FAC-002-4 – Facility Interconnection Studies
FAC-002-4 – Facility Interconnection Studies
Purpose:
To study the impact of interconnecting new or changed Facilities on the Bulk Electric System.
Applicability:
4.1. Functional Entities:
4.1.1. Planning Coordinator
4.1.2. Transmission Planner
4.1.3. Transmission Owner
4.1.4. Distribution Provider
4.1.5. Generator Owner
4.1.6. Applicable Generator Owner
4.1.6.1 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:
See Implementation Plan for Project 2020-05.
Requirements and Measures
R1. Each Transmission Planner and each Planning Coordinator shall study the reliability impact of: (i) interconnecting new generation, transmission, or electricity end-user Facilities and (ii) existing interconnections of generation, transmission, or electricity end-user Facilities seeking to make a qualified change as defined by the Planning Coordinator under Requirement R6. The following shall be studied: [Violation Risk Factor: Medium] [Time Horizon: Long-term Planning]
1.1. The reliability impact of the new interconnection, or existing interconnection seeking to make a qualified change as defined by the Planning Coordinator under Requirement R6, on affected system(s);
1.2. Adherence to applicable NERC Reliability Standards; regional and Transmission Owner planning criteria; and Facility interconnection requirements;
1.3. Steady-state, short-circuit, and dynamics studies, as necessary, to evaluate system performance under both normal and contingency conditions; and
1.4. Study assumptions, system performance, alternatives considered, and coordinated recommendations. While these studies may be performed independently, the results shall be evaluated and coordinated by the entities involved.
M1. Each Transmission Planner or each Planning Coordinator shall have evidence (such as study reports, including documentation of reliability issues) that it met all requirements in Requirement R1.
R2. Each Generator Owner seeking to interconnect new generation Facilities, or existing interconnections of generation Facilities seeking to make a qualified change as defined by the Planning Coordinator under Requirement R6, shall coordinate and cooperate on studies with its Transmission Planner or Planning Coordinator, including but not limited to the provision of data as described in R1, Parts 1.1-1.4. [Violation Risk Factor: Medium] [Time Horizon: Long-term Planning]
M2. Each Generator Owner shall have evidence (such as documents containing the data provided in response to the requests of the Transmission Planner or Planning Coordinator) that it met all requirements in Requirement R2.
R3. Each Transmission Owner and each Distribution Provider seeking to interconnect new transmission Facilities or electricity end-user Facilities, or existing interconnections of transmission Facilities or electricity end-user Facilities seeking to make a qualified change as defined by the Planning Coordinator under Requirement R6, shall coordinate and cooperate on studies with its Transmission Planner or Planning Coordinator, including but not limited to the provision of data as described in R1, Parts 1.1-1.4. [Violation Risk Factor: Medium] [Time Horizon: Long-term Planning]
M3. Each Transmission Owner and each Distribution Provider shall have evidence (such as documents containing the data provided in response to the requests of the Transmission Planner or Planning Coordinator) that it met all requirements in Requirement R3.
R4. Each Transmission Owner shall coordinate and cooperate with its Transmission Planner or Planning Coordinator on studies regarding requested new or existing interconnections seeking to make a qualified change as defined by the Planning Coordinator under Requirement R6, to its Facilities, including but not limited to the provision of data as described in R1, Parts 1.1-1.4. [Violation Risk Factor: Medium] [Time Horizon: Long-term Planning]
M4. Each Transmission Owner shall have evidence (such as documents containing the data provided in response to the requests of the Transmission Planner or Planning Coordinator) that it met all requirements in Requirement R4.
R5. Each applicable Generator Owner shall coordinate and cooperate with its Transmission Planner or Planning Coordinator on studies regarding requested interconnections to its Facilities, including but not limited to the provision of data as described in R1, Parts 1.1-1.4. [Violation Risk Factor: Medium] [Time Horizon: Longterm Planning]
M5. Each applicable Generator Owner shall have evidence (such as documents containing the data provided in response to the requests of the Transmission Planner or Planning Coordinator) that it met all requirements in Requirement R5.
R6. Each Planning Coordinator shall maintain a publicly available definition of qualified change for the purposes of facility interconnection. [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time Horizon: Long-term Planning]
M6. Each Planning Coordinator shall have evidence that it has maintained a publicly available definition of qualified change.
Compliance
1. Compliance Monitoring Process
1.1. Compliance Enforcement Authority: “Compliance Enforcement Authority” means NERC or the Regional Entity, or any entity as otherwise designated by an Applicable Governmental Authority, in their respective roles of monitoring and/or enforcing compliance with mandatory and enforceable Reliability Standards in their respective jurisdictions.
1.2. Evidence Retention: The following evidence retention period(s) 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 Compliance Enforcement Authority may ask an entity to provide other evidence to show that it was compliant for the full-time period since the last audit.
The applicable entity shall keep data or evidence to show compliance as identified below unless directed by its Compliance Enforcement Authority to retain specific evidence for a longer period of time as part of an investigation.
The Planning Coordinator, Transmission Planner, Transmission Owner, Distribution Provider, Generator Owner and applicable Generator Owner shall keep data or evidence to show compliance as identified below unless directed by its CEA to retain specific evidence for a longer period of time as part of an investigation:
The responsible entities shall retain documentation as evidence for three years.
If a responsible entity is found non-compliant, it shall keep information related to the non-compliance until mitigation is complete and approved or for the time specified above, whichever is longer.
The CEA shall keep the last audit records and all requested and submitted subsequent audit records.
1.3. Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program: As defined in the NERC Rules of Procedure, “Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program” refers to the identification of the processes that will be used to evaluate data or information for the purpose of assessing performance or outcomes with the associated Reliability Standard.