[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 95 (Wednesday, May 16, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22661-22663]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-10443]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD18-4-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725G); Comment 
Request; Revision

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of revised 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 comments on revisions to the information 
collection, FERC-725G (Reliability Standards for the Bulk Power System: 
PRC Reliability Standards) in Docket No. RD18-4-000 and will be 
submitting FERC-725G to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review of the information collection requirements.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due July 16, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Docket No. RD18-4-000 
by either of the following methods:
     eFiling at Commission's Website: 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-725G, Reliability Standards for the Bulk Power System: 
PRC Reliability Standards.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0252.
    Type of Request: Revision of FERC-725G information collection 
requirements.

[[Page 22662]]

    Abstract: The information collected by the FERC-725G is required to 
implement the statutory provisions of section 215 of the Federal Power 
Act (FPA) (16 U.S.C. 824o). Section 215 of the FPA buttresses the 
Commission's efforts to strengthen the reliability of the interstate 
grid.
    On March 16, 2018, the North American Electric Reliability 
Corporation (NERC, the Commission-approved ERO) submitted for 
Commission approval proposed Reliability Standard PRC-025-2, Generator 
Relay Loadability. The PRC-025-2 Reliability Standard addresses setting 
load-responsive protective relays associated with generation facilities 
at a level to prevent unnecessary tripping of generators during a 
system disturbance for conditions that do not pose a risk of damage to 
the associated equipment. Proposed Reliability Standard PRC-025-2 
improves upon currently-effective Reliability Standard PRC-025-1 by 
addressing certain relay setting application issues and by clarifying 
certain terminology and references. NERC requested that the Commission 
approve the proposed Reliability Standard and find that the proposed 
standard is just, reasonable, not unduly discriminatory or 
preferential, and in the public interest. NERC also requested that the 
Commission approve: (i) The associated Implementation Plan; (ii) the 
associated Violation Risk Factors (VRFs) and Violation Severity Levels 
(VSLs), which remain unchanged from PRC-025-1; and (iii) the retirement 
of currently-effective Reliability Standard PRC-025-1.
    NERC proposed that PRC-025-2 shall become effective on the first 
day of the first calendar quarter after the effective date of the 
applicable governmental authority's order approving the standard. 
NERC's Implementation Plan proposed phased-in compliance dates after 
the effective date of Reliability Standard PRC-025-2.\1\
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    \1\ See NERC's Implementation Plan at https://www.nerc.com/pa/Stand/Project%20201604%20Modifications%20to%20PRC0251%20DL/Project_2016_04_Implementation_Plan_Clean_01092018.pdf.
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    On May 2, 2018, the Commission approved Reliability Standard PRC-
025-2 and the retirement of PRC-025-1.
    Type of Respondents: Generator Owner (GO), Transmission Owner (TO), 
and Distribution Provider (DP).
    Estimate of Annual Burden \2\: Details follow on the changes in 
Docket No. RD18-4-000 to FERC-725G.
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    \2\ 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, refer to 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.
    \3\ According to the NERC compliance registry as of March 9, 
2018, NERC has registered 415 distribution providers (DP), 985 
generator owners (GO) and 336 transmission owners (TO). However, 
under NERC's compliance registration program, entities may be 
registered for multiple functions, so these numbers incorporate some 
double counting. The number of unique entities responding will be 
approximately 994 entities registered as a transmission owner, a 
distribution provider, or a generator owner that is also a 
transmission owner and/or a distribution owner. This estimate 
assumes all of the unique entities apply load-responsive protective 
relays.
    \4\ The hourly cost (for salary plus benefits) uses the figures 
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2017, for two positions 
involved in the reporting and recordkeeping requirements. These 
figures include salary (https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) benefits http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm) and are: Engineer: $64.91/hour, and File Clerk: 
$31.16/hour. Hourly cost for the engineer are used for the one-time 
costs, and hourly cost for the file clerk are used for the ongoing 
record retention.
    \5\ GO = Generator Owner, DP = Distribution Provider, TO = 
Transmission Owner, each of which applies load-responsive protective 
relays at the terminals of the Elements listed in the proposed 
standard at section 3.2 (Facilities).
    \6\ The estimated hourly costs (salary plus benefits) are based 
on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) information May 2014, (at http://bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm#17-0000) for an electrical 
engineer ($59.62/hour for review and documentation), and for a file 
clerk ($28.95/hour for record retention). Those figures (and the 
number of respondents) were used when the standard was approved and 
added to the OMB inventory. Hourly cost for the engineer are used 
for the one-time costs, and hourly cost for the file clerk are used 
for the ongoing record retention.

                                      FERC-725G, Mandatory Reliability Standard PRC-025-2, in Docket No. RD18-4-000
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                                                                                                Average  burden      Total annual
                                       Number of       Annual  number of   Annual  number of  hours and cost per   burden hours and        Cost per
             Entity                  respondents 3       responses per         responses        response 4  ($)    total annual cost    respondent  ($)
                                                          respondent                                                      ($)
                                  (1)...............                 (2)     (1) * (2) = (3)  (4)...............  (3) * (4) = (5)...     (5) / (1) = (6)
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(One-time) Review &               994 GO/TO/DP......                   1                 994  20 hrs.; $1,298.20  19,880 hours;                $1,298.20
 documentation of relay settings                                                                                   $1,290,410.80.
 to ensure compliance.
(On-going) Record Retention (of   994 GO/TO/DP......                   1                 994  2 hrs.; $62.32....  1,988 hours;                    $62.32
 compliance records for R1 and                                                                                     $61,946.08.
 M1, for 3 years or until
 mitigation complete).
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                                FERC-725G, Mandatory Reliability Standard PRC-025-1, Retirement in Docket No. RD18-4-000
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                                                                                                                     Total annual
                                       Number of       Annual  number of   Annual  number of    Average  burden    burden hours and        Cost per
             Entity                   respondents        responses per         responses       hours and cost 5    total annual cost   respondent 6  ($)
                                                          respondent                                  ($)                 ($)
                                  (1)...............                 (2)     (1) * (2) = (3)  (4)...............  (3) * (4) = (5)...  (5) / (1) = (6)
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(One-time) Review &               1,019 GO/DP/TO....                   1               1,019  20 hrs.; $1,192.40  20,380 hours;       $1,192.40
 documentation of relay settings                                                               (reduction).        $1,215,055.60       (reduction).
 to ensure compliance,                                                                                             (reduction).
 (reduction).
(On-going) Record Retention (of   1,019 GO/DP/TO....                   1               1,019  2 hrs.; $57.90      2,038 hours;        $57.90
 compliance records for R1 and                                                                 (reduction).        $59,000.10          (reduction).
 M1, for 3 years or until                                                                                          (reduction).
 mitigation complete)
 (reduction).
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[[Page 22663]]

    Net Effect to Burden for FERC-725G: Due to the retirement of PRC-
025-1 and implementation of PRC-025-2, the number of respondents is 
reduced by 25, and the number of annual burden hours is reduced by 550 
hours. (The net changes are due to a change in the number of affected 
entities on the NERC Registry.) The burden per respondent for PRC-025-2 
remains 22 hours (total for both one-time and ongoing burden, similar 
to the now-retired PRC-025-1).
    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: May 9, 2018.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-10443 Filed 5-15-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P