The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has established a set of requirements and standards to ensure the reliability and security of the bulk power system. These requirements, which include various reporting obligations for substations, are part of NERC’s broader effort to monitor and maintain the integrity of the power grid, which is why asset management compliance is so critical.
Due to a major outage in 2003 resulting in a loss of power to 50 million people in the Northeast and Midwest of North America, the Electric Reliability Organization was formed to ensure the reliability of the grid in North America. In 2006 the ERO’s mandatory compliance guidelines began to be enforced by NERC.
This mandatory enforcement was put in place to ensure consistent testing and maintenance of the electrical grid throughout the US and parts of Canada. NERC also can enforce a series of fines against companies which fail to meet these compliance regulations.
NERC’s area of responsibility spans the continental United States, Canada, and the northern portion of Baja California, Mexico.
NERC Reliability Standards define the reliability requirements for planning and operating North America’s bulk power system and are developed using a results-based approach, focusing on performance, risk management, and entity capabilities.
NERC Reliability Standards
NERC’s Reliability Standards are the core framework governing the operation, maintenance, and reporting responsibilities of substations. These standards apply to entities responsible for critical infrastructure, including generation plants, transmission operators, and substations. Some of the key reliability standards related to substation reporting include:
CIP (Critical Infrastructure Protection) Standards: Focused on cyber and physical security, these standards require substations to report incidents involving security breaches or vulnerabilities.
PRC (Protection and Control): These standards focus on the protection systems of substations, and require reporting on relay settings, protection system maintenance, and disturbances that affect the protection system.
FAC (Facilities Design, Connections, and Maintenance): This requires reporting on the physical conditions of substations and their connections to ensure that they meet reliability and performance criteria.
COM (Communications): These standards require that communication systems for relay protection and control are functional and reported on if issues arise.
Each of these standards has specific reporting requirements related to substation operations, maintenance, testing, and incidents, including event reporting (such as outages, misoperations, security incidents), regular compliance reporting (including performance data and protection system testing), and corrective action reporting (based on an agreed upon timeline with NERC).
What are NERC Requirements for Transformers?
NERC requires that all sudden pressure relays be tested on a five-year basis per PRC-005-6 Table 5, which is a reliability standard to ensure the performance of protection systems for generation.
Additional transformer testing should also be included as part of the asset owner’s time-based maintenance plan. This would include periodic DGA and power factor testing to determine transformer condition. This is usually performed on a self-regulatory basis.
What are NERC Requirements for Circuit Breakers?
Breakers are required to be tested on a maximum of a six-year maintenance period. This test must verify that the breaker can interrupt current through the energization of both trip coils. For this test to be valid, testing must provide evidence of which trip coil operated the breaker. This is evident by providing the amperage drawn by the trip coil initiating the operation. It must also be apparent that the electromechanical part of the breaker can successfully interrupt current within specified limits when the trip coil becomes energized.
Continuous Monitoring vs Periodic Maintenance
While historically compliance with NERC guidelines required crews to perform a series of offline tests on transformers, breakers, batteries and relays, continuous monitoring is now considered superior to periodic maintenance for system reliability because it offers proactive, real-time insights into asset health, enabling utilities to address issues before they escalate.
While periodic maintenance is essential for routine upkeep, continuous monitoring provides a more dynamic, proactive approach. It enhances reliability, optimizes costs, extends assetlife, and allows for informed decision-making based on real-time data—making it a superior strategy for ensuring the ongoing health of power transformers, circuit breakers and battery systems.
Circuit Breakers & Battery Systems
In order to meet NERC compliance, battery monitoring and breaker monitoring must work in tandem to ensure asset health and reliability.
Battery monitoring systems and breaker monitoring systems are both critical components in electrical infrastructure, especially in substations, power plants, and data centers. They serve complementary roles in ensuring the reliability and resilience of power systems.
Purpose and Role
Battery Monitoring Systems track the health, charge, and discharge characteristics of batteries, which are essential for backup power and continuity during outages or interruptions. BMS continuously monitors parameters such as voltage, temperature, internal resistance, and charge level to ensure batteries are always ready to supply power.
Breaker Monitoring Systems monitor the status, health, and operation of circuit breakers. They track parameters like breaker open/close status, operational cycles, contact wear, temperature, and trip times, ensuring that breakers function correctly and reliably during fault conditions or system load changes.
Together, these systems contribute to power system reliability by ensuring that backup power (batteries) is available and that fault isolation (breakers) works properly, maintaining the safety and stability of the electrical system.
Interdependence in System Reliability
Power systems rely on breakers to protect them during faults or overloads. If a fault occurs on the grid, breakers will isolate the faulted circuit to prevent damage, fires, or hazards to connected systems.
Breakers depend on batteries for power in the event of an outage, as they require power to operate their trip coils. Battery health is thus critical for breaker operation, especially during faults when breakers need to operate quickly.
How Dynamic Ratings Can Help You Meet NERC Requirements with Continuous Monitoring
Battery monitoring combined with breaker performance monitoring from Dynamic Ratings allows for the continuous tracking of key indicators, such as interruption time, stored energy system performance and coil integrity. This allows operators to detect problems early, often before they can cause significant damage.
The Dynamic Ratings Breaker Performance Monitor is the most comprehensive circuit breaker monitoring solution available. With the inclusion of Smart Capture, the BPM combines the most effective offline and online testing methods. The modular design is a highly customizable online monitoring package, resulting in a monitor capable of performing the advanced analytics required to detect operating deficiencies well in advance of breaker failure.
DynamicMetrix® can automate the gathering of NERC reports from BPM and Battery Monitoring systems. It also allows utilities to customize report structure to meet their standards with DynamicMetrix®.
The Breaker Performance Monitor is ideally suited for implementing predictive maintenance, maintenance deferral, condition based maintenance and increased environmental protection from SF6 gas leaks.
The system can also monitor for excessive moisture and system pressure in pneumatics systems which are a symptom of freezing air lines. Regardless of the stored energy system used in circuit breaker design, monitoring of the charging motor will improve the reliability of systems in cold weather events.
Meanwhile, Smart Capture uses a waveform analysis for graphical comparison of breaker operations, providing a detailed analysis of first trip open and close times, identification of latch and bearing performance, lubrication issues, auxiliary contact condition and fault current values.
Continuous Monitoring with DynamicMetrix®
With continuous monitoring, you can remove periodic maintenance (which is time and labor intensive), and instead gather, report, and catalog data for future audits, gathering all pertinent data into a single access and retrieval point.
DynamicMetrix® is the most reliable asset performance management software on the market gathers and organizes data from monitoring devices and sensors into a centralized access and retrieval system. Here’s how it works:
Data Collection from Monitoring Devices: DynamicMetrix® integrates various types of monitoring devices, such as battery monitors, dissolved gas analysis (DGA) sensors, transformer monitors, and breaker performance monitors. These devices continuously measure and transmit data on critical parameters like temperature, gas levels, moisture content, and electrical load.
Data Transmission: The data from these sensors is transmitted in real-time or at preset intervals to DynamicMetrix®’s central system. Data can be transmitted over wired networks, wireless connections, or even through cloud-based channels if the system is internet-enabled, ensuring consistent data flow to the centralized platform.
Data Aggregation and Standardization: Once collected, the data is aggregated and standardized within the DynamicMetrix® platform, transforming it into a common format. This standardization allows different data types—such as voltage, temperature, and gas levels—to be effectively compared, analyzed, and processed together.
Centralized Access and Retrieval: The processed data is stored within a single repository, which serves as a “one-stop shop” for operators and engineers. Through a user-friendly interface, users can access a dashboard that provides an overview of asset health, current operating conditions, and historical trends. Alarms, alerts, and detailed reports are also available through this central system.
Integration with Analysis and Predictive Tools: DynamicMetrix® often includes analytical and predictive tools, such as threshold alert systems and predictive modeling. These tools interpret data trends and provide actionable insights directly through the platform, allowing for real-time condition based monitoring and predictive maintenance planning.
By gathering all data in a single access point, DynamicMetrix® simplifies asset management, reduces manual data handling, and provides real-time insights for operators to make informed, proactive decisions.
Working with Dynamic Ratings to Meet NERC Compliance
Reliability of power transmission and generation is key in bulk energy systems, and pairing battery monitoring with breaker performance monitoring from Dynamic Ratings will help you stay compliant, while also extending asset health. To learn more, contact us and one of our specialists will help you complete your suite of monitoring tools.
Author: Tyler Willis, Dynamic Ratings