Reliability Standard FAC-001-4

FAC-001-4 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

A. Introduction
1.

Title:

Facility Interconnection Requirements

2.

Number:

FAC-001-4

3.

Purpose:

To avoid adverse impacts on the reliability of the Bulk Electric System,
Transmission Owners and applicable Generator Owners must document
and make Facility interconnection requirements available so that entities
seeking to interconnect will have the necessary information.

4.

Applicability:
4.1. Functional Entities:
4.1.1. Transmission Owner
4.1.2. Applicable Generator Owner
4.1.2.1.

5.

Generator 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.

Effective Date: See Implementation Plan for Project 2020-05.

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FAC-001-4 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

B. Requirements and Measures
R1. Each Transmission Owner shall document Facility interconnection requirements,
update them as needed, and make them available upon request. Each Transmission
Owner’s Facility interconnection requirements shall address interconnection
requirements for: [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time Horizon: Long-term Planning]
1.1. generation Facilities;
1.2. transmission Facilities; and
1.3. end-user Facilities.
M1. Each Transmission Owner shall have evidence (such as dated, documented Facility
interconnection requirements) that it met all requirements in Requirement R1.
R2. Each applicable Generator Owner shall document Facility interconnection
requirements and make them available upon request within 45 calendar days of full
execution of an 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. [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time
Horizon: Long-term Planning]
M2. Each applicable Generator Owner shall have evidence (such as dated, documented
Facility interconnection requirements) that it met all requirements in Requirement R2.
R3. Each Transmission Owner shall address the following items in its Facility
interconnection requirements: [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time Horizon: LongTerm Planning]
3.1. Procedures for coordinated studies for new interconnections or existing
interconnections seeking to make a qualified change as defined by the Planning
Coordinator and their impacts on affected systems.
3.2. Procedures for notifying those responsible for the reliability of affected system(s)
of new interconnections or existing interconnections seeking to make a qualified
change.
3.3. Procedures for confirming with those responsible for the reliability of affected
systems that new Facilities or existing Facilities seeking to make a qualified
change are within a Balancing Authority Area.
M3. Each Transmission Owner shall have evidence (such as dated, documented Facility
interconnection requirements addressing the procedures) that it met all requirements
in Requirement R3.
R4. Each applicable Generator Owner shall address the following items in its Facility
interconnection requirements: [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time Horizon: LongTerm Planning]
4.1. Procedures for coordinated studies of new interconnections and their impacts
on affected system(s).
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FAC-001-4 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

4.2. Procedures for notifying those responsible for the reliability of affected system(s)
of new interconnections.
4.3. Procedures for confirming with those responsible for the reliability of affected
systems that new Facilities or existing Facilities seeking to make a qualified
change as defined by the Planning Coordinator are within a Balancing Authority
Area.
M4. Each applicable Generator Owner shall have evidence (such as dated, documented
Facility interconnection requirements addressing the procedures) that it met all
requirements in Requirement R4.

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FAC-001-4 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

C. Compliance
1.

Compliance Monitoring Process
1.1. Compliance Enforcement Authority: “Compliance Enforcement Authority”
means NERC or the Regional Entity, or any entity as otherwise designated by an
Applicable Governmental Authority, in their respective roles of monitoring
and/or enforcing compliance with mandatory and enforceable Reliability
Standards in their respective jurisdictions.
1.2. Evidence Retention: The following evidence retention period(s) identify the
period of time an entity is required to retain specific evidence to demonstrate
compliance. For instances where the evidence retention period specified below
is shorter than the time since the last audit, the Compliance Enforcement
Authority may ask an entity to provide other evidence to show that it was
compliant for the full-time period since the last audit.
The applicable entity shall keep data or evidence to show compliance as
identified below unless directed by its Compliance Enforcement Authority to
retain specific evidence for a longer period of time as part of an investigation.
•

The responsible entities shall retain documentation as evidence for three
years.

•

If a responsible entity is found non-compliant, it shall keep information
related to the non-compliance until mitigation is complete and approved or
for the time specified above, whichever is longer.

•

The CEA shall keep the last audit records and all requested and submitted
subsequent audit records.

1.3. Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program: As defined in the NERC
Rules of Procedure, “Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program” refers
to the identification of the processes that will be used to evaluate data or
information for the purpose of assessing performance or outcomes with the
associated Reliability Standard.

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FAC-001-4 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

Violation Severity Levels
R#

R1.

Time
Horizon

Violation Severity Levels

VRF

LongLower
term
Planning

Lower VSL
N/A

Moderate VSL

High VSL

The Transmission
Owner documented
Facility
interconnection
requirements and
updated them as
needed, but failed to
make them available
upon request.
OR
The Transmission
Owner documented
Facility
interconnection
requirements and
made them available
upon request, but
failed to update them
as needed.
OR
The Transmission
Owner documented
Facility
interconnection
requirements,

The Transmission
Owner documented
Facility
interconnection
requirements, but
failed to update them
as needed and failed
to make them
available upon
request.
OR
The Transmission
Owner documented
Facility
interconnection
requirements,
updated them as
needed, and made
them available upon
request, but failed to
address
interconnection
requirements for two
of the Facilities as

Severe VSL
The Transmission
Owner did not
document Facility
interconnection
requirements.

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FAC-001-4 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

R#

R2.

Time
Horizon

VRF

LongLower
term
Planning

Violation Severity Levels

Lower VSL

The applicable
Generator Owner
failed to document
Facility
interconnection
requirements and
make them available
upon request until
more than 45 calendar
days but less than or
equal to 60 calendar
days after full
execution of an
Agreement to conduct
a study on the
reliability impact of
interconnecting a third

Moderate VSL

High VSL

updated them as
needed, and made
them available upon
request, but failed to
address
interconnection
requirements for one
of the Facilities as
specified in R1, Parts
1.1, 1.2, or 1.3.

specified in R1, Parts
1.1, 1.2, or 1.3.

The applicable
Generator Owner
failed to document
Facility
interconnection
requirements and
make them available
upon request until
more than 60 calendar
days but less than or
equal to 70 calendar
days after full
execution of an
Agreement to conduct
a study on the
reliability impact of
interconnecting a third

The applicable
Generator Owner
failed to document
Facility
interconnection
requirements and
make them available
upon request until
more than 70 calendar
days but less than or
equal to 80 calendar
days after full
execution of an
Agreement to conduct
a study on the
reliability impact of
interconnecting a third

Severe VSL

The applicable
Generator Owner
failed to document
Facility
interconnection
requirements and
make them available
upon request until
more than 80 calendar
days after full
execution of an
Agreement to conduct
a study on the
reliability impact of
interconnecting a third
party Facility to the
Generator Owner’s

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FAC-001-4 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

R#

Time
Horizon

Violation Severity Levels

VRF

Lower VSL

Moderate VSL

High VSL

Severe VSL

party Facility to the
Generator Owner’s
existing Facility that is
used to interconnect
to the Transmission
system.

party Facility to the
Generator Owner’s
existing Facility that is
used to interconnect
to the Transmission
system.

party Facility to the
Generator Owner’s
existing Facility that is
used to interconnect
to the Transmission
system.

existing Facility that is
used to interconnect
to the Transmission
system.

R3.

LongLower
term
Planning

N/A

The Transmission
Owner failed to
address one part of
Requirement R3 (Part
3.1 through Part 3.3).

The Transmission
Owner failed to
address two parts of
Requirement R3 (Part
3.1 through Part 3.3).

The Transmission
Owner failed to
address three parts of
Requirement R3 (Part
3.1 through Part 3.3).

R4.

LongLower
term
Planning

N/A

The Generator Owner
failed to address one
part of Requirement
R4 (Part 4.1 through
Part 4.3).

The Generator Owner
failed to address two
parts of Requirement
R4 (Part 4.1 through
Part 4.3).

The Generator Owner
failed to address three
parts of Requirement
R4 (Part 4.1 through
Part 4.3).

D. Regional Variances
None.

E. Associated Documents
None.

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FAC-001-4 Supplemental Material

Version History
Version

0

Date

April 1, 2005

1

Action

Effective Date

New

Added requirements for Generator
Owner and brought overall standard
format up to date.

Revision under
Project 2010-07

1

February 9, 2012

Adopted by the Board of Trustees

1

September 19, 2013

A FERC order was issued on September
19, 2013, approving FAC-001-1. This
standard became enforceable on
November 25, 2013 for Transmission
Owners. For Generator Owners, the
standard becomes enforceable on
January 1, 2015.

2

Change
Tracking

Revisions to implement the
recommendations of the FAC Five-Year
Review Team.

2

August 14, 2014

Adopted by the Board of Trustees

2

November 6, 2014

FERC letter order issued approving FAC001-2.

3

February 11, 2016

Adopted by the Board of Trustees

3

September 20, 2017

FERC Order No. 836 issued approving
FAC-001-3

3

February 19, 2021

FERC letter Order issued approving FAC001-3 Errata

4

May 12, 2022

Adopted by the Board of Trustees

4

November 17,2022

FERC Order RD22-5-000 issued
approving FAC-001-4

4

December 2, 2022

Effective Date

Revision under
Project 2010-02

Moved BAL-0050.2b
Requirement R1
into FAC-001-3
Requirements
R3 and R4

Revisions under
Project 2020-05

1/1/2024

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