Certrec

We all depend on electricity for everything from charging our phones and our cars to keeping heart and kidney patients alive at home and in hospital. Electricity and the grid are fundamental to today’s
modern society.

The power industry is an exciting place right now. High-rise wind turbines, solar farms, hydro power, battery storage systems, and even modern nuclear plants are all on the rise. To become more efficient and reliable, power plants are increasingly connecting their operational technologies to information technologies and the web. This substantially increases the risk of criminal hackers including nation threat actors potentially shutting down a part of the grid (see Certrec’s list of top critical infrastructure attacks).

Reduce Cyber Takedowns
To reduce the risks of brownouts and blackouts that might result in hundreds of deaths, the electric supply providers must adhere to the NERC’s (NRC for nuclear plants) complex and ever-changing regulations. If they do not comply with NERC standards, (e.g. NERC CIP) they risk incurring expensive penalties, potentially impacting the business’ reputation and its valuation. With NERC imposed penalties, public information, a failed audit can damage the credibility of the management team and of its leadership and owners. Saving some money on a weak compliance program and risking your reputation and investment is just not worth it; any audit failures become public knowledge and can follow the team, managers, and plant.

Certrec Reduces The Risk Of Non-Compliance

Certrec is a leader in NERC compliance consulting services and software and has been a trusted advisor to 100’s of power entities including 90% of the most risk averse power plants (U.S. nuclear industry). Certrec innovatively utilizes technology (e.g. SaaS apps and cybersecurity) and the knowledge of processes and its experienced people to REDUCE the RISK of non-compliance for energy providers, from nuclear plants to fossil, wind, solar, and hydro plants; for example, Certrec’s unique NERC CIP Healthcheck and RegSource a curated regulatory information source.

Certrec’s Unique Advantages

• Certec’s people, products, and processes provide deep know-how and technology such as the Certrec Portal with its SaaS apps to make it easier to license and be in compliance.

• Certrec is one of the only NERC compliance firms to also offer its services via frictionless, e-commerce-like. Clients can get compliance help on demand, rather than waiting for weeks negotiating with the purchasing department. One major energy provider commented “You mean I can now buy an engineer immediately, with a credit card?”

• Certrec is one of the most conservative and low risk NERC and NRC compliance advisors in the energy sector: “You can get one of our engineers to help you with NERC compliance in minutes not days or weeks. With CertrecSaaS.com you can solve your compliance problems easily and quickly.” says Michelle Thomas, Executive Director of Operations at Certrec.

• Certrec assists over 120 power-generating facilities in establishing and maintaining NERC Compliance Programs. Today, Certrec manages the entire NERC compliance program for more than 60 registered sites in the U.S. and Canada and is an advisor to over 90% of nuclear power plants in the USA.

Conclusion

Its all about complying with the regulations and doing it in the most productive manner so the power plant can focus itself on strategic tasks like delivering power safely and reliably and keeping the grid out of the headlines!