Nev. Admin. Code § 704.Sec. 7 - NEW
1. An electric utility shall, on or before
March 1, 2020, and on or before March 1 of every third year thereafter, submit
a natural disaster protection plan to the Commission. Two or more electric
utilities that are affiliated through common ownership and that have an
interconnected system for the transmission of electricity may submit a joint
natural disaster protection plan. A natural disaster protection plan may be an
amended version of a previous plan.
2. An electric utility shall include in its
natural disaster protection plan all of the following information:
(a) A description of a risk-based approach
used by the electric utility to identify areas within the service territory of
the electric utility that are prone to different types of natural disasters and
an identification of potential threats in the foreseeable future, including,
without limitation, an identification of areas within the service territory of
the electric utility that are subject to a heightened threat of a fire or other
natural disaster.
(b) A description
of the preventive strategies and programs, including, without limitation,
operational practices, inspections and corrections, and system hardening that
the electric utility will adopt to minimize the risk of its electric lines and
equipment causing catastrophic wildfires. In determining which preventive
strategies and programs to include in the description required by this
paragraph, the electric utility shall consider dynamic climate change and other
natural disaster risks.
(c) A
description of the metrics that the electric utility plans to use to evaluate
the performance of the natural disaster protection plan and the assumptions
underlying the use of those metrics.
(d) The threshold criteria for the
de-energization of portions of the distribution and transmission system of the
electric utility due to a natural disaster that considers the associated
impacts on public safety.
(e) The
protocols that the electric utility plans to use:
(1) For disabling reclosers and de-energizing
portions of the distribution and transmission system of the electric utility
that considers the associated impacts on public safety; and
(2) To mitigate the public safety impacts of
the protocols described in subparagraph (1), including, without limitation,
impacts on critical first responders and on health and communication
infrastructure.
(f) A
description of the procedures the electric utility intends to use to restore
its distribution and transmission systems in the event of the de-energization
of those systems or a portion of those systems.
(g) A communication plan related to public
safety outage management, which includes, without limitation, communication
plans specific to customers, stakeholders and communication infrastructure
providers. Before filing a natural disaster protection plan, each electric
utility shall meet with communication infrastructure providers in an effort to
develop a mutually agreeable plan for public safety outage management
notification protocols and format.
(h) A description of the standard for
vegetation management to be used by the electric utility and, if that standard
exceeds any other standard for vegetation management required by any applicable
statute or regulation, a description of how and why the standard exceeds those
requirements.
(i) A description of
the standard for patrols and detailed inspections of electric utility
infrastructure and, if that standard exceeds any other standard for such
patrols and inspections required by any applicable statute or regulation, a
description of how and why the standard exceeds those requirements.
(j) A description of the actions that the
electric utility will take to ensure that its system will achieve a reasonable
level of safety, reliability and resiliency and to ensure that its system is
prepared for a natural disaster, including, without limitation, vegetation
management, patrols, inspections, testing, and hardening and modernizing its
infrastructure with improved engineering, system design, standards, equipment
and facilities, such as undergrounding, insulation of distribution wires, pole
replacement and other measures. An electric utility shall use prudent practices
commonly used in the electric utility industry for utility design, operating
practices and telecommunications to prevent its infrastructure from causing a
fire and to maintain resiliency during a natural disaster.
(k) An explanation that the electric utility
has an adequately sized and trained workforce to execute the natural disaster
protection plan and promptly restore service after a major event, taking into
account employees of other utilities available to the electric utility pursuant
to mutual aid agreements and employees of entities with which the electric
utility has entered into contracts.
(l) A description of how the natural disaster
protection plan is consistent with the emergency response plan submitted by the
electric utility pursuant to
NRS
239C.270.
(m) A description of the processes and
procedures that the electric utility will use to monitor and audit the
implementation of the natural disaster protection plan and to take actions to
correct any deficiency that is identified.
(n) A description of the participation of the
electric utility, including, without limitation, any commitments made, in any
community wildfire protection plans, as defined in
16
U.S.C. §
6511, established in this
State.
3. For each
element that an electric utility is required by subsection 2 to include in its
natural disaster protection plan, the electric utility shall include in its
natural disaster protection plan:
(a) An
identification of how the element is expected to reduce:
(1) Ignition events in high fire risk areas
and extreme fire risk areas during critical fire weather conditions;
and
(2) Equipment damage and loss
of power caused by a natural disaster;
(b) A cost-benefit analysis for the element;
and
(c) The input relating to the
element that has been provided by:
(1) Each
fire protection district in the service territory of the electric utility that
is covered by the plan;
(2) The
office of emergency management for each county covered by the plan;
(3) The Division of Forestry, Division of
State Lands and Division of State Parks of the State Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources; and
(4) The
Division of Emergency Management of the Department of Public Safety.
4. In addition to the
information that an electric utility is required by subsections 2 and 3 to
include in its natural disaster protection plan, the electric utility shall
include in its natural disaster protection plan:
(a) A summary of the projected 3-year budget
for the natural disaster protection plan, an identification of the projected
cost elements of the plan and the projected cost for each element that the
electric utility is required by subsection 2 to include in the plan;
(b) If two or more electric utilities submit
a joint natural disaster protection plan, the proposed joint and direct
allocation of costs between the service territories of the electric utilities;
and
(c) Annual data tracking trends
associated with:
(1) Ignition events,
separated for ignition events:
(I) During
critical fire weather conditions and during all other days in high and extreme
risk fire areas; and
(II) The
involvement of transmission or distribution infrastructure; and
(2) Equipment damage and loss of
power caused by natural disasters.
Notes
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