Electric Co-op Today

Federal regulators have approved a settlement deal in which the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council agreed to pay a civil penalty and improve its reliability regime in response to a  2008 incident that blacked out large parts of Florida.

A post-blackout investigation attributed the 2008 episode to mistakes by a field engineer that ultimately led to loss of power from facilities such as Florida Power & Light Co.’s Turkey Point nuclear power plant. (Photo By: Lynne Sladky)

Under the deal set out in a March 5 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order [Docket IN08-5], the  council agreed to pay $350,000 and make “numerous specific reliability enhancements.” The agreement stemmed from a joint enforcement effort involving FERC and its grid watchdog, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.

The blackout stemmed from a field engineer’s unauthorized disabling of protective circuits while trying to fix an equipment problem at a Florida Power & Light Co. substation. A subsequent short circuit led to transmission outages in the vicinity as well as generation and distribution outages across a larger area, leading to the loss of 4,300 megawatts of generation and 3,650 MW of customer load, FERC reported.  Almost a million people were affected.

The commission alleged that the Florida council had violated several reliability standards involving staffing of the reliability coordinator position and its associated independent communications system, and for the coordinator’s actions during the blackout and subsequent restoration of power.

While the council neither admitted nor denied that its actions violated reliability standards, it agreed to take several steps to improve reliability. These actions included strengthening communications protocols, reinforcing its members’ procedures relating to disabling protection, and implementing dedicated staffing of the reliability coordinator position on a 24/7/365 basis.

“In consideration of the appropriate remedy, the staff considered the serious nature of the event and its impact on the bulk electric system,” FERC said in its order. “The staff also considered FRCC’s limited role in initiating the affecting nearly one million people.event, quick restoration of the system after the event and the remedial efforts implemented following the event.”

The agreement involving the coordinating council was the second stemming from the blackout. Late last year, FERC, NERC and Florida Power & Light entered a settlement under which the utility was assessed a $25 million penalty.

Tags: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, North American Electric Reliability Corporation, Reliability Standards, Transmission and Distribution