FERC Names New Director

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has named David Ortiz as director of the FERC’s Office of Electric Reliability (OER). Ortiz joined FERC in April 2016 as the OER deputy director, serving as OER’s acting director twice since then. Before joining the Commission, Ortiz served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Infrastructure Modeling and Analysis at the US Department of Energy (DOE).

 

FERC’s OER oversees the reliability and security of the electric grid. OER’s recent accomplishments include a standard ensuring that the grid can operate through extreme cold weather; standards for securing the supply chain for grid-related cyber systems and protecting the integrity and availability of grid communications; a standard requiring increased grid cybersecurity incident reporting; a rule requiring new generators to be able to provide frequency response, ensuring reliability of the grid as it incorporates more renewable resources; a standard protecting the grid from solar storms; a series of reports documenting utility best practices in grid restoration and recovery; and a series of best practice reports in utility cybersecurity.

 

In his new role, Ortiz will lead a staff of 90 electrical engineers, statisticians, attorneys, and analysts. He earned his doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He graduated from Princeton University.