NERC highlights efforts of Electric Reliability Organization Enterprise in annual report

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) recently published its 2019 Annual Report, which highlights the efforts of NERC and the Regional Entities to assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the bulk power system.

“Electricity is essential to the quality of our 21st century lifestyle and is delivered by a complex fabric of industry participants, government partners, and nongovernmental organizations,” NERC President and CEO Jim Robb said. “My objective is to ensure that the ERO Enterprise plays its part in strengthening that fabric for the benefit of all North Americans.”

The report notes that, in 2019, NERC created the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) Enterprise Executive Committee, which is made up of NERC’s senior leadership team and the CEOs of the six Regional Entities. The committee developed an updated ERO Enterprise Long-Term Strategy.

It also highlights efforts to increase efficiency and effectiveness at NERC, including transitioning from eight to six Regions.

Additionally, the report notes, NERC substantially increased its budget for the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC), hired several new analysts to implement the E-ISAC five-year strategic plan, and made several other improvements to the E-ISAC.

NERC also produced several assessments in 2019 detailing emerging risks, including its annual State of Reliability, Long-Term Reliability Assessment and seasonal assessments, a Reliability Issues Steering Committee (RISC) Report, and a joint report by NERC and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on a cold weather event in the South Central United States.