WASHINGTON, D.C. – At its monthly open meeting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order (Docket No. RD24-1-000) approving EOP-011-4 – Emergency Operations and TOP-002-5 – Operations Planning and a request for expedited action. These standards address three key recommendations arising from the February 2021 Cold Weather Outages in Texas and the South Central United States report. Reliability Standard TOP-002-5 will become effective in the United States in October 2025, but FERC deferred its decision on the approval of the implementation plan associated with EOP-011-4 until NERC submits proposed Reliability Standard EOP-012-2 – Extreme Cold Weather Preparedness and Operations for FERC approval.
NERC and industry stakeholders have been working diligently to revise existing standards and introduce new cold weather standards to assure power plants are adequately winterized and prepared for extreme cold temperatures. NERC appreciates FERC’s focus on reliability matters and will continue to work toward assuring the reliability and security of the North American bulk power system.
