NERC Issues Pandemic Preparedness Report
In April 2020, NERC released a report entitled, “Pandemic Preparedness and Operational Assessment: Spring 2020” in order to help guide the nation’s electric utilities during this rough time. It’s a helpful publication that’s definitely worth a quick read.
Key Points from NERC’s Pandemic Preparedness Report
The overarching theme of the pandemic preparedness report is that utilities should plan for scenarios where they have a reduced workforce. The report also stresses the need to tighten up cybersecurity measures.
Here is a bullet list of what NERC believes are the main challenges and differences when working during a pandemic:
- Workforce disruptions
- Supply chain disruptions
- Increased risk of cyber incidents like system-hacking
- Unusual usage patterns
- Potential to sequester critical plant employees
- Office personnel working from home
- Deferred maintenance activities that put reliability at risk
As you can see, there are many challenges, and because it is unprecedented territory, utilities will need to learn on the fly. This is why the NERC report also emphasizes the importance of doing an after-action report (AAR) to capture lessons learned, and then incorporating these learnings into your own emergency preparedness plan.
In the long run, NERC predicts what amounts to permanent changes. These include the increased usage of remote workers, potential changes to generation and transmission in-service dates, and an increased desire for utilities to create a standalone pandemic preparedness plan to improve response to future outbreaks. NERC will be issuing a more detailed assessment of the potential long-term impact of COVID-19 as part of its upcoming “2020 Long-Term Reliability Assessment.”
For now, we just need to keep moving forward, toward that elusive light at the end of the tunnel. As of the time of this writing, the coronavirus is still hammering the world. But thanks to reports like this one, although we all hope there will never be another pandemic like this, if there is, at least we will be better prepared.
