Under an accelerated large load action plan, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation intends to file revised registry criteria and Reliability Standards on or before December 31, 2026, NERC said in a recent letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
NERC also plans a Level 3 Alert in early May of 2026 to urge essential actions in the interim, it said in the letter.
This expedited, multi-pronged approach is based on NERC reliability assessments and stakeholder feedback. In February of 2026, NERC held a large load technical conference to discuss crucial questions and findings, and to continue building meaningful engagement with stakeholders on this issue. The technical conference included NERC’s presentation on the results of January responses to NERC’s Level 2 Alert (which provided recommendations for large load integration).
After hearing from participants, NERC concluded that it would accelerate the large load action plan and initiate efforts to update its registry criteria and develop initial Reliability Standards to include large loads.
These updates would provide certainty on which parties should be subject to NERC requirements (per updated registry criteria) and what those parties should be required to do (per updated Reliability Standards).
Additional Reliability Standard revisions are also anticipated in the future under NERC’s stakeholder process.
In addition, on March 11, 2026, NERC’s Reliability and Security Technical Committee approved the Large Loads Working Group’s second whitepaper, Assessment of Gaps in Existing Practices, Requirements, and Reliability Standards for Emerging Large Loads.
The findings in this whitepaper, as well as the public report on the Level 2 Alert, further reflect the need for registry criteria and Reliability Standard updates, NERC said.
The Level 2 Alert report also underscored the need for a Level 3 Alert to urge essential actions and provide guidance while registry criteria and Reliability Standards are modified.6 A Level 3 Alert and guidance materials throughout 2026 via NERC and its subgroups "will ensure that risk mitigation starts right away, while the appropriate regulatory process works to deliver the necessary updates to registration and standards," NERC said.
Finally, on March 18, 2026, the NERC Standards Committee appointed a standard drafting team, accepted a Standard Authorization Request (SAR) for computational load, and authorized the SAR for posting.
The SAR proposes Glossary updates for computational load and computational load entities along with a new Reliability Standard focused on essential actions for integrating large computational loads in the near term.
"The past quarter has primed NERC and stakeholders for redoubled effort to address the reliability needs associated with large load integration. NERC is committed to identifying and mitigating risks to the BPS so that the grid continues to support the North American economy and innovation."
