FERC Proposes To Approve Regional Underfrequency Load Shedding Reliability Standard

In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued on September 20, 2012, FERC proposed to approve the Northeast Power Coordinating Council's (NPCC's) Regional Reliability Standard on Underfrequency Load Shedding (UFLS). The proposed PRC-006-NPCC-1 Regional Reliability Standard (Regional Standard) would address declining system frequency events in coordination with the existing continentwide PRC-006-1 UFLS Standard.

The Regional Standard contains 23 requirements, including a threshold for setting underfrequency trip protection for generators in the NPCC Region. The Regional Standard follows the existing NPCC Directory #12 Underfrequency Load Shedding Program Requirements, which have governed NPCC's automatic UFLS programs since 2009. The Regional Standard is intended to accommodate the differences in transmission and distribution topology between NPCC Planning Coordinators caused by their historical design criteria, their load demands, and their generation resources. FERC concluded that the Regional Standard is stricter than the continentwide standard because it provides more specific requirements, such as a requirement for nonnuclear owners to have compensatory load shedding to compensate for the loss of their...