As announced in the Notices of Technical Conference issued in this proceeding on July 9, 2024, and September 24, 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) will convene its annual Commissioner-led Reliability Technical Conference on Wednesday, October 16, 2024. The conference will take place from approximately 10:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Eastern time. The conference will be held in-person at the Commission’s headquarters at 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426 in the Commission Meeting Room. The conference will be available to view online.
The purpose of this conference is to discuss policy issues related to the reliability and security of the Bulk-Power System. Attached to this Supplemental Notice is an agenda for the technical conference, which includes the technical conference program and expected panelists.
While the technical conference is not for the purpose of discussing any specific matters before the Commission, some discussions may involve issues raised in proceedings that are currently pending before the Commission. These proceedings include, but are not limited to:
PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.
Docket Nos.
ER24-2172-000
ER24-2172-001
Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.
Docket Nos.
ER23-2977-000
ER23-2977-001
ER23-2977-002
ER23-2977-003
Southwest Power Pool, Inc.
Docket No.
ER24-2953-000
Southwest Power Pool, Inc.
Docket No.
ER24-1317-000
Complaint of Sierra Club v. Southwest Power Pool, Inc.
Docket No.
EL24-96-000
Southwest Power Pool, Inc.
Docket No.
ER24-2397-000
Southwest Power Pool, Inc.
Docket No.
ER24-1221-000
PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.
Docket Nos.
ER24-2447-000
ER24-2447-001
Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.
Docket No.
ER24-1638-000
PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.
Docket No.
ER24-2995-000
California Independent System Operator Corporation
Docket No.
ER24-2671-000
Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.
Docket No.
ER24-2797-000
Southwest Power Pool, Inc.
Docket No.
ER24-2798-000
Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.
Docket No.
ER24-2871-000
Southwest Power Pool, Inc.
Docket No.
ER24-2825-000
Southwest Power Pool, Inc.
Docket No.
ER24-2184-000
Southwest Power Pool, Inc.
Docket No.
ER24-2185-000
Complaint of Michael Mabee
Docket No.
EL21-99-000
Baltimore Gas & Electric Company and PECO Energy Company
Docket No.
EL24-149-000
The technical conference will be open to the public. Advance registration is not required, and there is no fee for attendance. Information will also be posted on the Calendar of Events on the Commission’s website, www.ferc.gov, prior to the event.
The technical conference will be transcribed and webcast. Transcripts will be available for a fee from Ace Reporting (202-347-3700). A link to the webcast of this event will be available in the Commission Calendar of Events at www.ferc.gov. The Commission provides technical support for the free webcasts. Please call 202-502-8680 or email customer@ferc.gov if you have any questions.
Commission technical conferences are accessible under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations, please send an email to accessibility@ferc.govor call toll free 1-866-208-3372 (voice) or 202-208-8659 (TTY) or send a fax to 202-208-2106 with the required accommodations.
For more information about this conference, please contact Michael Gildea at Michael.Gildea@ferc.gov or (202) 502-8420 or Lodie White at Lodie.White@ferc.gov or (202) 502-8453. For information related to logistics, please contact Sarah McKinley at Sarah.Mckinley@ferc.gov or (202) 502-8368.
Jim Robb, President and Chief Executive Officer, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)
10:25 a.m.
Panel 1: Managing Reliability Risks and Challenges
The transformation of the Bulk-Power System is resulting in significant changes to the nation’s power supply portfolio. These changes include increased penetrations of inverter-based resources, the increased use and importance of natural gas generating units for system balancing, and the participation of distributed energy resources. At the same time, the Bulk-Power System is experiencing increasing instances of extreme weather and is predicted to experience significant growth in electric load. In addition, cyber and physical threats have emerged as a major concern and have been growing rapidly over the past decade, a trend that is expected to continue. This panel will explore the current state of Bulk-Power System reliability and security and how the Commission, NERC, and Industry should prioritize and address the rapidly evolving risks facing the Bulk-Power System.
This panel may include a discussion of the following topics and questions:
What should the Commission’s and NERC’s top reliability priorities be going forward, and what must be done to accomplish them?
What changes are needed to reliability standards to maintain and improve reliability as the resource mix changes? While the Commission has approved reliability standards developed by NERC that pertain to extreme heat and cold weather threats and directed NERC to develop further modifications, what additional changes are needed to protect against other extreme weather threats?
How should the Commission, NERC, states, and industry proceed to make additional progress on the coordination of the gas-electric coordination issue to ensure the availability of gas for electric power generation?
What are the most significant cybersecurity risks facing the Bulk-Power System? What additional actions can the Commission, NERC, and industry take to further protect the grid from new security threats? For example, are new or modified Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards needed to address such risks?
Speakers:
Jim Robb, President and Chief Executive Officer, NERC
Carrie Zalewski, Vice President of Transmission and Electricity Markets, American Clean Power
Todd Ramey, Senior Vice President of Markets and Digital Strategy, Midcontinent Independent System Operator
Doug Brown, Vice President of Compliance, GridSME
Randy Howard, General Manager, The Northern California Power Agency (on behalf of American Public Power Association)
Stephen George, Director of Operational Performance, Training, and Integration, ISO New England
Nelson Peeler, Sr. Vice President of Grid Strategy, Planning and Integration, Duke Energy
11:30 a.m.
Break
11:35 a.m.
Panel 2: Resource Adequacy and Expected Load Growth
The retirement of existing generating resources, the addition of significant volumes of variable energy resources, and rapid anticipated electric load growth present challenges for system operators to maintain resource adequacy. This panel will explore the drivers of expected new demand, such as data centers, and examine whether and how existing resource adequacy mechanisms are prepared to accommodate the potential for significant new demand. The panel will also explore how these challenges are driving transmission system operators and planners to evolve long-standing approaches to maintaining resource adequacy.
This panel may include a discussion of the following topics and questions:
What combination of metrics are most appropriate to capture resource adequacy risk beyond the traditional planning reserve margin? What further actions should the Commission, NERC, states, and others take to promote their use?
Discuss the drivers of anticipated increased load growth. What are the challenges and uncertainties inherent in forecasting the addition of new, large loads, including data centers? How do those challenges differ from traditional challenges in load forecasting?
Will existing resource adequacy mechanisms (e.g., centralized capacity markets) be able to procure appropriate and sufficient resources to meet expected future demand? If not, what changes are needed and how should they be prioritized?
How can the Commission and states work together to identify and proactively mitigate resource adequacy risks?
Speakers:
Mark Lauby, Senior Vice President and Chief Engineer, NERC
Andrew French, Chairperson, Kansas Corporation Commission, member of SPP Resource and Energy Adequacy Leadership (REAL) Team
Aftab Khan, Executive Vice President of Operations, Planning & Security, PJM
Clay Rikard, Vice President of System Planning, Southern Company
Cristy Sanada, Director of California Regulatory Affairs, California ISO
Donna Walker, President & CEO, Hoosier Energy (on behalf of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association)
