Reliability Standard EOP-003-2

Standard EOP-003-2— Load Shedding Plans

A.

Introduction
1.

Title:

Load Shedding Plans

2.

Number:

EOP-003-2

3.

Purpose: A Balancing Authority and Transmission Operator operating with insufficient
generation or transmission capacity must have the capability and authority to shed load rather
than risk an uncontrolled failure of the Interconnection.

4.

Applicability:

5.

B.

4.1.

Transmission Operators.

4.2.

Balancing Authorities.

Effective Date:
One year following the first day of the first calendar quarter after
applicable regulatory approvals (or the standard otherwise becomes effective the first day of
the first calendar quarter after NERC Board of Trustees adoption in those jurisdictions where
regulatory approval is not required).

Requirements
R1. After taking all other remedial steps, a Transmission Operator or Balancing Authority
operating with insufficient generation or transmission capacity shall shed customer load rather
than risk an uncontrolled failure of components or cascading outages of the Interconnection.
R2. Each Transmission Operator shall establish plans for automatic load shedding for
undervoltage conditions if the Transmission Operator or its associated Transmission
Planner(s) or Planning Coordinator(s) determine that an under-voltage load shedding scheme
is required.
R3. Each Transmission Operator and Balancing Authority shall coordinate load shedding plans,
excluding automatic under-frequency load shedding plans, among other interconnected
Transmission Operators and Balancing Authorities.
R4. A Transmission Operator shall consider one or more of these factors in designing an automatic
under voltage load shedding scheme: voltage level, rate of voltage decay, or power flow
levels.
R5. A Transmission Operator or Balancing Authority shall implement load shedding, excluding
automatic under-frequency load shedding, in steps established to minimize the risk of further
uncontrolled separation, loss of generation, or system shutdown.
R6. After a Transmission Operator or Balancing Authority Area separates from the
Interconnection, if there is insufficient generating capacity to restore system frequency
following automatic underfrequency load shedding, the Transmission Operator or Balancing
Authority shall shed additional load.
R7. The Transmission Operator shall coordinate automatic undervoltage load shedding throughout
their areas with tripping of shunt capacitors, and other automatic actions that will occur under
abnormal voltage, or power flow conditions
R8. Each Transmission Operator or Balancing Authority shall have plans for operator controlled
manual load shedding to respond to real-time emergencies. The Transmission Operator or
Balancing Authority shall be capable of implementing the load shedding in a timeframe
adequate for responding to the emergency.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on November 4, 2010

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Standard EOP-003-2— Load Shedding Plans
C.

Measures
M1. Each Transmission Operator that has or directs the deployment of undervoltage load shedding
facilities, shall have and provide upon request, its automatic load shedding plans.
(Requirement 2)
M2. Each Transmission Operator and Balancing Authority shall have and provide upon request its
manual load shedding plans that will be used to confirm that it meets Requirement 8. (Part 1)

D.

Compliance
1.

Compliance Monitoring Process
1.1.

Compliance Monitoring Responsibility
Regional Reliability Organizations shall be responsible for compliance monitoring.

1.2.

Compliance Monitoring
One or more of the following methods will be used to assess compliance:
• Self-certification (Conducted annually with submission according to schedule.)
• Spot Check Audits (Conducted anytime with up to 30 days notice given to
prepare.)
• Periodic Audit (Conducted once every three years according to schedule.)
• Triggered Investigations (Notification of an investigation must be made within
60 days of an event or complaint of noncompliance. The entity will have up to
30 days to prepare for the investigation. An entity may request an extension of
the preparation period and the extension will be considered by the Compliance
Monitor on a case-by-case basis.)

1.3.

Additional Reporting Requirement
No additional reporting required.

1.4.

Data Retention
Each Balancing Authority and Transmission Operator shall have its current, in-force
load shedding plans.
If an entity is found non-compliant the entity shall keep information related to the
noncompliance until found compliant or for two years plus the current year, whichever
is longer.
Evidence used as part of a triggered investigation shall be retained by the entity being
investigated for one year from the date that the investigation is closed, as determined
by the Compliance Monitor.
The Compliance Monitor shall keep the last periodic audit report and all requested and
submitted subsequent compliance records.

1.5.

Additional Compliance Information
None

Approved by the Board of Trustees on November 4, 2010

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Standard EOP-003-2— Load Shedding Plans

2.

Violation Severity Levels

R#

Lower VSL

Moderate VSL

High VSL

Severe VSL

R1.

N/A

N/A

N/A

The Transmission Operator or
Balancing Authority failed to
shed customer load.

R2

N/A

N/A

N/A

The Transmission Operator did
not establish plans for automatic
load shedding for undervoltage
conditions as directed by the
requirement.

R3.

The responsible entity did not
coordinate load shedding plans,
as directed by the requirement,
affecting 5% or less of its
required entities.

The responsible entity did not
coordinate load shedding plans,
as directed by the requirement,
affecting more than 5% up to
(and including) 10% of its
required entities.

The responsible entity did not
coordinate load shedding plans,
as directed by the requirement,
affecting more than 10%, up to
(and including) 15% or less, of
its required entities.

The responsible entity did not
coordinate load shedding plans,
as directed by the requirement,
affecting more than 15% of its
required entities.

R4.

N/A

N/A

N/A

The Transmission Operator
failed to consider at least one of
the three elements voltage level,
rate of voltage decay, or power
flow levels) listed in the
requirement.

R5.

N/A

N/A

N/A

The Transmission Operator or
Balancing Authority failed to
implement load shedding in
steps established to minimize the
risk of further uncontrolled
separation, loss of generation, or
system shutdown.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on November 4, 2010

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Standard EOP-003-2— Load Shedding Plans

R#

Lower VSL

Moderate VSL

High VSL

Severe VSL

R6.

N/A

N/A

N/A

The Transmission Operator or
Balancing Authority failed to
shed additional load after it had
separated from the
Interconnection when there was
insufficient generating capacity
to restore system frequency
following automatic
underfrequency load shedding.

R7.

The Transmission Operator did
not coordinate automatic
undervoltage load shedding with
5% or less of the types of
automatic actions described in
the Requirement.

The Transmission Operator did
not coordinate automatic
undervoltage load shedding with
more than 5% up to (and
including) 10% of the types of
automatic actions described in
the Requirement.

The Transmission Operator did
not coordinate automatic
undervoltage load shedding with
more than 10% up to (and
including) 15% of the types of
automatic actions described in
the Requirement.

The Transmission Operator did
not coordinate automatic
undervoltage load shedding with
more than 15% of the types of
automatic actions described in
the Requirement.

R8.

N/A

The responsible entity did not
have plans for operator
controlled manual load
shedding, as directed by the
requirement.

The responsible entity has plans
for manual load shedding but did
not have the capability to
implement the load shedding, as
directed by the requirement.

The responsible entity did not
have plans for operator
controlled manual load
shedding, as directed by the
requirement nor had the
capability to implement the load
shedding, as directed by the
requirement.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on November 4, 2010

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Standard EOP-003-2— Load Shedding Plans

E.

Regional Differences
None identified.

Version History
Version

Date

Action

Change Tracking

0

April 1, 2005

Effective Date

New

0

August 8, 2005

Errata

1

November 1,
2006

Removed “Proposed” from Effective
Date
Adopted by Board of Trustees

2

November 4,
2010

Modified R4, R5, R6 and associated VSLs
for R2, R4, and R7to clarify that the
requirements don’t apply to automatic
underfrequency load shedding. Approved
by the Board of Trustees.

Revised to eliminate
redundancies with PRC006-1

Approved by the Board of Trustees on November 4, 2010

Revised

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