News

by Eddie Aveitia, NERC CIP Reliability Specialist The Changing Threat Landscape Artificial intelligence is changing how both attackers and defenders approach cybersecurity at power generation facilities. You don’t need to be an IT expert to understand the basics—and understanding matters is important because these threats can directly impact plant operations,…

By Richard Schlottmann, NERC Project Manager Introduction Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are emerging as a pivotal technology in the evolution of the electrical grid, offering a blend of flexibility, reliability, and resilience that addresses many of the challenges facing modern power systems. As the energy sector accelerates its transition toward…

By Stefano Schnitger, Senior NERC Reliability Specialist The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Section 1600 reporting framework authorizes targeted data requests from registered entities to support reliability oversight under Section 215 of the Federal Power Act. This framework ensures NERC and Regional Entities have accurate, timely data for reliability…

By Mike Moyer, Power Market Compliance Services Specialist ERCOT stated that the Texas power grid is better equipped than in past years to deal with an extreme weather event. Changes have been made to the Texas power grid with legislation that was passed in 2021-2022, which now requires these plants…

by Sean Thompson, NERC Supervisor Each year, the ERO Enterprise CMEP Implementation Plan signals the reliability, and compliance risks that Compliance Enforcement Authorities (CEAs) are most likely to probe. For Generator Owners (GOs) and Generator Operators (GOPs), the goal isn’t guessing what you’ll be audited on—it’s translating those themes into…

Keeping the grid stable isn’t just a technical goal — it’s what prevents small problems from turning into major outages. For power generators and utilities, reliability is the day-to-day discipline of keeping critical equipment online, operating within limits, and responding quickly when conditions change.  Grid reliability protects more than uptime. It supports economic stability, public…

The Current State of Infrastructure Inspection  Most facilities rely on traditional rooftop inspections: technicians walk the roof, capture photos, and compile them into analog or digital reports. These methods are reactive, based on limited surface visuals, and lack spatial precision. Many facility managers shrug at questions like, “What’s the condition of your roof?” because…

A Smarter, Safer Way to Inspect Roofs  For decades, owners of commercial facilities have relied on manual roof inspections, visually scanning surfaces for obvious issues like cracks or leaks, a process that’s time-consuming, subjective, and limited in detecting hidden problems. Advanced technologies like thermal imaging, 3D modeling, high-resolution imaging, and…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often portrayed as a replacement for human work. In reality, when designed thoughtfully, AI serves a very different role in the energy sector: it empowers people to work smarter, faster, and with greater confidence. For power plants and energy operators, AI decision support tools are not…

Predictive maintenance has always been a cornerstone of efficient energy operations. By anticipating equipment failures before they occur, plants can avoid costly downtime, improve safety, and extend asset life. But until recently, predictive maintenance relied heavily on manual inspections and limited data collection. Today, robotics is changing that equation.  The…