NERC Recommends Inverter Changes After California Fire Disrupts Solar Generation

On June 8, 2017, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ("NERC") released a report on the August 2016 Blue Cut Fire, which resulted in the loss of 1,200 megawatts ("MW") of solar photovoltaic ("PV") power generation.  NERC's report contains recommendations for avoiding similar incidents by reconfiguring solar inverters, the devices that convert solar energy from direct current to alternating current.

On August 16, 2016, the Blue Cut Fire erupted in Southern California's Cajon Pass, near a significant transmission corridor containing three 500 kilovolt ("kV") lines owned by Southern California Edison ("SCE") and two 287 kV lines owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power ("LADWP").  During the incident, the fire interrupted solar PV power generation in the transmission corridor by inducing faults on the transmission system.  In total, the SCE lines experienced 13 faults and the LADWP lines experienced two faults.  The most significant event