[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 52 (Friday, March 19, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14895-14896]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-05726]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. AD21-13-000]


Climate Change, Extreme Weather, and Electric System Reliability; 
Supplemental Notice of Technical Conference Inviting Comments

    As announced in the Notice of Technical Conference issued in this 
proceeding on March 5, 2021, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(Commission) staff will convene a technical conference to discuss 
issues surrounding the threat to electric system reliability posed by 
climate change and extreme weather events. The conference will be held 
on Tuesday, June 1, 2021 and Wednesday June 2, 2021, from approximately 
1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time each day.
    Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding the 
issues described in the appendix below. Comments are due on or before 
April 15, 2021. Comments must refer to Docket No. AD21-13-000 and must 
include the commenter's name, the organization they represent, if 
applicable, and their address. Commenters need not answer all of the 
questions but are encouraged to organize responses using the numbering 
and order in the appendix below.
    The Commission encourages comments to be filed electronically via 
the eFiling link on the Commission's website at http://www.ferc.gov. 
The Commission accepts most standard word processing formats. Documents 
created electronically using word processing software should be filed 
in native applications or print-to-PDF format and not in a scanned 
format. Commenters filing electronically do not need to make a paper 
filing.
    Those unable to file electronically may mail comments via the U.S. 
Postal Service to: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Office of the 
Secretary, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426. Hand-delivered 
comments or comments sent via any other carrier should be delivered to: 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Office of the Secretary, 12225 
Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
    All comments will be placed in the Commission's public files and 
may be viewed, printed, or downloaded remotely. Commenters in this 
proceeding are not required to serve copies of their comments on other 
commenters.

    Dated: March 15, 2021.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.

Appendix

    1. What are the most significant near-, medium-, and long-term 
challenges posed to electric system reliability due to climate 
change and extreme weather events?
    2. With respect to extreme weather events (e.g., hurricanes, 
extreme heat, extreme cold, drought, storm surges and other flooding 
events, or wildfires), have these issues impacted the electric 
system, either directly or indirectly, more frequently or seriously 
than in the past, and if so, how? Will extreme weather events 
require changes to the way generation, transmission, substation, or 
other facilities are designed, built, sited, and operated?
    3. Climate change has a range of other impacts, such as long-
term increases in ambient air or water temperatures that may impact 
cooling systems, changes in precipitation patterns that may impact 
such

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factors as reservoir levels or snowpack, and rising sea levels among 
others. Will these impacts require changes to the way generation, 
transmission, substation, or other facilities are designed, built, 
sited, and operated?
    4. What are the electric system reliability challenges 
associated with ``common mode failures'' where, due to a climate 
change or extreme weather event, a large number of facilities 
critical to electric reliability (e.g., generation resources, 
transmission lines, substations, and natural gas pipelines) 
experience outages or significant operational limitations, either 
simultaneously or in close succession? How do these challenges 
differ across types of generation resources (e.g., natural gas, 
coal, hydro, nuclear, solar, wind)? To what extent does geographic 
diversity (i.e., sharing capacity from many resources across a large 
footprint) mitigate the risk of common mode failures?
    5. Are there improvements to coordinated operations and planning 
between energy systems (e.g., the natural gas and electric power 
systems) that would help reduce risk factors related to common mode 
failures? What could those improved steps include?
    6. How are relevant regulatory authorities (e.g., federal, 
state, and local regulators), individual utilities (including 
federal power marketing agencies), and regional planning authorities 
(e.g., RTOs/ISOs) evaluating and addressing challenges posed to 
electric system reliability due to climate change and extreme 
weather events and what potential future actions are they 
considering? What additional steps should be considered to ensure 
electric system reliability?
    7. Are relevant regulatory authorities, individual utilities, or 
regional planning authorities considering changes to current 
modeling and planning assumptions used for transmission and resource 
adequacy planning? For example, is it still reasonable to base 
planning models on historic weather data and consumption trends if 
climate change is expected to result in extreme weather events that 
are both more frequent and more intense than historical data would 
suggest? If not, is a different approach to modeling and planning 
transmission and resource adequacy needs required? How should the 
benefits and constraints of alternative modeling and planning 
approaches be assessed?
    8. Are relevant regulatory authorities, individual utilities, or 
regional planning authorities considering measures to harden 
facilities against extreme weather events (e.g., winterization 
requirements for generators, substations, transmission circuits, and 
interstate natural gas pipelines)? If so, what measures? Should 
additional measures be considered?
    9. How have entities responsible for real-time operations (e.g. 
utilities, RTOs/ISOs, generator operators) changed their operating 
practices in light of the challenges posed by climate change and 
extreme weather events and what potential future actions are they 
considering? What additional steps should be considered to change 
operating practices to ensure electric system reliability?
    10. Are seasonal resource adequacy assessments currently 
performed, and have they proven effective at identifying actual 
resource adequacy needs? If they are used, is there a process to 
improve the assessments to account for a rapidly changing risk 
environment such as that driven by climate change? If seasonal 
resource adequacy assessments are performed, are probabilistic 
methods used to evaluate a wider range of system conditions such as 
non-peak periods, including shoulder months and low load conditions?
    11. Are any changes being considered to the resource outage 
planning process? For instance, should current practices of 
scheduling outages in perceived ``non-peak'' periods be re-
evaluated, and should the consideration during planning of the 
reserve needs during non-peak outage periods be improved?
    12. Mass public notification systems (e.g., cellphone texts, 
emails, smart thermostat notifications) are sometimes used in 
emergencies to solicit voluntary reductions in the demand for 
electricity. To what extent are such measures used when faced with 
emergencies related to climate change or extreme weather events, 
have they been effective in helping to address emergencies, and is 
there room for improvement?
    13. What measures are being considered to improve recovery times 
following extreme weather event-related outages? For example, are 
there potential changes to operating procedures, spare equipment 
inventory, or mutual assistance networks under consideration? What 
additional steps should be considered to improve recovery times?
    14. Given the key role blackstart resources play in recovering 
from large-scale events on the electric system, how is the 
sufficiency of existing blackstart capability assessed, and has that 
assessment been adjusted to account for factors associated with 
climate change or extreme weather events? For example, is the impact 
of potential common mode failures considered in the development of 
black start restoration plans (including but not limited to common 
mode failure impacts on generation resources, transmission lines, 
substations, and interstate natural gas pipelines)? Should these be 
addressed?
    15. What actions should the Commission consider to help achieve 
an electric system that can better withstand, respond to, and 
recover from climate change and extreme weather events? In 
particular, are there changes to ratemaking practices or market 
design that the Commission should consider?
    16. Are there opportunities to improve the Commission-approved 
NERC Reliability Standards in order to address vulnerabilities to 
the bulk power system due to climate change or extreme weather 
events in areas including but not limited to the following: 
Transmission planning, bulk power system operations, bulk power 
system maintenance, emergency operations, and black start 
restoration? For example, should the Reliability Standards require 
transmission owners, operators or others to take additional steps to 
maintain reliability of the bulk power system in high wildfire or 
storm surge risk areas? Should the Reliability Standards require the 
application of new technologies to address vulnerabilities related 
to extreme weather events, such as to use new technologies to 
inspect the bulk power system remotely?
    17. Where climate change and extreme weather events may 
implicate both federal and state issues, should the Commission 
consider conferring with the states, as permitted under FPA section 
209(b), to collaborate on such issues?

[FR Doc. 2021-05726 Filed 3-18-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P