The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)produces two broad reliabilty assessments every year, ahead of the summer and winter peaking seasons, to evaluate generation resources and transmission system adequacy. But after the blackouts in Texas and the midwest last February, NERC made changes to how they approach their reports. Now, NERC is focusing more on the ability of infrastructure to withstand extreme weather conditions rather than merely on grid capacity.
NERC has identified reliability risk as being "elevated in regions that are especially vulnerable to extreme weather" or where gas supply or drought conditions could impact generators, Mark Olson, NERC's manager of reliability assessments, said during the Thursday conference call.
The threat is most severe in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas territory, where electricity demand could outstrip capacity reserves by more than 37% in the most extreme scenarios. Should peak demand or generator outages dramatically exceed forecasts, NERC warned "energy emergencies" are possible in the Southwest Power Pool and Midcontinent Independent System Operator territories, along with Texas.
Texas regulators in October voted to require generators and transmission providers to weatherize their plants and systems ahead of the upcoming winter, and they indicated a more robust year-round standard is also in development. However, fuel availability for fossil-fuel generators is a concern due to declines in coal stockpiles and natural gas shortages.
Robert Walton, "Extreme weather, low hydro and fuel shortages could threaten grid in multiple regions this winter: NERC", contributed by Morgan Sarao, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 15 December 2021, accessed 19 April 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/extreme-weather-low-hydro-and-fuel-shortages-could-threaten-grid-multiple-regions-winter
Critical Commentary
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)produces two broad reliabilty assessments every year, ahead of the summer and winter peaking seasons, to evaluate generation resources and transmission system adequacy. But after the blackouts in Texas and the midwest last February, NERC made changes to how they approach their reports. Now, NERC is focusing more on the ability of infrastructure to withstand extreme weather conditions rather than merely on grid capacity.
NERC has identified reliability risk as being "elevated in regions that are especially vulnerable to extreme weather" or where gas supply or drought conditions could impact generators, Mark Olson, NERC's manager of reliability assessments, said during the Thursday conference call.
The threat is most severe in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas territory, where electricity demand could outstrip capacity reserves by more than 37% in the most extreme scenarios. Should peak demand or generator outages dramatically exceed forecasts, NERC warned "energy emergencies" are possible in the Southwest Power Pool and Midcontinent Independent System Operator territories, along with Texas.
Texas regulators in October voted to require generators and transmission providers to weatherize their plants and systems ahead of the upcoming winter, and they indicated a more robust year-round standard is also in development. However, fuel availability for fossil-fuel generators is a concern due to declines in coal stockpiles and natural gas shortages.