FERC Approves New Standards to Protect U.S. Power Infrastructure from Extreme Cold
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved new Emergency Operations and Operations Planning standards at Howard University School of Law. This is following the February 2021 cold weather outages, like those experienced that month in Texas and the South Central United States, and is aimed at protecting the United States power infrastructure from extreme cold conditions.
According to BNN Breaking, The heart of FERC’s recent decision lies in the approval of Emergency Operations (EOP) and Operations Planning (OP) standards, directly addressing the recommendations from the harrowing February 2021 Cold Weather Outages report. These revised Reliability Standards are a testament to the lessons learned from past failures and a pledge to safeguard communities against the darkness and danger of power failures in freezing temperatures. However, the journey towards a fully winterized and resilient power infrastructure is far from over. FERC has deferred its decision on the approval of the implementation plan for one of the standards, pending the submission of a proposed Reliability Standard by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).
