[time-nuts] Re: Docket No. RD17-1-000 -- US drop power line clocks

[Demetrios Matsakis]

Fortunately and surprisingly, the effort quoted by Hal was defeated in 2020 at the FERC.  Their decision quoted some last-ditch letters Jonathan Hardis of NIST and I at the USNO wrote as private citizens.  See https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/idmws/file_list.asp?accession_num=20200204-3048

Here is a 2017 PTTI paper that Jonathan, Blair Fonville (now at APL), and I wrote in 2017: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317011264_Time_and_Frequency_from_Electrical_Power_Lines

I’m surprised the time is off by a minute, as the requirement was to be within ~ 10 seconds, depending on the grid.    It could be they found a way to eliminate the TEC requirement after all.   I thought I had things set up on ferc.gov or nerc.com to get notified if they proposed changes again, but I could easily have missed a renewed effort by the power companies.  Just now I tried to find something on the NERC and FERC web pages using search terms like TEC, WEQ-006, BAL-004, and BAL-005 without success.

> On Mar 25, 2024, at 8:33 AM, Hal Murray via time-nuts <time-nuts at lists.febo.com> wrote:
> 
> Looks like NERC did drop the requirement for timing from power lines.  That 
> would explain why is is so crappy these days.
> 
> I rememver that they tried to do that several/many years ago.  There was a lot 
> of push back from people with old electric clocks and microwave ovens.  I 
> thought they dropped the proposal.  Either it didn't get dropped or it came 
> back again.
> 
> Am I the only one that missed the news about the proposal actually going 
> through?
> 
> Europe expects electric clocks to keep good time.  Or did a few years ago when 
> they were off by 6 minutes.  Anybody know if their power companies are trying 
> to drop that constraint?
> 
> Do Japan, Korea, and Chine get time from their power lines? 
> 
> --------
> 
> 
> Docket No. RD17-1-000    (Unofficial) 01/18/2017
> 
> <https://www.nerc.com/FilingsOrders/us/FERCOrdersRules/Delegated%20Order%20appr
> oving%20retirement%20for%20Reliability%20Standard%20BAL-004-0.pdf>
> 
> As part of the support for the retirement of Reliability Standard BAL-004-0, 
> the NERC Operating Committee approved Manual Time Error Correction Reference 
> Document6 which is "intended to help ease the transition upon retirement of 
> BAL-004-0 and assure the Commission and potential non-utility industry that if 
> [Time Error Correction] is determined necessary, it will be performed in a 
> coordinated and reliable manner."
> 
> 
> -- 
> These are my opinions.  I hate spam.
> 
> 
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