By Shaun Rohret, Senior Reliability Specialist, NERC Services
The following standards are currently subject to recent and future enforcement on NERC’s site:
EOP 11-4 Emergency Operations and EOP 12-2 Extreme Cold Weather Preparedness
Applicable Entities · Balancing Authority · Generator Operator · Generator Owner · Reliability Coordinator ·Transmission Operator · Transmission Owner · Distribution Provider
Effective on October 1, 2024, the purpose of this project is to develop Reliability Standards to enhance the reliability of the Bulk Electric System (BES) through improved operations, preparedness, and coordination during extreme cold weather, as recommended by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), NERC, and Regional Entity Joint Staff Inquiry into the February 2021 extreme cold weather event
IRO‐010‐5 – Reliability Coordinator Data Specification and Collection and TOP‐003‐6.1 – Transmission Operator and Balancing Authority Data and Information Specification and Collection
Applicable Entities · Balancing Authority · Distribution Provider · Generator Operator · Generator Owner · Reliability Coordinator · Transmission Operator · Transmission Owner · Transmission Planner
Effective on July 1, 2025, the primary purpose of this project is to simplify administrative burdens and mitigate potential zero defects expectations associated with the current IR0‐010‐4 and TOP‐003‐5 standards, while ensuring that Registered Entities with operational responsibilities continue to request and receive the data necessary to support Operational Planning Analysis, Real‐time Assessments, Real‐time monitoring, and Balancing Authority analysis functions.
TOP 002-5-Operations Planning
Applicable Entities · Balancing Authority · Transmission Operator
Effective on October 1, 2025 the purpose of this project is to develop Reliability Standards to enhance the reliability of the Bulk Electric System (BES) through improved operations, preparedness, and coordination during extreme cold weather, as recommended by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), NERC, and Regional Entity Joint Staff Inquiry into the February 2021 extreme cold weather event
CIP 003-9 Security Management Controls
Applicable Entities · Balancing Authority · Distribution Provider · Generator Operator · Generator Owner · Reliability Coordinator · Transmission Operator · Transmission Owner
Effective on April 1, 2026 this project will address the NERC Board resolution adopted at its February 2020 to initiate a project to modify Reliability Standard CIP-003-8 to include policies for low impact BES Cyber Systems to: (1) detect known or suspected malicious communications for both inbound and outbound communications; (2) determine when active vendor remote access sessions are initiated; and (3) disable active vendor remote access when necessary.
CIP 012-2 Communications Between Control Centers
Applicable Entities • Balancing Authority • Generator Operator • Generator Owner • Reliability Coordinator • Transmission Operator • Transmission Owner
Effective on July 1, 2026 the purpose of this project is to address a directive issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in Order No. 866 to develop modifications to the CIP Reliability Standards to require protections regarding the availability of communication links and data communicated between the bulk electric system Control Centers.