Annual NERC report shows improved performance and resiliency across bulk power system

In its recently released annual State of Reliability report, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) found the bulk power system to have performed well in 2015, showing improvements to metrics including reliability and severe weather resiliency.

NERC’s independent review draws on data generated by year-on-year analyses that track frequency and voltage stability, risk assessment, system resiliency and human error.

“While past performance alone cannot exclusively be relied upon to predict the impacts of risks in the future, this report is one tool that enables NERC to identify risks to reliability, set priorities, and determine the effectiveness of mitigation efforts,” NERC President and Chief Executive Officer Gerry Gauley said.

The 2015 report highlights marked reductions to protection system misoperations and human error throughout the system, crediting improved event analysis and communication systems with the increase in performance.

“Our greater understanding of bulk power system reliability and the root causes of protection system misoperations, which showed marked improvement in 2015, is largely due to our enhanced event analyses,” NERC Vice President of Reliability Risk Management James Merlo said. “As NERC and industry continue to improve and monitor risk metrics, we are able to gather more data to better identify risks and develop mitigation practices, thus enhancing reliability.”

NERC’s recommendations for further improvements to reliability in 2016 include increased focus on automatic protection misoperations, resource mix changes, and cyber and physical security.