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NERC warns risks are mounting despite high reliability; urges standards overhaul and large‑load rules
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Summary
NERC told FERC that while technical reliability remains high, mounting risks—from inverter‑based resources, extreme weather and large loads—require faster standards development, risk‑based registration and better interconnection practices, including for data centers.
NERC officials told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at its 2025 Reliability Technical Conference that ‘‘the reliability of the power grid remains extremely high, but, paradoxically, the risks to reliability continue to mount,’’ according to Jim Raab, President and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.
Raab outlined a multi‑part agenda intended to close that gap: modernize the standards‑development process, expand NERC’s registry to reflect inverter‑based resources (IBRs) and certain large loads, improve continent‑wide reliability assessments, complete priority reliability standards and strengthen electric–gas and cyber–physical coordination. ‘‘We are using every tool in our toolbox to protect the grid’s reliability, while still enabling the extraordinary growth that’s projected,’’ Raab said.
Why it matters: Commissioners repeatedly emphasized a narrow window to act. FERC Chairman Rosner framed reliability as ‘‘change management’’ that touches national security, economic prosperity and public health, and urged faster permitting and market signals that reward resources that perform under stress.
Key steps NERC described include reforming its standards process into three phases (a term‑sheet definition, legal drafting, and an affirmation step), wider use of limited abeyance periods to ease near‑term compliance burdens, and publishing a white paper on process reforms. Raab said the task force’s goal is to ‘‘cut out about 50% of the time’’ between identifying a standard need and filing a draft for validation.
On large loads, Raab and NERC staff said certain data centers and campus‑scale facilities may behave like very large generators and can alter voltage, frequency and stability patterns. NERC has issued alerts and is preparing preliminary guidelines and a gap analysis to determine whether some large loads should be registered on a risk basis and what performance expectations—such as communications during events and ride‑through capability—should apply.
Commissioners and panelists agreed on the need for a risk‑based approach. NERC plans to follow the alert with a guideline and, if warranted, standards; Raab said registration and performance expectations would be ‘‘risk based’’ and developed with industry input.
Security and operations: NERC flagged an expanded attack surface from distributed devices (EV chargers, smart meters, DERs) and nation‑state capabilities against telecommunications and critical infrastructure. Raab urged more R&D support for defensive technologies and noted an industry stress exercise planned to expose sector weaknesses.
What comes next: NERC expects to post preliminary guidelines and update them after gathering data from industry and FERC’s Office of Electric Reliability. Commissioners encouraged stakeholders to file comments in docket AD25‑eight and to engage in the standards task‑force process.
No formal Commission action was taken at the conference; panelists and staff identified analytical gaps and near‑term mitigations that will inform rulemakings and guidance.
