On May 20, 2025, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) issued a Level 3 Alert titled “Essential Actions for Inverter-Based Resource (IBR) Performance and Modeling.” This Alert was directed to key industry players including Transmission Owners (TOs), Transmission Planners (TPs), Planning Coordinators (PCs), and registered Generator Owners (GOs).

What Prompted This Alert?

The Level 3 Alert follows up on a previous Level 2 Alert, triggered by concerns over low response rates and IBR model quality deficiencies. While many organizations struggled, GridSME’s clients achieved a 100% response rate—a great milestone! This Alert aims to improve the performance and modeling of inverter-based resources critical to grid reliability.

What Does the Level 3 Alert Mean?

The outcomes of this Alert will:

• Supplement earlier findings on IBR performance
• Inform future work by Standard Drafting Teams (SDTs)
• Influence upcoming revisions to key Reliability Standards FAC-001 and FAC-002

Generator Owners must review and respond to the Essential Actions outlined in the Alert by August 18, 2025.

GridSME is actively working to acknowledge this Alert on behalf of all our Managed Compliance Services (MCS) Generator Owner clients to meet the deadline. If you’re not yet an MCS client, reach out to us at bdgroup@gridsme.com for assistance.

NERC Category 2 – GO IBR Update

NERC’s Category 2 Phase III activities are underway across all regions. Each region will soon send a Request for Information (RFI) to the Primary Compliance Contact for all Category 2 projects. The target effective date for registration of all Category 2 projects is planned for May 2026.

Meanwhile, NERC’s registration tool, CORES, is expected to be ready for Category 2 project registration by August 2025. NERC will provide further updates as CORES becomes available.

If you own or operate Category 2 projects and haven’t started Phase III activities, now is the time to act. GridSME is ready to help—please contact us at bdgroup@gridsme.com with any questions or to get started.

What This Means For You

• NERC has issued a critical Level 3 Alert focused on improving the performance and modeling of inverter-based resources (IBRs), which are essential for grid reliability.
• Generator Owners must respond to the Alert’s required actions by August 18, 2025 to stay compliant.
• GridSME is helping clients meet this deadline and can assist others who need support.
• NERC’s Category 2 registration process for IBR projects is moving forward, with important requests and deadlines through 2025 and 2026.
• If you have Category 2 projects but haven’t started Phase III activities, there’s still time, but don’t wait!

For detailed information, you can review the Level 3 Alert and Essential Actions document here:
Level 3 Alert Essential Actions IBR Performance and Modeling (PDF)

Stay informed with all NERC alerts and updates on their official page:
https://www.nerc.com/pa/rrm/bpsa/Pages/Alerts.aspx