First Things RFirst: May 2025
Expert analysis for a more reliable, secure and resilient electric grid, plus news and updates for RF stakeholders.
News & Updates
Impact Report highlights collaboration, outreach, and compliance work at center of RF’s mission to ensure electric grid reliability and security
ReliabilityFirst published its 2024 Impact Report, highlighting the value of our collaboration, outreach and compliance efforts to ensure the reliability and security of the electric grid.
This document captures RF’s work in action in 2024, as well as some of the trends and takeaways we’ve seen in the enforcement and noncompliance space as well as potential threats to the grid.
The Impact Report also serves as a great high-level resource for our stakeholders to better get to know our organization at a glance.
Click here to read the full report and watch our video below.
Insights & Analysis
The Lighthouse: CIP low impact from the ground up – Part 7, Governance and policy
In Part 7 of Lew Folkerth’s series exploring the NERC CIP Standards applicable to low impact BES Cyber Systems, he turns his focus to governance and policy. Lew offers CIP Senior Managers his suggestions on leveraging cyber security policy to further their management goals, expectations, and aspirations, when it comes to their organizations’ CIP security management controls posture.
Regulatory Affairs: Grid reliability news we’re tracking
The latest regulatory headlines we’re tracking include:
- House Committee on Energy and Commerce holds hearing on AI development in U.S.
- NERC chief engineer highlights potential grid disturbances attributable to data centers
- Executive Order calls for grid to utilize all available generation sources to ensure reliability amid growing electricity demand
- FERC issues joint performance report on January 2025 arctic events
Upcoming Events
May 27, 8:30-10 a.m. ET | Tech Talk with RF
Join us for our May edition of Tech Talk with RF! Please note the scheduling change for this month’s webinar, which will be on Tuesday, May 27, from 8:30-10 a.m. ET. Bill Smith will be discussing the impact of renewable generation on Power Systems Operation through a simulated OPS-X exercise, an interactive training tool developed by his company, Powersmiths International.
May 20-21, 2025 | MRO Reliability, Security, and CMEP Summit
MRO will host its 2025 Reliability, Security, and CMEP Summit May 20-21 in Oklahoma City. There will also be a virtual option.
June 16, 2- 3:30 p.m. ET | Tech Talk with RF
Save the date for our June edition of Tech Talk with RF! We’ll be back to our normal Monday afternoon timeslot on June 16, from 2-3:30 p.m. ET. 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 Protection System Workshop on Aug. 6, 2025. This event will be held virtually via WebEx. The agenda and additional information are currently being developed and will be available soon.
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 event will be held virtually via WebEx. The agenda and additional information are currently being developed and will be available soon.
Sept. 8-10, 2025 | RF Fall Reliability & Security Summit
Save the date for RF’s 2025 Fall Reliability & Security Summit! This year’s event is planned for Sept. 8-10 in the Washington, D.C., area. Stay tuned for more details.
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: May 2025