NERC, US DOE to ensure blackout lessons followed, not forgotten

Washington (Platts)--2Jul2004

The North American Electric Reliability Council and the US Dept of Energy are
developing a database to track the implementation of 46 recommendations
contained in a final report released earlier this year by the US-Canada task
force investigating the causes of the August 2003 blackout. The database will
keep tabs on those responsible at NERC, DOE and the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission for making sure the recommendations are carried out, said David
Meyer, senior advisor in DOE's Office of Electric Transmission and
Distribution. One of those recommendations, boosting the "institutional
framework for reliability management," is being tackled by NERC's regional
councils, and they are due to file an initial report with NERC's board of
trustees next month, said Edward Schwerdt, executive director of the Northeast
Power Coordinating Council and head of NERC's task force examining the
regional councils. The database should be available in the coming weeks and it
will be critical in seeing that the final report is followed, Meyer said.

That was a focus of the April 5 final report, which noted that previous
recommendations from other blackout reports were not followed, leading to
blackouts being repeated for much the same reasons--often insufficient
trimming of trees near power lines. Examining NERC's regional councils and
their functions in today's environment, where regional transmission operators
or independent system operators perform many reliability functions and
non-utility generators play a larger role, is viewed by many as a critical
step in addressing the "institutional framework" for reliability. The review
will look at the regions' boundaries in addition to their functions, and it
will include views from all stakeholders because the task force is aware of
concerns that it will be a perfunctory effort to protect the regions'
self-interests. "This won't be a report that says do the same-old same-old. We
want to look at alternative models" to improve reliability and examine what
regional councils should do today and in the future, Schwerdt said.

This story was first published in Platts real-time news and market reporting
service Platts Electricity Alert (http://electricityalert.platts.com ).

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