Version One Regional Reliability Standards for Facilities Design, Connections, and Maintenance; Protection and Control; and Voltage and Reactive

Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Commission proposes to approve four revised regional Reliability Standards developed by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and approved by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which the Commission has certified as the Electric Reliability Organization responsible for developing and enforcing mandatory Reliability Standards. These regional Reliability Standards have been designated by WECC as FAC-501-WECC-1--Transmission Maintenance, PRC-004-WECC-1-- Protection System and Remedial Action Scheme Misoperation, VAR-002- WECC-1--Automatic Voltage Regulators, and VAR-501-WECC-1--Power System Stabilizer. Proposed FAC-501-WECC-1 addresses transmission maintenance for specified transmission paths in the Western Interconnection. Proposed PRC-004-WECC-1 addresses the analysis of misoperations that occur on transmission and generation protection systems and remedial action schemes in the Western Interconnection. Proposed VAR-002-WECC-1 is meant to ensure that automatic voltage regulators remain in service on synchronous generators and condensers in the Western Interconnection. Proposed VAR-501-WECC-1 is meant to ensure that power system stabilizers remain in service on synchronous generators in the Western Interconnection. In addition, under section 215(d)(5) of the Federal Power Act, the Commission proposes to direct the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, working through its standards development process, to develop modifications to these to regional Reliability Standards to address specific issues, as discussed below.