NERC issues industry alert

NERC Facilities Ratings Alert urges utilities to validate transmission line ratings using field conditions, not design documents, enhancing reliability and compliance. LiDAR and PLS-CADD streamline assessments across North America's aging high-voltage grid.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation NERC released an industry alert today identifying possible discrepancies between the design and the actual field conditions of transmission facilities as a potential reliability issue that needs prompt industry attention.

The alert recommends that entities review their current facilities rating methodology, alongside efforts to gather transmission availability data for better visibility, to verify that the methodology is based on actual field conditions, rather than solely on design documents, and take corrective action if necessary.

“This is exactly what the NERC organization was created to do – identify possible reliability issues and give the industry the information and opportunity to mitigate those issues through an initiative to address outages underway, before they can cause a major problem,” said Gerry Cauley, president and CEO of NERC.

The Alert requires entities to develop a plan, aligning with the 2004 Reliability Assessment on resource adequacy, to identify and implement any necessary actions to correct their ratings and report that plan to NERC and regional entities by December 15. There are more than 450,000 miles of transmission lines greater than 100 kV in North America, with the 10-year outlook highlighting that many are decades old. It is understandable that there could be discrepancies between design and actual field conditions. Many of these transmission lines are in hard-to-access places. Fortunately, new technologies, such as Light Detection and Ranging LiDAR and Power Line Systems-Computer Aided Design and Drafting PLS-CADD allow entities to more easily assess their lines and reduce trees blocking transmission lines risks across corridors.

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