On June 30, 2011, NERC filed its remaining responses to FERC's recent questions on the expected scope of bulk-power system facilities considered Critical Assets under the proposed CIP-002-4 Reliability Standard. The proposed standard would, for the first time, create bright-line criteria for identifying the facilities subject to NERC's CIP-002 through CIP-009 Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards, moving away from the current criteria that grant a great deal of discretion to individual entities.
As explained by NERC, the survey results suggest that the implementation of the bright-line criteria in CIP-002-4 will substantially increase the number of Critical Assets with Critical Cyber Assets.
Among the survey findings are the following:
- Currently only 50% of substations 300 kV and above are classified as Critical Assets; this number will increase to 70% under CIP-002-4.
- Almost 25% of generating units producing at least 300 MVA (that are not nuclear or blackstart units) will be Critical Assets under CIP-002-4.
- 532 system control centers will be Critical Assets with Critical Cyber Assets under CIP-002-4.
- 1,273 transmission substations 100 kV and above will be Critical Assets with Critical Cyber Assets under CIP-002-4.
- 475 generating units (that are not nuclear or blackstart units) will be Critical Assets with Critical Cyber Assets under CIP-002-4.
Copyright 2011. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. All Rights Reserved.
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