[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 145 (Friday, July 27, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35630-35632]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-16015]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. RD18-4-000]
Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725G2 \1\);
Comment Request; Revision
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\1\ Commission staff is using the FERC-725G2 is a temporary
``place holder'' information collection for this 30-day notice.
FERC-725G information collection (OMB Control No. 1902-0252) is
pending review at OMB in an unrelated item and only one item per OMB
Control No. can be pending OMB review at a time. In order to submit
this timely, to OMB, we are using a temporary place holder.
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AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of information collection and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or
FERC) is submitting its information collection, FERC-725G2 \1\
(Reliability Standards for the Bulk Power System: PRC Reliability
Standards) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review of
the information collection requirements. Any interested person may file
comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments
to the Commission as explained below. The Commission previously issued
a Notice in the Federal Register on May 16, 2018, requesting public
comments. The Commission received no comments on the FERC-725G2 and is
making this notation in its submittal to OMB.
DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due August 27,
2018.
ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by the OMB Control No.:
1902-0281, should be sent via email to the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs: [email protected]. Attention: Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. The Desk Officer may also be
reached via telephone at 202-395-8528. A copy of the comments should
also be sent to the Commission, in Docket No. RD18-4-000, by either of
the following methods:
eFiling at Commission's Website: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp.
Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE,
Washington, DC 20426.
Instructions: All submissions must be formatted and filed in
accordance with submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide.asp. For user assistance, contact FERC Online Support
by email at [email protected], or by phone at: (866) 208-3676
(toll-free), or (202) 502-8659 for TTY.
Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of
activity in this docket or in viewing/downloading comments and
issuances in this docket may do so at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by email at
[email protected], telephone at (202) 502-8663, and fax at (202)
273-0873.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: FERC-725G2, Reliability Standards for the Bulk Power System:
PRC Reliability Standards.
OMB Control No.: 1902-0281.
Type of Request: Revision of FERC-725G2 information collection
requirements as discussed in Docket No. RD18-4.
Abstract: The information collected by the FERC-725G2 is required
to implement the statutory provisions of section 215 of the Federal
Power Act (FPA) (16 U.S.C. 824o). Section 215 of the FPA buttresses the
Commission's
[[Page 35631]]
efforts to strengthen the reliability of the interstate grid.
On March 16, 2018, the North American Electric Reliability
Corporation (NERC, the Commission-approved ERO) submitted for
Commission approval proposed Reliability Standard PRC-025-2.
Reliability Standard PRC-025-2 addresses setting load-responsive
protective relays associated with generation facilities at a level to
prevent unnecessary tripping of generators during a system disturbance
for conditions that do not pose a risk of damage to the associated
equipment. Reliability Standard PRC-025-2 also improves upon the
retired Reliability Standard PRC-025-1 \2\ by addressing certain relay
setting application issues and by clarifying certain terminology and
references. NERC requested that the Commission approve the Reliability
Standard and find that the approved standard is just, reasonable, not
unduly discriminatory or preferential, and in the public interest. NERC
also requested that the Commission approve: (i) The associated
Implementation Plan; (ii) the associated Violation Risk Factors (VRFs)
and Violation Severity Levels (VSLs), which remain unchanged from
Reliability Standard PRC-025-1; and (iii) the retirement of currently-
effective Reliability Standard PRC-025-1.
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\2\ http://www.nerc.net/standardsreports/standardssummary.aspx.
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Reliability Standard PRC-025-2 became effective on 7/1/2018, the
first day of the first calendar quarter after the effective date of the
applicable governmental authority's order approving the standard.
NERC's Implementation Plan approved phased-in compliance dates after
the effective date of Reliability Standard PRC-025-2.\3\
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\3\ See NERC's Implementation Plan at https://www.nerc.com/pa/Stand/Project%20201604%20Modifications%20to%20PRC0251%20DL/Project_2016_04_Implementation_Plan_Clean_01092018.pdf.
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On May 2, 2018, pursuant to the relevant authority delegated to the
Director, Office of Electric Reliability under 18 CFR 385.713 (2017)
Reliability Standard PRC-025-2 and the retirement of Reliability
Standard PRC-025-1 was approved.
Type of Respondents: Generator Owner (GO), Transmission Owner (TO),
and Distribution Provider (DP).
Estimate of Annual Burden: \4\ Details follow on the changes in
Docket No. RD18-4-000 to Reliability Standard FERC-725G2.
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\4\ Burden is defined as the total time, effort, or financial
resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. For
further explanation of what is included in the information
collection burden, refer to 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.
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Net Effect to Burden for FERC-725G2: Due to the retirement of
Reliability Standard PRC-025-1 and implementation of Reliability
Standard PRC-025-2, the number of respondents is reduced by 25, and the
number of annual burden hours is reduced by 550 hours. (The net changes
are due to a change in the number of affected entities on the NERC
Registry.) The burden per respondent for Reliability Standard PRC-025-2
remains 22 hours (total for both one-time and ongoing burden, similar
to the now-retired Reliability Standard PRC-025-1.)
FERC-725G2, Mandatory Reliability Standard PRC-025-2, in Docket No. RD18-4-000
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Annual number Average burden hours Total annual burden
Entity Number of respondents of responses Annual number and cost per response hours and total Cost per
\5\ per respondent of responses \6\ ($) annual cost ($) respondent ($)
(1).................. (2) (1) * (2) = (3) (4).................. (3) * (4) = (5)..... (5) / (1) = (6)
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(One-time) Review & documentation 994 GO/TO/DP......... 1 994 20 hrs.; $1,298.20... 19,880 hours; $1,298.20
of relay settings to ensure $1,290,410.80.
compliance.
(On-going) Record Retention (of 994 GO/TO/DP......... 1 994 2 hrs.; $62.32....... 1,988 hours; 62.32
compliance records for R1 and M1, $61,946.08.
for 3 years or until mitigation
complete).
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\5\ According to the NERC compliance registry as of March 9,
2018, NERC has registered 415 distribution providers (DP), 985
generator owners (GO) and 336 transmission owners (TO). However,
under NERC's compliance registration program, entities may be
registered for multiple functions, so these numbers incorporate some
double counting. The number of unique entities responding will be
approximately 994 entities registered as a transmission owner, a
distribution provider, or a generator owner that is also a
transmission owner and/or a distribution owner. This estimate
assumes all of the unique entities apply load-responsive protective
relays.
\6\ The hourly cost (for salary plus benefits) uses the figures
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2017, for two positions
involved in the reporting and recordkeeping requirements. These
figures include salary (https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and benefits http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm) and are: Engineer: $64.91/hour, and File Clerk:
$31.16/hour. Hourly cost for the engineer are used for the one-time
costs, and hourly cost for the file clerk are used for the ongoing
record retention.
FERC-725G, Mandatory Reliability Standard PRC-025-1, Retirement in Docket No. RD18-4-000
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Annual number Average burden hours Total annual burden
Entity Number of of responses Annual number and cost \7\ per hours and total Cost per respondent
respondents per respondent of responses response ($) annual cost ($) \8\ ($)
(1)................. (2) (1) * (2) = (3) (4)................. (3) * (4) = (5).... (5) / (1) = (6)
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(One-time) Review & documentation 1,019 GO/DP/TO...... 1 1,019 20 hrs.; $1,192.40 20,380 hours; $1,192.40
of relay settings to ensure (reduction). $1,215,055.60 (reduction).
compliance,(reduction). (reduction).
(On-going) Record Retention (of 1,019 GO/DP/TO...... 1 1,019 2 hrs.; $57.90 2,038 hours; 57.90 (reduction).
compliance records for R1 and (reduction). $59,000.10
M1, for 3 years or until (reduction).
mitigation complete) (reduction).
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[[Page 35632]]
Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the Commission, including whether the information will have practical
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden and
cost of the collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality,
utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are
to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
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\7\ GO = Generator Owner, DP = Distribution Provider, TO =
Transmission Owner, each of which applies load-responsive protective
relays at the terminals of the Elements listed in the proposed
standard at section 3.2 (Facilities).
\8\ The estimated hourly costs (salary plus benefits) are based
on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) information May 2014, (at http://bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm#17-0000) for an electrical
engineer ($59.62/hour for review and documentation), and for a file
clerk ($28.95/hour for record retention). Those figures (and the
number of respondents) were used when the standard was approved and
added to the OMB inventory. Hourly cost for the engineer are used
for the one-time costs, and hourly cost for the file clerk are used
for the ongoing record retention.
Dated: July 19, 2018.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-16015 Filed 7-26-18; 8:45 am]
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