Commissioner-Led Reliability Technical Conference

10:00 a.m.

Opening Remarks and Introductions 

10:15 a.m. 

NERC Presentation on the State of Reliability

• Jim​ Robb​, President and Chief Executive Officer​, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)

10:25 a.m.

Panel 1: Managing Reliability Risks and Challenges

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 inverter-based resources, the increased use and importance of natural gas generating units for system balancing, and the participation of distributed energy resources.  At the same time, the Bulk-Power System is experiencing increasing instances of extreme weather and is predicted to experience significant growth in electric load.  In addition, cyber and physical threats have emerged as a major concern and have been growing rapidly over the past decade, a trend that is expected to continue.  This panel will explore the current state of Bulk-Power System reliability and security and how the Commission, NERC, and Industry should prioritize and address the rapidly evolving risks facing the Bulk-Power System. 

This panel may include a discussion of the following topics and questions:  

1. What should the Commission’s and NERC’s top reliability priorities be going forward, and what must be done to accomplish them?
2. What changes are needed to reliability standards to maintain and improve reliability as the resource mix changes?  While the Commission has approved reliability standards developed by NERC that pertain to extreme heat and cold weather threats and directed NERC to develop further modifications, what additional changes are needed to protect against other extreme weather threats?
3. How should the Commission, NERC, states, and industry proceed to make additional progress on the coordination of the gas-electric coordination issue to ensure the availability of gas for electric power generation?
4. What are the most significant cybersecurity risks facing the Bulk-Power System?  What additional actions can the Commission, NERC, and industry take to further protect the grid from new security threats?  For example, are new or modified Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards needed to address such risks? 

Speakers: 

• Jim Robb, President and Chief Executive Officer, NERC | Testimonies/Comments
• Carrie Zalewski, Vice President of Transmission and Electricity Markets, American Clean Power | Testimonies/Comments
• Todd Ramey, Senior Vice President of Markets and Digital Strategy, Midcontinent Independent System Operator | Testimonies/Comments
• Doug Brown, Vice President of Compliance, GridSME | Testimonies/Comments
• Randy Howard, General Manager, The Northern California Power Agency (on behalf of American Public Power Association) | Testimonies/Comments
• Stephen George, Director of Operational Performance, Training, and Integration, ISO New England | Testimonies/Comments
• Nelson Peeler, Sr. Vice President of Grid Strategy, Planning and Integration, Duke Energy

11:30 a.m.

Break

11:35 a.m.

Panel 2:  Resource Adequacy and Expected Load Growth

The retirement of existing generating resources, the addition of significant volumes of variable energy resources, and rapid anticipated electric load growth present challenges for system operators to maintain resource adequacy.  This panel will explore the drivers of expected new demand, such as data centers, and examine whether and how existing resource adequacy mechanisms are prepared to accommodate the potential for significant new demand.  The panel will also explore how these challenges are driving transmission system operators and planners to evolve long-standing approaches to maintaining resource adequacy.

This panel may include a discussion of the following topics and questions:  

1. What combination of metrics are most appropriate to capture resource adequacy risk beyond the traditional planning reserve margin?  What further actions should the Commission, NERC, states, and others take to promote their use?
2. Discuss the drivers of anticipated increased load growth.  What are the challenges and uncertainties inherent in forecasting the addition of new, large loads, including data centers?  How do those challenges differ from traditional challenges in load forecasting?
3. Will existing resource adequacy mechanisms (e.g., centralized capacity markets) be able to procure appropriate and sufficient resources to meet expected future demand?  If not, what changes are needed and how should they be prioritized?
4. How can the Commission and states work together to identify and proactively mitigate resource adequacy risks?

Speakers: 

• Mark Lauby, Senior Vice President and Chief Engineer, NERC | Testimonies/Comments
• Andrew French, Chairperson, Kansas Corporation Commission, member of SPP Resource and Energy Adequacy Leadership (REAL) Team | Testimonies/Comments
• Aftab Khan, Executive Vice President of Operations, Planning & Security, PJM | Testimonies/Comments
• Clay Rikard, Vice President of System Planning, Southern Company | Testimonies/Comments
• Cristy Sanada, Director of California Regulatory Affairs, California ISO | Testimonies/Comments
• Donna Walker, President & CEO, Hoosier Energy (on behalf of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association) | Testimonies/Comments
• Josh Levi, President, Data Center Coalition | Testimonies/Comments

12:40 p.m.

Closing Remarks and Adjournment