The North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC) has warned that much of North America’s bulk power system faces an elevated risk of blackouts in extreme winter weather. The report also highlighted the issue of the availability of natural gas supplies for generation and the operation of gas-fired power plants. These issues can be resolved through operating difficulties in frigid temperatures, diverted supplies for home heating, and gas production may slow due to wellhead and pipeline issues. NERC’s recommendations include for reliability coordinators to monitor fuel adequacy, generators to weatherize power plants, and balancing authorities to pay particular attention to the risk of demand underestimation ahead of extreme winter conditions. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved new cold weather reliability standards for U.S. generators.
Solar Dominates US Energy Capacity Growth
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has published data showing that solar accounted for over 75% of US electrical generating
