First Things RFirst: July 2025
Expert analysis for a more reliable, secure and resilient electric grid, plus news and updates for RF stakeholders.
Insights & Analysis
RF report highlights cold weather winterization best practices for entities
For the past decade, RF has led a Cold Weather Winterization outreach program dedicated to promoting generator preparedness and enhancing grid reliability during extreme cold weather events. Our 2024-2025 report outlines best practices identified during site visits at 20 power plants from across the RF region.
Regulatory Affairs: Grid reliability news we’re tracking
The latest regulatory headlines we’re tracking include:
- NERC SVP presents takeaways from Iberian Peninsula outages to FERC
- FERC withdraws notice of inquiry on the CIP standards, issues final rule approving CIP-015-1
- DOE announces new vulnerability intelligence solution
News & Updates
NERC issues 2025 State of Reliability Assessment
NERC released its 2025 State of Reliability Assessment in June, finding that the North American bulk power system (BPS) continued to be reliable and resilient in 2024.
Undertaken annually, this report provides objective and concise information for policymakers and industry leaders on issues that affect the reliability and resilience of the North American BPS while providing strong technical support for those interested in the underlying data and detailed analytics.
The 2025 report shows that today’s transmission system is demonstrably more reliable and resilient with the severity and duration of outages declining, and system restoration times growing shorter. However, newer and emerging risks are challenging grid reliability in new ways, which will require agility to better assess these risks, and develop and implement mitigations, all while the system undergoes rapid transformation.
NERC report analyzes loss of monitoring and control due to communication failure between control centers
NERC shared a new Lesson Learned document on June 25, analyzing how communication failure between control centers can cause system operators to lose both monitoring and control capabilities over their energy management system (EMS) production systems. The report outlines three anonymized, relevant cases, the respective corrective actions that were taken, and a list of lessons learned that aim to provide industry with technical and understandable information to help maintain the reliability of the bulk power system.
Click here to read the full document
Upcoming Events
July 21, 2- 3:30 p.m. ET | Tech Talk with RF
Coming up on the July edition of Tech Talk with RF, we’re focusing on power plant winterization best practices. The general manager at Hamilton Liberty Power Plant, located in northeastern Pennsylvania, will share his organization’s experience with RF’s power plant winterization site visit program. We’ll also have an overview of the new NERC Modernization of Standards Processes and Procedures Task Force.
Aug. 18, 2- 3:30 p.m. ET | Tech Talk with RF
Save the date for our August edition of Tech Talk with RF on Monday, Aug. 18! Stay tuned for agenda details to be posted on our website calendar and LinkedIn feed.
Aug. 6, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET | Protection System Workshop
Register now for RF’s 11th Annual Protection System Workshop on Aug. 6, 2025! This free event will be held virtually via WebEx. We’ll have presentations on the application of large language models for protection relay settings configuration; ride-through requirements for IBRs in NERC Reliability Standard PRC-029 vs. IEEE std 2800-2022; virtualization of protection systems in distribution design, implementation, and performance testing; and more!
Aug. 7, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET | Human Performance Workshop
Register now for RF’s 8th Annual Human Performance Workshop on Aug. 7, 2025! This free event will be held virtually via WebEx. We’ll have presentations on how to use AI to improve safety communication and leadership in the field; reducing injury and preserving the industrial athlete; improving content retention in training and learning; and more!
Aug. 13, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET | Inverter-Based Resources (IBR) Webinar
MRO will host an informational webinar on risks associated with the integration of IBRs into the bulk power system, as well as important registration and compliance considerations for Category 2 IBR Generator Owners and Operators.
Aug. 18 – 22, 2025 | Cold Weather Preparedness Small Group Advisory Sessions
NERC and the Regional Entities, including ReliabilityFirst, will host Small Group Advisory Sessions (SGAS) to discuss the implementation of the Extreme Cold Weather Preparedness Standard, EOP-012-3. While this standard is still awaiting final FERC approval after it was filed with the commission in April, it has a proposed effective date of Oct. 1, 2025.
These meetings are tentatively planned for the week of Aug. 18, 2025, and will be held virtually via Webex. There will be a general session to discuss EOP-012-3 on Monday, Aug. 18. Then, SGAS One-on-One Sessions are planned for Tuesday, Aug. 19 – Friday, Aug. 22. These will be closed, one-on-one discussions between a registered entity’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and ERO Enterprise staff about issues pertinent to that entity’s implementation of EOP-012-3 and any other cold weather-related concerns.
NERC will schedule the one-on-one sessions after registration is received and is coordinated with Regional Entity staff.
Aug. 19-21, 2025 | CIP Low Impact Workshop
Register now for RF’s CIP Low Impact Workshop on Aug. 19-21, held in-person at the RF Office in Cleveland. The workshop will give attendees the opportunity to improve their understanding of security and compliance for CIP assets containing low impact BES Cyber Systems.
Sept. 8-10, 2025 | RF Fall Reliability & Security Summit
Register now for RF’s Fall Reliability & Security Summit. This year’s event will be hosted at the MGM National Harbor just outside of Washington, D.C.
We’ll kick things off with an evening reception and our Reliability Recognition Awards Ceremony on Monday, Sept. 8.
Then, we have an exciting agenda on Tuesday, Sept. 9, where we’ll be joined by key players from across the electric industry, including:
- FERC Commissioner David Rosner
- NERC President & CEO Jim Robb
- RF President & CEO Tim Gallagher
- PJM President & CEO Manu Asthana
- AEP President & CEO Bill Fehrman
- LS Power CEO Paul Segal
- PPL Electric Utilities President Christine Martin
- FERC Director of Office of Energy Infrastructure Security Joe McClelland
- And more!
Finally, on Wednesday, Sept. 10, attendees will be able to choose from three half-day tracks, depending on which focus area makes the most sense for them. These include an energy policy leadership session, an internal controls workshop for experienced registered entity personnel, and a NERC 101 primer for new registered entities.
The full agenda and registration link are available on our website. We hope to see you there!
Nov. 18-19, 2025 | GridEx VIII
GridEx is the largest grid security exercise in North America, hosted every two years by the NERC Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC). It offers E-ISAC member and partner organizations a forum in which to practice how they would respond to and recover from coordinated cyber and physical security threats and incidents.
The last event in 2023 saw more than 15,000 participants come together from approximately 250 North American organizations, including the electric industry, cross-sector partners from gas and telecommunications, and U.S. and Canadian government partners.
To explore our full calendar of upcoming events, click here.
First Things RFirst: July 2025