On November 18, 2021, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) released its 2021-2022 Winter Reliability Assessment, which found that reliability risk is elevated in regions that are especially vulnerable to extreme weather, natural gas supply disruptions, and low hydro conditions.[1] The assessment advises the industry to manage shortfalls and to take proactive steps for generator readiness, fuel availability, and sustained operations in extreme conditions. This winter, regions at risk include the Central U.S., New England, California, the Western U.S., and Canada. NERC’s assessment found that generator owners are facing challenges in obtaining coal and oil fuels as supply chains are stressed. Additionally, generator resource availability could suffer as a result of equipment failure or lack of fuel under severe winter conditions.

To reduce risks of energy shortfalls this winter, NERC recommends that grid operators, generator owners, and generator operators review the NERC Level 2 Alert and NERC’s Generating Unit Winter Weather Readiness Guideline. NERC also suggests that balancing authorities should periodically poll their generating units in advance of approaching severe weather to understand their readiness for normal and extreme conditions. Moreover, balancing authorities and reliability coordinators should conduct drills on alert protocols to ensure they are prepared to signal a need for conservative operations or restrictive maintenance periods. Lastly, distribution providers and load-serving entities should review non-firm customer inventories and rolling blackout procedures to ensure that no critical infrastructure would be affected.

[1] https://www.nerc.com/news/Headlines%20DL/WRA_final%2018NOV21.pdf

https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/ra/Reliability%20Assessments%20DL/NERC_WRA_2021.pdf