Related Files
Status
The formal comment period and nomination period for the Project 2021-08 Modifications to FAC-008 Standard Authorization Request (SAR) concluded at 8 p.m. Eastern, Thursday, January 27, 2022.
The Standards Committee is expected to appoint members to the drafting team in March 2022. Nominees will be notified shortly after they have been appointed. Once a drafting team is formed, the comments will be reviewed and the next steps of the project determined.
Background
As currently written, the FAC-008 Reliability Standard and associated defined terms “Facility" and “Element" have been interpreted by some to mean that only electrical components may be considered when developing Generator Facility Ratings under R1. This could lead to planning and operational entities being provided Generator Facility Ratings that are higher than the actual output the plant is capable of, which could be detrimental to reliability during actual system emergencies. Explicitly allowing the inclusion of mechanical elements in the development of Facility Ratings will ensure Generators are rated to their most limiting element.
Further, the FAC-008-3 non-formal use of the term “jointly owned" is ambiguous when compared with the industry legacy use of “jointly owned" as a purely financial and contractual obligation. This lack of clarity of intent of the standard could cause risk of facility rating gaps, misunderstanding of rating overlap requirements or gaps in facility rating coordination that could be resolved by clearly defining the technical expectations of the term “jointly owned".
Standard(s) Affected: FAC-008-5
Purpose/Industry Need
The purpose of the proposed project is to produce Generator Owner Facility Ratings that accurately reflect the real power capability of the facility and are therefore useful for reliability-related activities (such as in contingency analysis, SOL determination, etc.).
Additionally, provide clarification around the phrase “jointly owned" and the level of individual component ratings that are required to be shared with the other entity. This will ensure clear expectations are set such that there are no gaps or conflicts between interconnecting entities.
