State Energy Insights: July 2025
Grid Reliability and Regulatory Updates from ReliabilityFirst
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 SVP presents takeaways from Iberian Peninsula outages to FERC
During the FERC June open meeting, NERC SVP & Chief Engineer Mark Lauby gave a presentation on takeaways from the recent Iberian Peninsula outages that affected all of Spain and Portugal and portions of France.
Lauby provided an overview of the outages and the event analysis reports issued by the Spanish government and the local grid operator, explaining that according to the reports, traditional synchronous generation could not control high voltage resulting from frequency oscillations during the event.
Lauby also went over the recommendations from the reports, pointing out that several recommended actions are things that the U.S. already does. For example, FERC and NERC already require that all generation units capable of voltage regulation, including IBRs, provide that regulation (per VAR-002-4 and Order 827).
The reports also recommended enhanced voltage control resources such as synchronous condensers, static VAR compensators and static synchronous compensators, all of which are already in place in the U.S. To listen to the full presentation and discussion, the June open hearing is available here.
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.
July 24, 10-11 a.m. ET | FERC Open Meeting
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will hold an open meeting on Thursday, July 24. There will be a webcast link available on the FERC website.
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
- 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!
State Energy Insights from ReliabilityFirst: July 2025