[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4173-4175]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-01318]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. IC22-30-000]
Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725N); Comment
Request; Extension
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
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 FERC-725N,
(Mandatory Reliability Standards TPL-007-4, Transmission System Planned
Performance for Geomagnetic Disturbance Events), which will be
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. No
Comments were received on the 60-day notice published on September 29,
2022.
DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due February 23,
2023.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments on FERC-725N to OMB through
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission Desk Officer. Please identify the OMB Control Number (1902-
0264) in the subject line of your comments. Comments should be sent
within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Please submit copies of your comments to the Commission. You may
submit copies of your comments (identified by Docket No. IC22-30-000)
by one of the following methods:
Electronic filing through https://www.ferc.gov, is preferred.
Electronic Filing: Documents must be filed in acceptable
native applications and print-to-PDF, but not in scanned or picture
format.
For those unable to file electronically, comments may be
filed by USPS mail or by hand (including courier) delivery.
[cir] Mail via U.S. Postal Service Only: Addressed to: Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First
Street NE, Washington, DC 20426.
[cir] Hand (Including Courier) Delivery: Deliver to: Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 12225 Wilkins
Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852.
Instructions: OMB submissions must be formatted and filed in
accordance with submission guidelines at www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Using the search function under the ``Currently Under Review''
field, select Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; click ``submit,''
and select ``comment'' to the right of the subject collection.
FERC submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with
submission guidelines at: https://www.ferc.gov. For user assistance,
contact FERC Online Support by email at [email protected], or
by phone at: (866) 208-3676 (toll-free).
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 https://www.ferc.gov/ferc-online/overview.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by email at
[email protected], telephone at (202) 502-8663.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: FERC-725N, Mandatory Reliability Standards TPL-007-4,
Transmission System Planned Performance for Geomagnetic Disturbance
Events.
OMB Control No.: 1902-0264.
Type of Request: Extension of the currently approved collection.
Abstract: On August 8, 2005, Congress enacted into law the
Electricity Modernization Act of 2005, which is Title XII, Subtitle A,
of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005).\1\ EPAct 2005 added a
new section 215 to the Federal Power Act (FPA), which requires a
Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) to develop
mandatory and enforceable Reliability Standards, which are subject to
Commission review and approval. Once approved, the Reliability
Standards may be enforced by the ERO subject to Commission oversight,
or the Commission can independently enforce Reliability Standards.\2\
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\1\ Energy Policy Act of 2005, Public Law 109-58, Title XII,
Subtitle A, 119 Stat. 594, 941 (codified at 16 U.S.C. 824o).
\2\ 16 U.S.C. 824o(e)(3).
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On February 3, 2006, the Commission issued Order No. 672,
implementing section 215 of the FPA.\3\ Pursuant to Order No. 672, the
Commission certified one organization, North American Electric
Reliability Corporation (NERC), as the ERO.\4\ The Reliability
Standards developed by the ERO and approved by the Commission apply to
users, owners and operators of the Bulk-Power System as set forth in
each Reliability Standard.
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\3\ Rules Concerning Certification of the Electric Reliability
Organization; and Procedures for the Establishment, Approval, and
Enforcement of Electric Reliability Standards, Order No. 672, FERC
Stats. & Regs. ] 31,204, order on reh'g, Order No. 672-A, FERC
Stats. & Regs. ] 31,212 (2006).
\4\ North American Electric Reliability Corp., 116 FERC ]
61,062, order on reh'g and compliance, 117 FERC ] 61,126 (2006),
order on compliance, 118 FERC ] 61,190, order on reh'g, 119 FERC ]
61,046 (2007), aff'd sub nom. Alcoa Inc. v. FERC, 564 F.3d 1342
(D.C. Cir. 2009).
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Pursuant to section 215(d)(2) of the FPA),\5\ the Commission
approved Reliability Standard TPL-001-5 (Transmission System Planning
Performance Requirements). The North American Electric Reliability
Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability
Organization (ERO), submitted the
[[Page 4174]]
proposed Reliability Standard TPL-001-5 for Commission approval to
address: (1) reliability issues concerning the study of single points
of failure of protection systems discussed in Order No. 754; \6\ and
(2) directives from Order No. 786 \7\ regarding planned maintenance
outages and stability analysis for spare equipment strategy.
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\5\ 16 U.S.C. 824o(d)(2).
\6\ In Order No. 754, the Commission determined that there is
``an issue concerning the study of the non[hyphen]operation of
non[hyphen]redundant primary protection systems; e.g., the study of
a single point of failure on protection systems.'' Interpretation of
Transmission Planning Reliability Standard, Order No. 754, 136 FERC
] 61,186, at P 19 (2011). The phrases ``non[hyphen]operation of a
non[hyphen]redundant component of a protection system'' and
``protection system single points of failure'' are used
interchangeably in this memorandum.
\7\ Transmission Planning Reliability Standards, Order No. 786,
145 FERC ] 61,051 (2013).
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On February 7, 2020, the North American Electric Reliability
Corporation filed a petition seeking approval of proposed Reliability
Standard TPL-007-4 (Transmission System Planned Performance for
Geomagnetic Disturbance Events). The Reliability Standard TPL-007-4
requires owners and operators of the Bulk-Power System to conduct
initial and on-going vulnerability assessments of the potential impact
of defined geomagnetic disturbance events on Bulk-Power System
equipment and the Bulk-Power System as a whole. Specifically, the
Reliability Standard requires entities to develop corrective action
plans for vulnerabilities identified through supplemental geomagnetic
disturbance vulnerability assessments and requires entities to seek
approval from the Electric Reliability Organization of any extensions
of time for the completion of corrective action plan items.
Type of Respondents: Generator Owners, Planning Coordinators,
Distribution Providers and Transmission Owners.
Estimate of Annual Burden: \8\ Our estimates are based on the NERC
Compliance Registry Summary of Entities as of September 16, 2022.
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\8\ 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.
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The individual burden estimates include the time needed to gather
data, run studies, and analyze study results. These are consistent with
estimates for similar tasks in other Commission-approved standards.
Estimates for the additional average annual burden and cost \9\ as
follows:
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\9\ Both Electrical Engineers ($77.02/hr.) and Information and
Record Clerks ($42.35/hr.) support the information collection and a
composite percent split (60/40) cost per hour will be used. Cost per
Response = [($77.02 * (0.60)) + ($42.35 * (0.40))] = [$46.21 +
$16.94] = $63.15/hr. from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics at
http://bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm, as of June 2022.
FERC-725N--Mandatory Reliability Standards TPL-001-5.1 and TPL-007-4, Transmission System Planned Performance for Geomagnetic Disturbance Events
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Annual number Annual number Total annual burden
\1\ of of responses Total number Average burden hours and hours and cost ($) Cost per
respondents per respondent of responses cost ($) per response (rounded) respondent ($)
(1) (2) (1) * (2) = (4)..................... (3) * (4) = (5)........ (5) / (1)
(3)
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Mandatory Reliability Standard TPL-001-5.1
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TPL-001-5.1 Reliability Standard..... 63(PC) 1 63 143 hrs.; $9,030.45..... 9,020 hrs.; $569,613... $9,030.45
205(TP) 1 205 44 hrs.; $2,778.60...... 9,020 hrs.; $569,613... 2,778.60
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Total for TPL-001-5.1............ .............. .............. 268 ........................ 18,040 hrs.; $1,139,226 ..............
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Mandatory Reliability Standard TPL-007-4
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GO \10\.............................. 1,107 1 1,107 36 hrs.; $2,273.40...... 39,880 hrs.; $2,598,182 2,273.40
PC \11\.............................. 61 1 61 264 hrs.; $16,671.60.... 16,101 hrs.; 16,671.60
$1,016,778.15.
TP \12\.............................. 205 1 205 127 hrs.; $8,020.05..... 25,981 hrs.; 8,020.05
$1,640,700.15.
TO \13\.............................. 326 1 326 43 hrs.; $2,715.45...... 13,960 hrs.; $881,574.. 2,715,.45
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Total for TPL-007-4.............. .............. .............. 1,699 ........................ 95,922 hrs; ..............
$6,057,474.3.
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Total for FERC-725N.............. .............. .............. 1,967 ........................ 113,962 hrs.; ..............
$7,196,700.30.
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For TPL-001-5.1 the number of respondents has been increased
slightly to reflect the type of entities--planning coordinators
reflected and average over a three-year timeframe that was reported
from RD20-3 ongoing burden from the previous approval, and tried to
account for overlap between entities, but the overall annual manhours
remain about the same. With this renewal the table more accurately
represent the entities on a yearly basis.
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\10\ Generator Owner.
\11\ Planning Coordinator.
\12\ Distribution Provider.
\13\ Transmission Owner.
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The entities with responsibility for these standards--planning
coordinators (PC=61) and transmission planners (TP=205) are taken from
the NERC Compliance Registration information of November 4, 2022
(updated from the 60-day notice) for unique US entities.
For TPL-007-4 the number of respondents has been reduced as the
standard (TPL-007-4) was revised several times and individual
information collection respondent counts result in same type of entity
being counted multiple times. The change also corrects in TPL-007-4 the
distribution provided (DP) was used instead of transmission provider
(TP) so was a contributing factor to the overall decrease in number of
respondents. The updated values more truly represent the cumulative
responsibility of each entity on the work they must do, and the overall
annual manhours remains about the same. With this renewal the table for
TPL-007-4 more accurately represent the entities on a yearly basis.
The entities with responsibility for these standards have been
updated to (generator owner (GO=1,107), transmission owner (TO=326),
planning coordinator (PC=61), and transmission planner (TP=205)) are
taken from the NERC Compliance Registration information of November 4,
2022, for unique US entities.
Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) whether the collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the
[[Page 4175]]
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: January 18, 2023.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-01318 Filed 1-23-23; 8:45 am]
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