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Standards

One of the RRC’s primary purposes is to develop and enforce standards across the Railbelt region. Technical Advisory Council members and subject matter experts use their knowledge of the islanded Railbelt grid’s unique challenges—along with stakeholder input—to create specialized reliability, operating, security, and other standards.

RRC Standards

(FAC) Facilities Design, Connections, and Maintenance (3)
  1. Upcoming

  2. Upcoming

  3. Upcoming

Sanction Guidelines (1)
  1. In Progress

(BAL) Resource and Demand Balancing (6)
  1. Upcoming

  2. Pending Enforceability

  3. Time Error Correction

    RRC-BAL-004

    Inactive

  4. Board Approved

  5. Inactive

  6. Upcoming

(CIP) Critical Infrastructure Protection (14)
  1. Board Approved

  2. Board Approved

  3. Personnel & Training

    RRC-CIP-004-1

    Board Approved

  4. Board Approved

  5. Board Approved

  6. Board Approved

  7. Board Approved

  8. Board Approved

  9. Board Approved

  10. Information Protection

    RRC-CIP-011-1

    Board Approved

  11. Board Approved

  12. Board Approved

  13. Physical Security

    RRC-CIP-014-1

    Board Approved

  14. Board Approved

(INT) Interchange Scheduling and Coordination (1)
  1. Pending Enforceability

Interconnection Process (1)
  1. Interconnection Process

    RRC-Interconnection Process-001

    Upcoming

(PRC) Protection and Control (1)
  1. Upcoming

(RC) Reliability Coordinator (1)
  1. Reliability Coordinator

    RRC-RC-001 - Reliability Coordinator

    Board Approved

(RES) Reserve Policy (1)
  1. Reserve Scheduling

    RRC-RES-001

    Upcoming

(TPL) Transmission Planning (1)
  1. In Progress

(VAR) Voltage and Reactive (2)
  1. Pending Enforceability

  2. Pending Enforceability

Standards Filed and Pending Regulatory Approval

These standards have been adopted by the RRC Board of Directors (Board) and filed with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) for approval, but have not yet been approved by the RCA.

Standards Pending Regulatory Filing

These standards have been adopted by the Board, but have not yet been filed with the RCA.

Automatic Generation Control

Purpose:

  1. This standard establishes requirements for Balancing Authority Automatic Generation Control (AGC) necessary to calculate Area Control Error (ACE) and to routinely deploy the Regulating and Contingency Reserve.

  2. This standard defines a process for monitoring Balancing Authorities to ensure that, over the long term, Balancing Authority Areas do not excessively depend on other Balancing Authority Areas in the Interconnection for meeting their demand or Interchange obligations.

  3. This standard defines a process to transfer control between all Balancing Authorities from tie-line bias to constant frequency control and for all Balancing Authorities to actively participate in frequency restoration following a Reportable Disturbance.

BES Cyber System Categorization

Purpose: To identify and categorize BES Cyber Systems (BCS) and their associated BES Cyber Assets (BCA) for the application of cyber security requirements commensurate with the adverse impact that loss, compromise, or misuse of those BCS could have on the reliable operation of the Bulk Electric System (BES). Identification and categorization of BCS that support appropriate protection against compromises that could result in instability, uncontrolled separations, or Cascading within the BES.

Configuration Change Management and Vulnerability Assessments

Purpose: To prevent and detect unauthorized changes to Bulk Electric System Cyber Systems (BCS) by specifying configuration change management and vulnerability assessment requirements in support of protecting BCS from compromise that could lead to misoperation or instability in the Bulk Electric System (BES).

Physical Security

Purpose: To identify and protect Transmission Facilities, and their associated primary control centers, that if rendered inoperable or damaged as a result of a physical attack could result in instability, uncontrolled separations, or cascading outages within the Bulk Electric System (BES).

Standard Developments In Progress

These standards are being developed by the Technical Advisory Council and related working groups.

Sanction Guidelines

The RRC, as the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO), shall determine and may levy monetary and non-monetary penalties against a Registered Entity, as owners, operators, and users of the Bulk Power System for violations of the RRC Reliability Standards.

Transmission System Performance Requirements

This standard establishes Transmission system planning performance requirements within the planning horizon to develop a System that will operate reliably over a broad spectrum of conditions and following a wide range of probable Contingencies applicable to the portions of the Bulk Electrical System (BES) used to supply power to or from major load and generation centers.

AK Railbelt Voluntary Consensus Standards

In 2018, the Railbelt utilities voluntarily adopted a set of jointly developed reliability standards. While not the RRC’s official standards, these often serve as the foundation for RRC standards development.

    1. Standards
    2. Alaska Consensus Standards

    Alaska Railbelt 2018 Consensus Standard: Verification and Data Reporting of Generator Real and Reactive Power Capability and Synchronous Condenser Reactive Power Capability.