Expect more analysis – more scenarios, more detail – as state compliance plans become better known.
Thomas Burgess is vice president and director of reliability assessment and performance analysis for NERC, the North American Electric Reliability Corp.
As the electric reliability organization for the North American bulk power system, NERC must assure the reliability of the bulk power system in North America. To carry out that mission, NERC (the North American Electric Reliability Corporation) informs stakeholders, policy makers and regulators of potential impacts to reliability through independent assessments. These assessments, conducted periodically, identify potential challenges and emerging issues to the reliability of the grid. For example, NERC annually completes seasonal reliability assessments and long-term reliability assessments, as well as special reliability assessments on an as-needed basis.
Going forward, however, these assessments by necessity must focus increasingly on the impact of Clean Power Plan (CPP) proposed last June by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Given the magnitude of the proposed CPP, it is critical to navigate uncertainty and provide insights that will be needed to maintain bulk power system reliability during the highly complex implementation period.