[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 166 (Tuesday, August 27, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44891-44893]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18428]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC19-32-000]


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

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

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 (PRA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission 
or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved 
information collection, FERC-725M (Mandatory Reliability Standards: 
Generator Requirements at the Transmission Interface) which will be 
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a review of 
the information collection requirements.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due October 28, 
2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. IC19-32-
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-725M (Mandatory Reliability Standards: Generator 
Requirements at the Transmission Interface).
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0263.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-725M with no 
updates to the current reporting requirements.

[[Page 44892]]

    Abstract: On September 19, 2013, the Commission issued Order No. 
785, Docket No. RM12-16-000, a Final Rule \1\ approving modifications 
to four existing Reliability Standards submitted by the North American 
Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission certified 
Electric Reliability Organization. Specifically, the Commission 
approved Reliability Standards FAC-001-1 (Facility Connection 
Requirements), FAC-003-3 (Transmission Vegetation Management), PRC-004-
2.1a (Analysis and Mitigation of Transmission and Generation Protection 
System Misoperations), and PRC-005-1.1b (Transmission and Generation 
Protection System Maintenance and Testing).\2\ The modifications 
improved reliability either by extending applicability of the 
Reliability Standard to certain generator interconnection facilities, 
or by clarifying that the existing Reliability Standard is and remains 
applicable to generator interconnection facilities.
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    \1\ Generator Requirements at the Transmission Interface, 144 
FERC ] 61,221 (2013).
    \2\ The burden is included in information collection FERC-725M.
    The burdens related to previous versions of Reliability 
Standards mentioned in the Final Rule: FAC-001-0 (Facility 
Connection Requirements); FAC-003-2 (Transmission Vegetation 
Management); PRC-004-2a (Analysis and Mitigation of Transmission and 
Generation Protection System Misoperations); and PRC-005-1b 
(Transmission and Generation Protection System Maintenance and 
Testing) are included in FERC-725A (Mandatory Reliability Standards 
for the Bulk-Power System, OMB Control No. 1902-0244).
    The Final Rule states the modifications included in PRC-004-2.1a 
and PRC-005-1.1b are clarifications of existing requirements, do not 
extend those existing requirements to any new entity or to 
additional facilities, and do not affect the existing burden related 
to those standards.
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    On April 26, 2016, a Delegated Letter Order was issued, Docket No. 
RD16-4-000, approving proposed Reliability Standard FAC-003-4 
(Transmission Vegetation Management). Reliability Standard FAC-003-4 
reflected revisions to the current Minimum Vegetation Clearance 
Distances (MVCDs) in Reliability Standard FAC-003-3 based on additional 
testing regarding the appropriate gap factor to be used to calculate 
clearance distances for vegetation. NERC explained that Reliability 
Standard FAC-003-4 includes higher and more conservative MVCD values 
and, therefore, maintained that these revisions would ``enhance 
reliability and provide additional confidence by applying a more 
conservative approach to determining the vegetation clearing 
distances.''
    In FERC-725M we are:
    (1) Adjusting the burden in FAC-003-4 to reflect the latest number 
of applicable entities based on the NERC Compliance Registry as of July 
26, 2019.
    (2) Making a program change to administratively remove all one-time 
burden \3\ that is being inadvertently counted in FERC-725M and FERC-
725D.
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    \3\ One-time burden is typically performed in the first year of 
implementation. All burden associated with FAC-001-3 in this 
collection was removed in 2015. The burden in FAC-001-3 was 
transferred in 2015 to FERC-725D (OMB Control Number 1902-0247). See 
the November 6, 2014 Delegated Letter Order, Docket No. RD14-12-000, 
approving Reliability Standard FAC-001-2 and Order No. 836, 
Balancing Authority Control, Inadvertent Interchange, and Facility 
Interconnection Reliability Standards, 160 FERC 61,070 (2017), 
approving Reliability Standard FAC-001-3.
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    Type of Respondents: Transmission Owner (TO); Generator Owner (GO); 
and Regional Entity (RE).
    Estimate of Annual Burden.\4\ The Commission estimates the annual 
public reporting burden and cost \5\ for the information collection as:
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    \4\ 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. See 5 
CFR 1320 for additional information on the definition of information 
collection burden.
    \5\ The estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits) are based 
on the figures for May 2018 posted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
for the Utilities sector (available at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and updated March 2019 for benefits 
information (at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm). The 
hourly estimates for salary plus benefits are:
    --Manager (code 11-0000), $95.24
    --Information and Records Clerks (code 43-4199), $40.84
    --Electrical Engineer (code 17-2071), $68.17
    The average hourly burden cost for this collection is $68.08 
[($95.24 + $40.84 + $68.17)/3 = $68.08)].and is rounded to $68.00 an 
hour.
    \6\ According to the NERC Compliance Registry as of July 26, 
2019, there are 946 generator owners and 328 transmission owners 
registered in North America. We estimate that approximately 10 
percent (or 95) of these generator owners have interconnection 
facilities that are applicable to the standard.
    \7\ The estimated number of respondents (101) includes 95 
generator owners and 6 Regional Entities.

                            FERC-725M, Mandatory Reliability Standards: Generator Requirements at the Transmission Interface
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                                               Annual  number
                                  Number of     of  responses   Total  number   Average burden  hours &    Total annual  burden hours &      Cost per
                                 respondents         per        of  responses      cost  per response            total annual cost          respondent
                                     \6\         respondent                                                                                     ($)
                                          (1)             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4)......................  (3) * (4) = (5)...............         (5)/(1)
                                                                          (3)
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                                                     FAC-003-4 (Transmission Vegetation Management)
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Generator Owners, Regional            101 \7\               4             404  0.25 hrs.; $17.00........  101 hrs.; 6,868.00............          $68.00
 Entities: Quarterly
 Reporting (Compliance 1.4).
Generator Owners: Annual Veg.              95               1              95  2 hrs.; $136.00..........  190 hrs.; 12,920.00...........          136.00
 inspect. Doc. (M6); Work
 Plan (M7); Evidence of Mgt.
 of Veg. (M1 & M2); Confirmed
 Veg. Condition (M4); &
 Corrective Action (M5).
Generator Owners,                         423               1             423  1 hr.; $68.00............  423 hrs.; 28,764.00...........           68.00
 Transmission Owners: Record
 Retention (Compliance 1.2).
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    Total....................  ..............  ..............             922  .........................  714 hrs.: $48,552.00..........         $272.00
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[[Page 44893]]

    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 estimates 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: August 21, 2019.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-18428 Filed 8-26-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P