[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