Reliability Standards FAC-001-3

FAC-001-3 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

A. Introduction
1.

Title:

Facility Interconnection Requirements

2.

Number:

FAC-001-3

3.

Purpose: To avoid adverse impacts on the reliability of the Bulk Electric System,
Transmission Owners and applicable Generator Owners must document and make
Facility interconnection requirements available so that entities seeking to interconnect
will have the necessary information.

4.

Applicability:
4.1. Functional Entities:
4.1.1

Transmission Owner

4.1.2

Applicable Generator Owner

4.1.2.1 Generator Owner with a fully executed Agreement to conduct a study
on the reliability impact of interconnecting a third party Facility to the
Generator Owner’s existing Facility that is used to interconnect to the
Transmission system.
5.

Effective Date: See Implementation Plan for FAC-001-3.

B. Requirements and Measures
R1. Each Transmission Owner shall document Facility interconnection requirements,
update them as needed, and make them available upon request. Each Transmission
Owner’s Facility interconnection requirements shall address interconnection
requirements for: [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time Horizon: Long-term Planning]
1.1. generation Facilities;
1.2. transmission Facilities; and
1.3. end-user Facilities.
M1. Each Transmission Owner shall have evidence (such as dated, documented Facility
interconnection requirements) that it met all requirements in Requirement R1.
R2. Each applicable Generator Owner shall document Facility interconnection
requirements and make them available upon request within 45 calendar days of full
execution of an Agreement to conduct a study on the reliability impact of
interconnecting a third party Facility to the Generator Owner’s existing Facility that is
used to interconnect to the Transmission system. [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time
Horizon: Long-term Planning]
M2. Each applicable Generator Owner shall have evidence (such as dated, documented
Facility interconnection requirements) that it met all requirements in Requirement R2.

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FAC-001-3 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

R3. Each Transmission Owner shall address the following items in its Facility
interconnection requirements: [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time Horizon: LongTerm Planning]
3.1. Procedures for coordinated studies of new or materially modified existing
interconnections and their impacts on affected system(s).
3.2. Procedures for notifying those responsible for the reliability of affected system(s)
of new or materially modified existing interconnections.
3.3. Procedures for confirming with those responsible for the reliability of affected
systems of new or materially modified transmission Facilities are within a
Balancing Authority Area’s metered boundaries.
M3. Each Transmission Owner shall have evidence (such as dated, documented Facility
interconnection requirements addressing the procedures) that it met all requirements in
Requirement R3.
R4. Each applicable Generator Owner shall address the following items in its Facility
interconnection requirements: [Violation Risk Factor: Lower] [Time Horizon: LongTerm Planning]
4.1. Procedures for coordinated studies of new interconnections and their impacts on
affected system(s).
4.2. Procedures for notifying those responsible for the reliability of affected system(s)
of new interconnections.
4.3. Procedures for confirming with those responsible for the reliability of affected
systems of new or materially modified generation Facilities are within a
Balancing Authority Area’s metered boundaries.
M4. Each applicable Generator Owner shall have evidence (such as dated, documented
Facility interconnection requirements addressing the procedures) that it met all
requirements in Requirement R4.
C. Compliance
1.

Compliance Monitoring Process
1.1. Compliance Enforcement Authority
As defined in the NERC Rules of Procedure, “Compliance Enforcement
Authority” (CEA) means NERC or the Regional Entity in their respective roles of
monitoring and enforcing compliance with the NERC Reliability Standards.
1.2. Evidence Retention
The following evidence retention periods identify the period of time an entity is
required to retain specific evidence to demonstrate compliance. For instances
where the evidence retention period specified below is shorter than the time since
the last audit, the CEA may ask an entity to provide other evidence to show that it
was compliant for the full time period since the last audit.

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FAC-001-3 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

The applicable Functional Entity shall keep data or evidence to show compliance
as identified below unless directed by its CEA to retain specific evidence for a
longer period of time as part of an investigation:
The responsible entities shall retain documentation as evidence for three years.
If a responsible entity is found non-compliant, it shall keep information related to
the non-compliance until mitigation is complete and approved or for the time
specified above, whichever is longer.
The CEA shall keep the last audit records and all requested and submitted
subsequent audit records.
1.3. Compliance Monitoring and Assessment Processes:
Compliance Audit
Self-Certification
Spot Check
Compliance Investigation
Self-Reporting
Complaint
1.4. Additional Compliance Information
None

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FAC-001-3 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

Table of Compliance Elements
R#

Time
Horizon

VRF

Violation Severity Levels
Lower VSL

R1

Long-term
Planning

Lower

N/A

Moderate VSL

High VSL

The Transmission
Owner documented
Facility
interconnection
requirements and
updated them as
needed, but failed to
make them available
upon request.

The Transmission
Owner documented
Facility
interconnection
requirements, but
failed to update them
as needed and failed to
make them available
upon request.

OR

OR

The Transmission
Owner documented
Facility
interconnection
requirements and made
them available upon
request, but failed to
update them as needed.

The Transmission
Owner documented
Facility
interconnection
requirements, updated
them as needed, and
made them available
upon request, but
failed to address
interconnection
requirements for two
of the Facilities as
specified in R1, Parts
1.1, 1.2, or 1.3.

OR
The Transmission
Owner documented
Facility
interconnection
requirements, updated
them as needed, and
made them available
upon request, but

Severe VSL

The Transmission
Owner did not
document Facility
interconnection
requirements.

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FAC-001-3 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

failed to address
interconnection
requirements for one of
the Facilities as
specified in R1, Parts
1.1, 1.2, or 1.3.
R2

Long-term
Planning

Lower

The applicable
Generator Owner
failed to document
Facility
interconnection
requirements and make
them available upon
request until more than
45 calendar days but
less than or equal to 60
calendar days after full
execution of an
Agreement to conduct
a study on the
reliability impact of
interconnecting a third
party Facility to the
Generator Owner’s
existing Facility that is
used to interconnect to
the Transmission
system.

The applicable
Generator Owner
failed to document
Facility
interconnection
requirements and make
them available upon
request until more than
60 calendar days but
less than or equal to 70
calendar days after full
execution of an
Agreement to conduct
a study on the
reliability impact of
interconnecting a third
party Facility to the
Generator Owner’s
existing Facility that is
used to interconnect to
the Transmission
system.

The applicable
Generator Owner
failed to document
Facility
interconnection
requirements and make
them available upon
request until more than
70 calendar days but
less than or equal to 80
calendar days after full
execution of an
Agreement to conduct
a study on the
reliability impact of
interconnecting a third
party Facility to the
Generator Owner’s
existing Facility that is
used to interconnect to
the Transmission
system.

The applicable
Generator Owner
failed to document
Facility
interconnection
requirements and make
them available upon
request until more than
80 calendar days after
full execution of an
Agreement to conduct
a study on the
reliability impact of
interconnecting a third
party Facility to the
Generator Owner’s
existing Facility that is
used to interconnect to
the Transmission
system.

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FAC-001-3 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

R3

Long-term
Planning

Lower

N/A

The Transmission
Owner failed to
address one part of
Requirement R3 Part
3.1 through Part 3.3.

The Transmission
Owner failed to
address two parts of
Requirement R3 Part
3.1 through Part 3.3.

The Transmission
Owner failed to
address Requirement
R3 Part 3.1 through
Part 3.3.

R4

Long-term
Planning

Lower

N/A

The Generator Owner
failed to address one
part of Requirement
R4 Part 4.1 through
Part 4.3.

The Generator Owner
failed to address two
parts of Requirement
R4 Part 4.1 through
Part 4.3.

The Generator Owner
failed to address
Requirement R4 Part
4.1 through Part 4.3.

D. Regional Variances
None.
E. Interpretations
None.
F. Associated Documents
None.

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FAC-001-3 — Facility Interconnection Requirements

Version History

Version
0

Date
April 1, 2005

1

Action
Effective Date

New

Added requirements for Generator
Owner and brought overall standard
format up to date.

Revision under
Project 2010-07

1

February 9, 2012

Adopted by the Board of Trustees

1

September 19, 2013

A FERC order was issued on
September 19, 2013, approving
FAC-001-1. This standard became
enforceable on November 25, 2013
for Transmission Owners. For
Generator Owners, the standard
becomes enforceable on January 1,
2015.

2

Change
Tracking

Revisions to implement the
recommendations of the FAC FiveYear Review Team.

2

August 14, 2014

Adopted by the Board of Trustees

2

November 6, 2014

FERC letter order issued approving
FAC-001-2.

3

February 11, 2016

Adopted by the Board of Trustees

Revision under
Project 2010-02

Moved BAL-0050.2b Requirement
R1 into FAC-0013 Requirements
R3 and R4

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Supplemental Material
Guidelines and Technical Basis
Entities should have documentation to support the technical rationale for determining whether an
existing interconnection was “materially modified.” Recognizing that what constitutes a
“material modification” will vary from entity to entity, the intent is for this determination to be
based on engineering judgment.
Requirement R3:
Originally the Parts of R3, with the exception of the first two bullets, which were added by the
Project 2010-02 drafting team, this list has been moved to the Guidelines and Technical Basis
section to provide entities with the flexibility to determine the Facility interconnection
requirements that are technically appropriate for their respective Facilities. Including them as
Parts of R3 was deemed too prescriptive, as frequently some items in the list do not apply to all
applicable entities – and some applicable entities will have requirements that are not included in
this list.
Each Transmission Owner and applicable Generator Owner should consider the following items
in the development of Facility interconnection requirements:
•

Procedures for requesting a new Facility interconnection or material modification to an
existing interconnection

•

Data required to properly study the interconnection

•

Voltage level and MW and MVAR capacity or demand at the point of interconnection

•

Breaker duty and surge protection

•

System protection and coordination

•

Metering and telecommunications

•

Grounding and safety issues

•

Insulation and insulation coordination

•

Voltage, Reactive Power (including specifications for minimum static and dynamic
reactive power requirements), and power factor control

•

Power quality impacts

•

Equipment ratings

•

Synchronizing of Facilities

•

Maintenance coordination

•

Operational issues (abnormal frequency and voltages)

•

Inspection requirements for new or materially modified existing interconnections

•

Communications and procedures during normal and emergency operating conditions

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Supplemental Material
Rationale
During development of this standard, text boxes were embedded within the standard to explain
the rationale for various parts of the standard. Upon Board approval, the text from the
rationale boxes will be moved to this section.
Rationale for Requirement R3.3: Consistent with the Functional Model, there cannot be an
assumption that the entity owning the transmission will be the same entity providing the BA
function. It is the responsibility of the party interconnecting to make appropriate arrangements
with a Balancing Authority to ensure its Facilities are within the BA’s metered boundaries,
which also serves to facilitate the process of the coordination between the two entities that will
be required under numerous other standards upon the start of operation. Under 3.3, the
Transmission Owner is responsible for confirming that the party interconnecting has made
appropriate provisions with a Balancing Authority to operate within its metered boundaries.
Rationale for Requirement R4.3: Consistent with the Functional Model, there cannot be an
assumption that the entity owning the generation will be the same entity providing the BA
function. It is the responsibility of the party interconnecting to make appropriate arrangements
with a Balancing Authority to ensure its Facilities are within the BA’s metered boundaries,
which also serves to facilitate the process of the coordination between the two entities that will
be required under numerous other standards upon the start of operation. Under 4.3, the
Generator Owner is responsible for confirming that the party interconnecting has made
appropriate provisions with a Balancing Authority to operate within its metered boundaries.

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