[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 51 (Friday, March 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14215-14216]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-05309]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC17-7-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725T); Comment 
Request; Extension

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of information collection and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or 
FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved 
information collection, FERC-725T, Mandatory Reliability Standards for 
the Bulk-Power System: TRE Reliability Standards.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due May 16, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. IC17-7-
000) by either of the following methods:
     eFiling at Commission's Web site: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp.
     Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20426.
    Instructions: All submissions must be formatted and filed in 
accordance with submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide.asp. For user assistance contact FERC Online Support 
by email at [email protected], or by phone at: (866) 208-3676 
(toll-free), or (202) 502-8659 for TTY.
    Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of 
activity in this docket or in viewing/downloading comments and 
issuances in this docket may do so at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by email at 
[email protected], telephone at (202) 502-8663, and fax at (202) 
273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: FERC-725T, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-
Power System: TRE \1\ Reliability Standards.
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    \1\ Texas Reliability Entity.
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    OMB Control No.: 1902-0273.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-725T information 
collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting 
requirements.
    Abstract: Reliability Standard BAL-001-TRE-01 applies to entities 
registered as Generator Owners (GOs), Generator Operators (GOPs), and 
Balancing Authorities (BAs) within the Texas Reliability Entity region.
    Regional Reliability Standard BAL-001-TRE-01 is more comprehensive 
than the existing continent-wide Reliability Standards addressing 
frequency response, BAL-001-0.1a and BAL-003-0.1b in that the regional 
standard includes additional requirements and applies to generator 
owners and generator operators as well as balancing authorities. The 
expanded applicability of the regional Reliability Standard, thus, 
increases the reporting burden for entities that operate within the 
ERCOT \2\ Interconnection.
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    \2\ Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
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    The information collection requirements entail the setting or 
configuration of the Control System software, identification and 
recording of events, data retention, and submitting frequency 
measurable events to the compliance enforcement authority (Regional 
Entity or NERC).
    Submitting frequency measurable events. As per Requirement R1, the 
BA has to identify and post information regarding Frequency Measurable 
Events (FME). Further, the BA has to calculate and report to the 
Compliance Enforcement Authority data related to Primary Frequency 
Response (PFR) performance of each generating unit/generating facility.
    Data retention. The BA, GO, and GOP shall keep data or evidence to 
show compliance, as identified below, unless directed by its Compliance 
Enforcement Authority to retain specific evidence for a longer period 
of time as part of an investigation. Compliance audits are generally 
about three years apart.
     The BA shall retain a list of identified Frequency 
Measurable Events and shall retain FME information since its last 
compliance audit for Requirement R1, Measure M1.
     The BA shall retain all monthly PFR performance reports 
since its last compliance audit for Requirement R2, Measure M2.
     The BA shall retain all annual Interconnection minimum 
Frequency Response calculations, and related methodology and criteria 
documents, relating to time periods since its last compliance audit for 
Requirement R3, Measure M3.
     The BA shall retain all data and calculations relating to 
the Interconnection's Frequency Response, and all evidence of actions 
taken to increase the Interconnection's Frequency Response, since its 
last compliance audit for Requirements R4 and R5, Measures M4 and M5.
     Each GOP shall retain evidence since its last compliance 
audit for Requirement R8, Measure M8.
     Each GO shall retain evidence since its last compliance 
audit for Requirements R6, R7, R9 and R10, Measures M6, M7, M9 and M10.
    Modification to Governor Controller Setting/Configuration (to be 
removed from the FERC-725T information collection). This category of 
response burden is being removed from FERC-725T. The ``Modification to 
Governor Controller Setting/Configuration'' category was a one-time 
requirement related to implementation of the BAL-001-TRE-01 Reliability 
Standard. Each GO was required to set its governor settings according 
to Requirement R6. In order to modify its settings, the GO had to 
generate governor test reports, governor setting sheets, and/or 
performance monitoring reports. The burden (912 hours) associated with 
this

[[Page 14216]]

category was averaged over 2014-2016.\3\ The response requirements 
included in
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    \3\ The total annual figure for this response category was 304 
hours.
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this category were complete within 18 months of the effective date of 
the standard \4\ or by 10/1/2015. Due to completion, the corresponding 
304 annual burden hours are now being removed.
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    \4\ The effective date of the standard was 4/1/2014.
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    Type of Respondents: NERC Registered entities (specifically 
balancing authorities, generator owners, generator operators).
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \5\ The Commission estimates the annual 
public reporting burden for the information collection as:
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    \5\ Burden is defined as the total time, effort, or financial 
resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or 
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. For 
further explanation of what is included in the information 
collection burden, reference 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.
    \6\ The estimates for cost per hour are based on 2015 wage 
figures and derived as follows:
     $64.29/hour, the average salary plus benefits per 
engineer (from Bureau of Labor Statistics at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm)
     $37.75/hour, the salary plus benefits per information 
and record clerks (from Bureau of Labor Statistics at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm)
    All calculated wage figures within the burden table are rounded 
to the nearest dollar.
    \7\ BA (balancing authority).
    \8\ BA (balancing authority), GO (generator owner), and GOP 
(generator operator).

                            FERC-725T (Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System: TRE Reliability Standards)
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                                                   Annual number
                                     Number of     of responses    Total number     Average burden and cost    Total annual burden hours     Cost per
                                    respondents   per respondent   of responses        per response \6\          and total annual cost    respondent ($)
                                             (1)             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4).......................  (3) * (4) = (5)...........       (5) / (1)
                                                                             (3)
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Maintenance and Submission of              \7\ 1               1               1  16 hrs.; $1,029...........  16 hrs.; $1,029...........          $1,029
 Event Log Data.
Evidence Retention..............         \8\ 130               1             130  2 hrs.; $76...............  260 hrs.; $9,815..........             $76
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    Total.......................  ..............  ..............             131  ..........................  276 hrs.; $10,844.........  ..............
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    Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Commission, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden and 
cost of the collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are 
to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.

    Dated: March 10, 2017.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-05309 Filed 3-16-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P