RD14-12, Delegated Ltr. Order

­FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20426

OFFICE OF ELECTRIC RELIABILITY

North American Electric Reliability Corporation

Docket No. RD14-12-000

November 6, 2014

North American Electric Reliability Corporation

1325 G Street N.W., Suite 600

Washington, D.C. 20005

Attention: Stacey Tyrewala, Senior Counsel

North American Electric Reliability Corporation

Reference: Petition for Approval of Proposed Reliability Standards FAC-001-2 (Facility Interconnection Requirements) and FAC-002-2 (Facility Interconnection Studies)

Dear Ms. Tyrewala:

On August 22, 2014, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) filed a petition (Petition) seeking approval of proposed Reliability Standards FAC-001-2 (Facility Interconnection Requirements) and FAC-002-2 (Facility Interconnection Studies), the associated implementation plan, violation risk factors and violation security levels, and the retirement of currently-effective Reliability Standards FAC-001-1 and FAC-002-1.

In its Petition, NERC states that the proposed Reliability Standards are intended to improve Bulk-Power System reliability by ensuring that there is appropriate coordination regarding the interconnection of facilities.¹ NERC explains that the standard drafting team’s revisions to the currently-effective Reliability Standards FAC-001-1 and FAC-002-1 eliminate redundancies and clarify the actions required in the standards.² NERC further states that proposed Reliability Standard FAC-001-2 sets forth the requirements related to transmission owners and applicable generation owners³ for making facility interconnection requirements available so that entities seeking to interconnect have the necessary information, and proposed Reliability Standard FAC-002-2 ensures that the reliability impact of interconnecting new or materially modified facilities is studied.⁴

Proposed Reliability Standard FAC-001-2 requires each transmission owner and applicable generator owner to document facility interconnection requirements, and to make them available upon request to entities seeking to interconnect. In addition, proposed Reliability Standard FAC-001-2 requires each transmission owner and applicable generator owner to include procedures for coordinating studies to determine the impact of interconnecting facilities on existing interconnections as well as on affected systems.

Proposed Reliability Standard FAC-002-2 requires each transmission planner and each planning coordinator to study the reliability impact of interconnecting new--or materially modifying existing-- generation, transmission, or electricity end-user facilities on affected systems. In particular, proposed Reliability Standard FAC-002-2 requires transmission planners and planning coordinators to perform steady-state, short-circuit, and dynamic studies to evaluate system performance under both normal and contingency conditions. In addition, proposed Reliability Standard FAC-002-2 requires each generator owner seeking to interconnect, each transmission owner, each distribution provider, and each load-serving entity that is seeking to interconnect new--or materially modifying existing--transmission facilities or end-user facilities to coordinate and cooperate on studies with its transmission planner and planning coordinator.

NERC’s filing was noticed on August 26, 2014, with interventions, comments, and protests due on or before September 25, 2014. No interventions, comments or protests were filed.

NERC’s uncontested filing is hereby approved pursuant to the relevant authority delegated to the Director, Office of Electric Reliability under 18 C.F.R. § 375.303 (2014), effective as of the date of this Order.

This action shall not be construed as approving any other application, including proposed revisions of Electric Reliability Organization or Regional Entity rules or procedures pursuant to 18 C.F.R. § 375.303(a)(2)(i). Such action shall not be deemed as recognition of any claimed right or obligation associated therewith and such action is without prejudice to any findings or orders that have been or may hereafter be made by the Commission in any proceeding now pending or hereafter instituted by or against the Electric Reliability Organization or any Regional Entity.

This order constitutes final agency action. Requests for rehearing by the Commission may be filed within 30 days of the date of issuance of this order, pursuant to 18 C.F.R. § 385.713 (2014).

Sincerely,

Michael Bardee, Director

Office of Electric Reliability

1 NERC Petition at 3.

2 Id. at 4.

3 An “applicable generation owner” is a generation owner “with a fully executed Agreement to conduct a study on the reliability impact of interconnecting a third party Facility to the Generator Owner’s existing Facility that is used to interconnect to the Transmission System.” Section 4.1.2.1 of Reliability Standard FAC-001-2 and section 4.1.6.1 of Reliability Standard FAC-002-2.

4 NERC Petition at 3.