Purpose:
a. This Engineer Pamphlet (EP) provides policy and guidance to establish and maintain a USACE corporate program for compliance with the applicable Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Bulk Power System (BPS) Reliability Compliance Standards. For the purpose of this document, the term ‘compliance’ is understood to mean “voluntary compliance” with applicable Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved Bulk Power System Reliability Standards. Compliance shall be executed to the maximum extent possible within the constraints of authorized and appropriated resources. This program shall be referred to herein and after as the Army Corps of Engineers Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement (ACE-CME) program.
b. Brief History- The US Energy Policy Act of 2005, Title XII – Electricity, required all users, owners and operators of the BPS to register with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Congress enacted this legislation after the northeast power grid Blackout of 2003. During this event, approximately 50 million users lost power. The 2005 legislation gave FERC the authority to regulate and levy fines in order to ensure compliance with FERC approved Reliability Standards.
c. NERC Entity Registration – In accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005, NERC has defined and categorized all users, owners and operators of the BPS into specific type(s). See Reference 4.c for complete list and definition of each Entity Registration type. NERC has registered applicable USACE Districts as one or more of the following: 1- Generator Owners (GO) 2- Generator Operators (GOP) 3- Transmission Owners (TO) 4- Transmission Operators (TOP)
d. This EP defines the general requirements and organization structure of the ACE-CME Program.
