Top-002-5

TOP-002-5 — Operations Planning

A. Introduction
1.

Title: Operations Planning

2.

Number: TOP-002-5

3.

Purpose: To ensure that Transmission Operators and Balancing Authorities have plans
for operating within specified limits.

4.

Applicability:
4.1. Transmission Operator
4.2. Balancing Authority

5.

Effective Date:
See Implementation Plan.

6.

Background:
See Project 2021-07 project page.

B. Requirements and Measures
R1. Each Transmission Operator shall have an Operational Planning Analysis that will allow
it to assess whether its planned operations for the next day within its Transmission
Operator Area will exceed any of its System Operating Limits (SOLs). [Violation Risk
Factor: Medium] [Time Horizon: Operations Planning]
M1. Each Transmission Operator shall have evidence of a completed Operational Planning
Analysis. Such evidence could include, but is not limited to dated power flow study
results.
R2. Each Transmission Operator shall have an Operating Plan(s) for next-day operations to
address potential System Operating Limit (SOL) exceedances identified as a result of
its Operational Planning Analysis as required in Requirement R1. [Violation Risk Factor:
Medium] [Time Horizon: Operations Planning]
M2. Each Transmission Operator shall have evidence that it has an Operating Plan to
address potential System Operating Limits (SOLs) exceedances identified as a result of
the Operational Planning Analysis performed in Requirement R1. Such evidence could
include, but it is not limited to plans for precluding operating in excess of each SOL
that was identified as a result of the Operational Planning Analysis.
R3. Each Transmission Operator shall notify entities identified in the Operating Plan(s)
cited in Requirement R2 as to their role in those plan(s). [Violation Risk Factor:
Medium] [Time Horizon: Operations Planning]
M3. Each Transmission Operator shall have evidence that it notified entities identified in
the Operating Plan(s) cited in Requirement R2 as to their role in the plan(s). Such
evidence could include, but is not limited to dated operator logs, or email records.
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TOP-002-5 — Operations Planning

R4. Each Balancing Authority shall have an Operating Plan(s) for the next day that
addresses: [Violation Risk Factor: Medium] [Time Horizon: Operations Planning]
4.1

Expected generation resource commitment and dispatch;

4.2

Interchange scheduling;

4.3

Demand patterns; and

4.4

Capacity and energy reserve requirements, including deliverability capability.

M4. Each Balancing Authority shall have evidence that it has developed a plan to operate
within the criteria identified. Such evidence could include, but is not limited to dated
operator logs or email records.
R5. Each Balancing Authority shall notify entities identified in the Operating Plan(s) cited in
Requirement R4 as to their role in those plan(s). [Violation Risk Factor: Medium] [Time
Horizon: Operations Planning]
M5. Each Balancing Authority shall have evidence that it notified entities identified in the
plan(s) cited in Requirement R4 as to their role in the plan(s). Such evidence could
include, but is not limited to dated operator logs or email records.
R6. Each Transmission Operator shall provide its Operating Plan(s) for next day operations
identified in Requirement R2 to its Reliability Coordinator. [Violation Risk Factor:
Medium] [Time Horizon: Operations Planning]
M6. Each Transmission Operator shall have evidence that it provided its Operating Plan(s)
for next day operations identified in Requirement R2 to its Reliability Coordinator.
Such evidence could include, but is not limited to dated operator logs or email records.
R7. Each Balancing Authority shall provide its Operating Plan(s) for next day operations
identified in Requirement R4 to its Reliability Coordinator. [Violation Risk Factor:
Medium] [Time Horizon: Operations Planning]
M7. Each Balancing Authority shall have evidence that it provided its Operating Plan(s) for
next day operations identified in Requirement R4 to its Reliability Coordinator. Such
evidence could include, but is not limited to dated operator logs or email records.
R8. Each Balancing Authority shall have an extreme cold weather Operating Process for its
Balancing Authority Area, addressing preparations for and operations during extreme
cold weather periods. The extreme cold weather Operating Process shall include, but
is not limited to: [Violation Risk Factor: Medium] [Time Horizon: Operations Planning]
8.1

A methodology for identifying an extreme cold weather period within each
Balancing Authority Area;

8.2 A methodology to determine an adequate reserve margin during the extreme
cold weather period considering the generating unit(s) operating limitations in
previous extreme cold weather periods that includes, but is not limited to:
8.2.1 Capability and availability;

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TOP-002-5 — Operations Planning

8.2.2 Fuel supply and inventory concerns;
8.2.3 Start-up issues;
8.2.4 Fuel switching capabilities; and
8.2.5 Environmental constraints.
8.3 A methodology to determine a five-day hourly forecast during the identified
extreme cold weather periods that includes, but is not limited to:
8.3.1 Expected generation resource commitment and dispatch;
8.3.2 Demand patterns;
8.3.3 Capacity and energy reserve requirements, including deliverability
capability; and
8.3.4 Weather forecast.
M8. Each Balancing Authority shall have evidence that it has developed an extreme cold
weather Operating Process in accordance with Requirement R8.

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TOP-002-5 — Operations Planning

C. Compliance
1.

Compliance Monitoring Process
1.1. Compliance Enforcement Authority: “Compliance Enforcement Authority”
means NERC or the Regional Entity, or any entity as otherwise designated by an
Applicable Governmental Authority, in their respective roles of monitoring
and/or enforcing compliance with mandatory and enforceable Reliability
Standards in their respective jurisdictions.
1.2. Evidence Retention: The following evidence retention period(s) 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 Compliance Enforcement
Authority may ask an entity to provide other evidence to show that it was
compliant for the full-time period since the last audit.
The applicable 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.
•

•

Each Transmission Operator and Balancing Authority shall keep data or
evidence to show compliance for each applicable Requirement for a
rolling 90-calendar days period for analyses, the most recent 90-calendar
days for voice recordings, and 12 months for operating logs and e-mail
records unless directed by its Compliance Enforcement Authority to
retain specific evidence for a longer period of time as part of an
investigation.
The Balancing Authority shall retain the current Operating Process(s),
evidence of review or revision history plus each version issued since the
last audit and evidence of compliance since the last audit for
Requirement R8.

1.3. Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program: As defined in the NERC
Rules of Procedure, “Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program” refers
to the identification of the processes that will be used to evaluate data or
information for the purpose of assessing performance or outcomes with the
associated Reliability Standard.

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TOP-002-5 — Operations Planning

Violation Severity Levels
R#

Violation Severity Levels

Lower VSL

Moderate VSL

High VSL

Severe VSL

R1

N/A

N/A

N/A

The Transmission Operator did
not have an Operational
Planning Analysis allowing it to
assess whether its planned
operations for the next day
within its Transmission
Operator Area exceeded any of
its System Operating Limits
(SOLs).

R2

N/A

N/A

N/A

The Transmission Operator did
not have an Operating Plan to
address potential System
Operating Limit (SOL)
exceedances identified as a
result of the Operational
Planning Analysis performed in
Requirement R1.

R3

The Transmission
Operator did not notify
one impacted entity or
5% or less of the
entities, whichever is
greater identified in the

The Transmission
Operator did not notify
two entities or more than
5% and less than or equal
to 10% of the impacted
entities, whichever is
greater, identified in the

The Transmission
Operator did not notify
three impacted entities or
more than 10% and less
than or equal to 15% of
the entities, whichever is
greater, identified in the

The Transmission Operator did
not notify four or more entities
or more than 15% of the
impacted NERC identified in the
Operating Plan(s) as to their
role in the plan(s).

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TOP-002-5 — Operations Planning
R#

Violation Severity Levels

Lower VSL

Moderate VSL

High VSL

Severe VSL

Operating Plan(s) as to
their role in the plan(s).

Operating Plan(s) as to
their role in the plan(s).

Operating Plan(s) as to
their role in the plan(s).

R4

The Balancing Authority
has an Operating Plan,
but it does not address
one of the criteria in
Requirement R4.

The Balancing Authority
has an Operating Plan,
but it does not address
two of the criteria in
Requirement R4.

The Balancing Authority
has an Operating Plan, but
it does not address three
of the criteria in
Requirement R4.

The Balancing Authority did
not have an Operating Plan.

R5

The Balancing Authority
did not notify one
impacted entity or 5%
or less of the entities,
whichever is greater,
identified in the
Operating Plan(s) as to
their role in the plan(s).

The Balancing Authority
did not notify two
entities or more than 5%
and less than or equal to
10% of the impacted
entities, whichever is
greater, identified in the
Operating Plan(s) as to
their role in the plan(s).

The Balancing Authority
did not notify three
impacted entities or more
than 10% and less than or
equal to 15% of the
entities, whichever is
greater, identified in the
Operating Plan(s) as to
their role in the plan(s).

The Balancing Authority did not
notify four or more entities or
more than 15% of the impacted
entities identified in the
Operating Plan(s) as to their
role in the plan(s).

R6

N/A

N/A

N/A

The Transmission Operator did
not provide its Operating Plan(s)
for next day operations as
identified in Requirement R2 to
its Reliability Coordinator.

R7

N/A

N/A

N/A

The Balancing Authority did not
provide its Operating Plan(s) for
next day operations as

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TOP-002-5 — Operations Planning
R#

Violation Severity Levels

Lower VSL

Moderate VSL

High VSL

Severe VSL
identified in Requirement R4 to
its Reliability Coordinator.

R8

N/A

The Balancing Authority
had an extreme cold
weather Operating
Process addressing
preparations for and
operations during
extreme cold weather
periods, but it did not
address one of the
Requirements or subRequirements of R8 Parts
8.1 through 8.3.

The Balancing Authority
had an extreme cold
weather Operating
Process addressing
preparations for and
operations during extreme
cold weather periods, but
it did not address two of
the Requirements or subRequirements of R8 Parts
8.1 through 8.3.

The Balancing Authority did not
have an extreme cold weather
Operating Process addressing
preparations for and operations
during extreme cold weather
periods.

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TOP-002-5 — Operations Planning

D. Regional Variances
None.
E. Interpretations
None.
F. Associated Documents
Extreme Cold Weather Preparedness Technical Rationale and Justification for TOP-002-5

Version History
Version

Date

Action

Change Tracking

0

April 1, 2005

Effective Date

New

0

August 8, 2005

Removed “Proposed” from Effective
Date

Errata

1

August 2, 2006

Adopted by Board of Trustees

Revised

2

November 1, 2006

Adopted by Board of Trustees

Revised

2

June 14, 2007

Fixed typo in R11., (subject to …)

Errata

2a

February 10, 2009

Added Appendix 1 – Interpretation of
R11 approved by BOT on February 10,
2009

Interpretation

2a

December 2, 2009

Interpretation of R11 approved by FERC
on December 2, 2009

Same Interpretation

2b

November 4, 2010

Added Appendix 2 – Interpretation of
R10 adopted by the Board of Trustees

2b

October 20, 2011

FERC Order issued approving the
Interpretation of R10 (FERC’s Order
became effective on October 20, 2011)

2.1b

March 8, 2012

Errata adopted by Standards
Committee;

Errata

(Removed unnecessary language from
the Effective Date section. Deleted
retired sub-requirements from
Requirement R14)

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TOP-002-5 — Operations Planning

Version

Date

Action

Change Tracking

2.1b

April 11, 2012

Additional errata adopted by Standards
Committee; (Deleted language from
retired sub-requirement from Measure
M7)

Errata

2.1b

September 13, 2012

FERC approved

Errata

3

May 6, 2012

Revisions under Project 2007-03

Revised

3

May 9, 2012

Adopted by Board of Trustees

Revised

4

April 2014

Revisions under Project 2014-03

Revised

4

November 13, 2014

Adopted by NERC Board of Trustees

Revisions under
Project 2014-03

4

November 19, 2015

FERC approved TOP-002-4. Docket No.
RM15-16-000. Order No. 817.

5

October 23, 2023

Revisions under Project 2021-07

Revised

5

February 15, 2024

Adopted by Board of Trustees

Revisions under
Project 2021-07

5

February 16, 2024

FERC approved TOP-002-5.
Docket No. RD24-1-000.

5

October 1, 2025

Effective Date

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