NERC’s PRC-005-6 standard requires transmission owners, generator owners, and distribution providers to develop a Protection System Maintenance Plan (PSMP) for all protection systems, sudden pressure relaying, and automatic reclosing which can affect the reliability of the bulk electrical system.
Cation Conductivity (CC) is one of the most important detectors of contaminant ingress into the HRSG steam cycle and is an EPRI “Core” Parameter, alarmed in the Control Room.
NERC’s CIP-002-5.1a requires functional entities to identify and categorize their BES cyber systems and associated BES cyber assets.
I received a phone call, on a Friday evening, in 2016 while sitting down for dinner. The on-duty Control Room Operator (CRO) reported all of the steam turbine process values had stopped changing and he had no control over the steam turbine and its associated equipment. The plant is a 250 MW, combined-cycle power plant with a 501FC+ gas turbine, a Westinghouse steam turbine, and an Emerson WDPF Distributed Control System (DCS).
Most combined-cycle power plants add an oxygen scavenger to their condensate & feedwater system. Indeed, 3 of my 4 combined cycle plants used an oxygen scavenger.
The goal of NERC compliance consulting solutions is to ensure generator owners and operators meet the necessary physical and cyber security measures designed to protect the Bulk Electric System (BES) from possible threats.
The answer is: "It depends." Most plants do not allow online downloading unless its absolutely necessary. That said, I did see one plant (a refinery) where online downloading was a routine practice and they had very few upsets when doing it.
