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12:15 p.m.
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Panel I: Managing the Electric Grid to Advance Reliability
The transformation of the Bulk-Power System is resulting in significant changes to the nation’s power supply portfolio. These changes include increased penetrations of intermittent and inverter-based resources, the increased use and importance of natural gas generating units for system balancing, and the participation of distributed energy resources. Additionally, the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events due to climate change poses additional risks to reliable operations of the Bulk-Power System. Recent legislation, including the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, include investments to bolster the Bulk-Power System with an emphasis on electric system modernization, transmission, and renewable energy. Meanwhile, states and utilities have also taken action to improve reliability. This panel will explore the current state of grid reliability and efforts that can be undertaken to improve it.
This panel may include a discussion of the following topics and questions:
- What should the Commission’s top reliability priorities be for the next one to three years? What further actions should the Commission take to improve reliability with regard to these priorities? What trends and risks identified in NERC’s 2022 State of Reliability Report warrant the most attention and effort?
- Discuss whether NERC’s current tools to address reliability risks (e.g., whitepapers, alerts, guidelines, workshops, standards) are adequate, timely, and effective in identifying and addressing emerging risks. How can these tools be improved? What other tools could be useful?
- What additional information and data do industry and other stakeholders need to evaluate and address reliability and security risks (e.g., severe weather, correlated outages, cybersecurity threats, etc.)? Who needs these information and data and what steps can be taken to improve access?
- NERC has highlighted essential reliability services (e.g., frequency response, voltage control, and ramping capability) as core to maintaining reliable operations now and in the future. How does the changing resource mix affect the needed amount and provision of these essential reliability services? What action, and by whom, is necessary to ensure adequate levels of these services? How is NERC’s ongoing project regarding energy adequacy related?
- NERC's Reliability Standards create a baseline level of reliability of the Bulk-Power System. Increases in extreme weather events due to climate change are putting new pressures on the Bulk-Power System. While NERC and the Commission have taken some actions in this area, such as the recently issued Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to modify Reliability Standard TPL-001-5.1 to address long-term planning for extreme weather events, what additional changes to the Reliability Standards are needed to address the risk to reliability?
- Both NERC and individual RTOs have warned that the rapid pace of retirements of dispatchable resources may be leading to increased reliability risks in the future. As the resource mix changes, what actions should the Commission, NERC, states, industry, and other stakeholders consider to ensure the continued reliability of the grid?
- How is industry preparing for the changing demands on the Bulk-Power System in light of the changing resource mix and growth of new technologies (e.g., inverter-based resources, distributed energy resources, energy storage, etc.)? How can these, and other supporting, technologies be deployed to improve reliability and resilience? How well do the Reliability Standards account for these newer technologies?
- In recent years, reliance on natural gas as a fuel for electric generation has steadily increased. This trend is expected to continue in the future, leading to greater interdependence between the natural gas and electric sectors. The February 2021 cold weather outages in Texas and the South-Central United States demonstrated the interdependence of, and need for better coordination between, these sectors. What efforts should be undertaken to help ensure the reliable and efficient operation of both the interstate natural gas pipeline and also the electricity systems? Does current reliability planning adequately account for fuel availability of natural gas resources? Are there specific additional improvements to coordination between the sectors needed? How can the NAESB Gas-Electric Forum help in furthering this coordination?
Panelists
- Jim Robb, President and CEO, North American Electric Reliability Corporation | Presentation
- Nelson Peeler, Senior Vice President and Chief Transmission Officer, Duke Energy Corporation | Presentation
- Michelle Bloodworth, President and CEO, America’s Power | Presentation
- Mark Ahlstrom, Vice President of Renewable Energy Policy, NextEra Energy Resources | Presentation
- Tricia Johnstone, Director of Operational Readiness, CAISO | Presentation
- John Haarlow, CEO and General Manager, Public Utility District No. 1 of Snohomish County (on behalf of APPA and LPPC) | Presentation
- Chairman Emile Thompson, Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia (on behalf of NARUC)
- Travis Fisher, President and CEO, Electricity Consumers Resource Council | Presentation
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2:45 p.m.
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Panel II: Managing Cyber Security Threats, the CIP Reliability Standards, and Best Practices for the Bulk-Power System
Cyber security vulnerabilities and threats continue to evolve at a pace that tests utility cyber security programs. These quickly evolving threats present a challenge when assessing whether security controls, including the CIP Reliability Standards, adequately respond to the latest cyber risks. Most utilities with mature cyber security programs implement an overarching cyber security governance program to oversee all aspects of their cyber security activities, including compliance with the CIP Reliability Standards, staffing, technology selection and procurement, and identification of the assets to be protected. A cyber security governance program provides several benefits, including: the ability to assess emerging threats to systems and operations; the establishment of well defined ownership of cyber security processes and procedures; the prioritization of actions to maintain the security and reliability of the Bulk-Power System; managing and bridging cyber systems with different risk levels; and compliance with CIP Reliability Standards, various Federal mandates, as well as State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial requirements. This panel will discuss how cyber security governance encompasses the CIP Reliability Standards and compliance as well as best practices; the challenges of implementing appropriate oversight; and ways in which industry can address these challenges to improve its response to evolving vulnerabilities and threats to reduce the risk to the Bulk-Power System.
This panel may include a discussion of the following topics and questions:
- Discuss the primary security issues facing your organization and describe the prioritization of resources and investment. What approaches are used to develop and advance staff cyber security expertise? What are some lessons learned that could help others to develop and maintain a successful cyber security governance program?
- How are the CIP Reliability Standards, industry best practices, and techniques used to identify and prioritize risk, and, more specifically, how are risks identified for your assets? How are roles and responsibilities assigned for identifying and addressing cyber risks as the threats evolve?
- Describe how your cyber security program responds to evolving threats. When responding, how do you assess the risk posed to your systems by the threats? How does having a mature cyber security governance program, including an accurate asset inventory, assist with responding to an event?
- Describe the benefits and challenges of implementing a cyber security governance program. How does this program interact with actions to comply with the CIP Reliability Standards? How does such a program help to identify and prioritize security concerns, and what actions are taken to address those concerns, including the application of best practices.
- Describe how supply chain security and the use of third-party systems, such as cloud services, are addressed in your risk assessments and implemented in the cyber security governance program. What concerns still exist related to supply chain and third-party systems?
- What additional actions can the Commission, NERC, and industry take to further protect the grid from security threats?
Panelists:
- Jason Blake, President and CEO, SERC | Presentation
- Eric Miller, Executive Director, IT Infrastructure & Real-Time Application Support, MISO | Presentation
- Robert Kolasky, Senior Vice President for Critical Infrastructure, Exiger | Presentation
- Brandon Wales, Executive Director, Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- Brian Barrios, Vice President, Cybersecurity and IT Compliance, Southern California Edison | Presentation
- Danielle Jablanski, OT Cybersecurity Strategist, Nozomi Networks | Presentation
- Fowad Muneer, Acting Deputy Director, Risk Management Tools & Technologies (RMT) Division, Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
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