understanding of common causes and solutions to prevent 
similar events from occurring?
    c. Panelists will be asked to identify emerging issues that will 
impact reliability, including cybersecurity and high impact low 
frequency issues. This topic should not include issues covered by other 
panels of this conference, but should address emerging issues and the 
biggest challenges to addressing those issues. What long-term 
objectives should NERC be pursuing, i.e., over the next five to ten 
years, both internally, with respect to its own processes, and 
externally, with respect to reliability objectives?

Panelists:

    1. Gerry W. Cauley, President and Chief Executive Officer, North 
American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC)
    2. Tom Burgess, Vice President and Director of Reliability 
Assessment and Performance Analysis, NERC
    3. Kevin Burke, Chairman, President and CEO, Consolidated Edison 
Inc., on behalf of Edison Electric Institute (EEI)
    4. Allen Mosher, Vice President, Policy Analysis and Reliability 
Standards, American Public Power Association
    5. The Honorable Todd Snitchler, Chairman, Public Utilities 
Commission of Ohio, on behalf of National Association of Regulatory 
Utility Commissioners
    6. Peter Fraser, Managing Director, Regulatory Policy, Ontario 
Energy Board

11:15 a.m. Break
11:30 a.m. Panel II: Continuing Evolution of NERC Enforcement and 
Compliance Activities

    Presentations: NERC will be invited to provide an update on its 
efforts to streamline its compliance and enforcement processes. 
Panelists will be invited to express their views on NERC's progress in 
these areas as well as recommendations moving forward. Specifically, 
NERC and panelists will be asked to address some or all of the 
following:
    a. What are the trends in compliance and enforcement of Reliability 
Standards Requirements? Which are the Reliability Standards 
Requirements most violated? In what way has implementation of the Find, 
Fix, Track, and Report program enhanced reliability?
    b. What is the status of the NERC Reliability Assurance Initiative 
(RAI) program? What progress has been made in developing criteria for 
evaluating internal controls and risk assessments? How do NERC and the 
Regional Entities plan to implement RAI? How will NERC ensure 
consistency among the regions?

Panelists:

    1. Mark Rossi, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, 
NERC \1\
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    \1\ Gerry Cauley, President and Chief Executive Officer of NERC, 
may also participate in the panel discussions for Panels II, III, 
and IV, but will not present any formal remarks on behalf of NERC.
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    2. Joseph T. Kelliher, Executive Vice President for Federal 
Regulatory Affairs, NextEra Energy, Inc., on behalf of EEI
    3. Barry Lawson, Associate Director, Power Delivery and Reliability 
Government Relations, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
    4. William J. Gallagher, Special Projects Chief, Vermont Public 
Power Supply Authority, on behalf of Transmission Access Policy Study 
Group
    5. Stacy Dochoda, President and CEO, Florida Reliability 
Coordinating Council and 2013 Chair Regional Entity Management Group

12:45 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Panel III: NERC Standards Development Process and Priorities

    Presentations: Panelists will be asked to address NERC's standards 
development process, the status of that process, and various 
initiatives to improve the timeliness, substance, and prioritization of 
issues. Panelists may suggest improvements in both the process and 
overall approach to standards development. NERC and panelists will be 
asked to address some or all of the following:
    a. What is the status of NERC's efforts to improve NERC's standards 
development process, including the quality and timeliness of standards? 
What are the primary deficiencies in the current standards development 
process and how are they being addressed? Are there changes in the 
Commission's processes that the Commission should consider?
    b. Please provide an update on the role of various initiatives to 
improve the standards development process and priorities (e.g., 
Reliability Issues Steering Committee, Standards Oversight Project 
Group, and ``P 81'' efforts). How are they working and is there room 
for further improvement.
    c. What is the status and progress of NERC's Cost Effective 
Analysis Process in introducing cost considerations and effectiveness 
into the development of new and revised standards?
    d. What can the North American Transmission Forum do to inform the 
standards development process? What is the role of the North American 
Transmission Forum in identifying and communicating lessons learned to 
NERC, the Commission, and industry?

Panelists:

    1. Mark Lauby, Vice President and Director of Standards, NERC
    2. Jeffery J. Gust, Vice President, Compliance and Standards, 
MidAmerican Energy Company, on behalf of EEI
    3. John A. Anderson, President & CEO, Electricity Consumers 
Resource Council
    4. Brian Murphy, Chair of NERC Standards Committee; Manager, NERC 
Reliability Standards, NextEra Energy, Inc
    5. Christine Schwab, Chair of NERC Reliability Issues Steering 
Committee; Vice President and Chief Compliance and Risk Officer, 
Dominion Resources Services
    6. Thomas J. Galloway, President and Chief Executive Officer, North 
American Transmission Forum

2:45 p.m. Break
3:00 p.m. Panel IV: Other Issues

    Presentations: Panelists will be asked to address the following 
issues:

[[Page 38313]]

    a. What approaches are being taken by the industry, ISOs, and other 
system planners to address the continued changes in projected resource 
mix resulting from Environmental Protection Agency rules and, among 
other things, recent trends in natural gas prices? How are regulators, 
system planners, and industry participants identifying and responding 
to potential changes in the generation resource mix or in capacity 
reserve levels due to retirement of aging or other non-economically 
viable plants? Which regions are expected to be most affected by 
retirement of coal plants or other changes in resource mix, and how are 
those regions responding? How are regions accommodating outages 
necessitated by generator retrofits?
    b. What is the status of implementation (in the Western Electricity 
Coordinating Council Region and in the other regions) of the 
recommendations made or lessons learned in the September 8, 2011 
Southwest blackout and from the February 2011 cold weather outages? The 
purpose of this panel is not to discuss any ongoing investigation but 
to address what steps are being taken to ensure that the lessons 
learned are being implemented and are not lost over time. Also, what 
have been the primary obstacles in implementing the changes recommended 
in the NERC/FERC blackout reports issued in response to these outages?

Panelists:

    1. David Souder, Director Operations Planning, PJM Interconnection
    2. John Lawhorn, Senior Director, Policy and Economic Study, 
Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.
    3. Jeff Burleson, Vice President, System Planning, Southern Company
    4. Joel Beauvais, Associate Assistant Administrator, Office of Air 
and Radiation, Environmental Protection Agency
    5. Melanie M. Frye, Vice President, Operations and Planning, 
Western Electric Coordinating Council
    6. Michael Moon, Senior Director of Reliability Risk Management, 
NERC

4:30 p.m. Commissioner Closing Remarks

[FR Doc. 2013-15185 Filed 6-25-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


