Progress on preventing blackouts
Mandatory rules governing the reliability of the US power grid go into effect Monday.
from the June 18, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
That's not how NERC sees it. Its new standards are already making a difference, with fewer power lines failing, says NERC president Rick Sergel. "A region can set standards for itself that are tougher than NERC standards," he says. "The implication that standards are being watered down ... is not true. We've had suggestions that a standard be made tougher. But that may not always make sense nationwide in less populated regions."
Some industry experts worry that NERC may be being asked to do too much – and that the way it is set up may hinder its efficacy. NERC has two bosses: the very companies it regulates, and FERC. That's not a recipe for tougher standards, suggests Jay Apt of the Electricity Industry Center at Carnegie Mellon University, who has studied grid reliability. "It's too early to tell, but it's an interesting experiment to have a regulating organization that is entirely funded by and governed by those that it regulates," he says.
Blackouts and the quest for a more reliable grid
Nov. 9, 1965: Thirty million people lose power in the Northeast and in southeastern Ontario, Canada.
July 13-14, 1977: A blackout in New York City later leads to the first federal law about electricity reliability. It allows the government to propose voluntary standards, an authority never exercised.
1996: Two major blackouts in the West prompt some members of a regional reliability council to volunteer to pay fines if they violate certain reliability standards.
Aug. 14, 2003: Fifty million people lose power in the Northeast and Midwest, and in Ontario – the worst blackout ever in North America.
Aug. 8, 2005: Congress passes the Energy Policy Act, which authorizes creation of an "electric reliability organization" for North America and requires that utility compliance with reliability standards be mandatory.
June 18, 2007: Standards set by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) become mandatory and enforceable in the US.
Source: NERC
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