NERC's Gent responds to US DOE questions on grid readiness

Washington  (Platts)--2Jun2004

The North American Electric Reliability Council outlined in a Wednesday letter
to US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham several steps it is taking to ensure
the nation's transmission grid is prepared for the summer. NERC is conducting
readiness audits for a majority of the transmission system and Abraham last
month sent a letter to NERC President and CEO Michehl Gent expressing concern
about the portion of the grid not covered by the audits. "NERC and the
industry are taking all necessary steps to make sure that system control area
operators and reliability coordinators are fully prepared for the upcoming
summer," Gent said in his response. Gent referred to NERC's summer assessment
of grid conditions, a letter to industry CEOs last fall seeking a review of
reliability practices, letters to all operators asking them to conduct self
assessments and report results to NERC and requiring FirstEnergy and the
Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator to certify that they have
corrected deficiencies cited in the report on the August 2003 blackout.

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