FAC-001-3 – Facility Interconnection Requirements
Purpose
To avoid adverse impacts on the reliability of the Bulk Electric System, Transmission Owners and applicable Generator Owners must document and make Facility interconnection requirements available so that entities seeking to interconnect will have the necessary information.
Applicability
4.1.1. Transmission Owner
4.1.2. Applicable Generator Owner
4.1.2.1 Generator Owner with a fully executed Agreement to conduct a study on the reliability impact of interconnecting a third party Facility to the Generator Owner’s existing Facility that is used to interconnect to the Transmission system.
Effective Date: 1/1/2019
Requirements and Measures
R1. Each Transmission Owner shall document Facility interconnection requirements, update them as needed, and make them available upon request. Each Transmission Owner’s Facility interconnection requirements shall address interconnection requirements for: [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time Horizon: Long-term Planning]
1.1. generation Facilities;
1.2. transmission Facilities; and
1.3. end-user Facilities.
M1. Each Transmission Owner shall have evidence (such as dated, documented Facility interconnection requirements) that it met all requirements in Requirement R1.
R2. Each applicable Generator Owner shall document Facility interconnection requirements and make them available upon request within 45 calendar days of full execution of an Agreement to conduct a study on the reliability impact of interconnecting a third party Facility to the Generator Owner’s existing Facility that is used to interconnect to the Transmission system. [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time Horizon: Long-term Planning]
M2. Each applicable Generator Owner shall have evidence (such as dated, documented Facility interconnection requirements) that it met all requirements in Requirement R2.
R3. Each Transmission Owner shall address the following items in its Facility interconnection requirements: [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time Horizon: Long- Term Planning]
3.1. Procedures for coordinated studies of new or materially modified existing interconnections and their impacts on affected system(s).
3.2. Procedures for notifying those responsible for the reliability of affected system(s) of new or materially modified existing interconnections.
3.3. Procedures for confirming with those responsible for the reliability of affected systems of new or materially modified transmission Facilities are within a Balancing Authority Area’s metered boundaries.
M3. Each Transmission Owner shall have evidence (such as dated, documented Facility interconnection requirements addressing the procedures) that it met all requirements in Requirement R3.
R4. Each applicable Generator Owner shall address the following items in its Facility interconnection requirements: [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time Horizon: Long- Term Planning]
4.1. Procedures for coordinated studies of new interconnections and their impacts on affected system(s).
4.2. Procedures for notifying those responsible for the reliability of affected system(s) of new interconnections.
4.3. Procedures for confirming with those responsible for the reliability of affected systems of new or materially modified generation Facilities are within a Balancing Authority Area’s metered boundaries.
M4. Each applicable Generator Owner shall have evidence (such as dated, documented Facility interconnection requirements addressing the procedures) that it met all requirements in Requirement R4.
Compliance
1.1. Compliance Enforcement Authority
As defined in the NERC Rules of Procedure, “Compliance Enforcement Authority” (CEA) means NERC or the Regional Entity in their respective roles of monitoring and enforcing compliance with the NERC Reliability Standards.
1.2. Evidence Retention
The following evidence retention periods identify the period of time an entity is required to retain specific evidence to demonstrate compliance. For instances where the evidence retention period specified below is shorter than the time since the last audit, the CEA may ask an entity to provide other evidence to show that it was compliant for the full time period since the last audit.
Guidelines and Technical Basis
Entities should have documentation to support the technical rationale for determining whether an existing interconnection was “materially modified.” Recognizing that what constitutes a “material modification” will vary from entity to entity, the intent is for this determination to be based on engineering judgment.
Requirement R3:
Originally the Parts of R3, with the exception of the first two bullets, which were added by the Project 2010-02 drafting team, this list has been moved to the Guidelines and Technical Basis section to provide entities with the flexibility to determine the Facility interconnection requirements that are technically appropriate for their respective Facilities. Including them as Parts of R3 was deemed too prescriptive, as frequently some items in the list do not apply to all applicable entities – and some applicable entities will have requirements that are not included in this list.
Each Transmission Owner and applicable Generator Owner should consider the following items in the development of Facility interconnection requirements:
- Procedures for requesting a new Facility interconnection or material modification to an existing interconnection
- Data required to properly study the interconnection
- Voltage level and MW and MVAR capacity or demand at the point of interconnection
- Breaker duty and surge protection
- System protection and coordination
- Metering and telecommunications
- Grounding and safety issues
- Insulation and insulation coordination
- Voltage, Reactive Power (including specifications for minimum static and dynamic reactive power requirements), and power factor control
- Power quality impacts
- Equipment ratings
- Synchronizing of Facilities
- Maintenance coordination
- Operational issues (abnormal frequency and voltages)
- Inspection requirements for new or materially modified existing interconnections
- Communications and procedures during normal and emergency operating conditions
Rationale
During development of this standard, text boxes were embedded within the standard to explain the rationale for various parts of the standard. Upon Board approval, the text from the rationale boxes will be moved to this section.
Rationale for Requirement R3.3: Consistent with the Functional Model, there cannot be an assumption that the entity owning the transmission will be the same entity providing the BA function. It is the responsibility of the party interconnecting to make appropriate arrangements with a Balancing Authority to ensure its Facilities are within the BA’s metered boundaries,
which also serves to facilitate the process of the coordination between the two entities that will be required under numerous other standards upon the start of operation. Under 3.3, the Transmission Owner is responsible for confirming that the party interconnecting has made appropriate provisions with a Balancing Authority to operate within its metered boundaries.
Rationale for Requirement R4.3: Consistent with the Functional Model, there cannot be an assumption that the entity owning the generation will be the same entity providing the BA function. It is the responsibility of the party interconnecting to make appropriate arrangements with a Balancing Authority to ensure its Facilities are within the BA’s metered boundaries,
which also serves to facilitate the process of the coordination between the two entities that will be required under numerous other standards upon the start of operation. Under 4.3, the Generator Owner is responsible for confirming that the party interconnecting has made appropriate provisions with a Balancing Authority to operate within its metered boundaries.