NERC Warns of Tight Generation Resources, Fuel Supply Issues This Winter

[NNadir]

I'm on the Power Magazine news feed and this article came up yesterday:

NERC Warns of Tight Generation Resources, Fuel Supply Issues This Winter (Sonal Patel, November 17, 2022, Power Magazine.)

An excerpt:

Power shortfalls could be rife over the next three months across a large portion of the North American bulk power system (BPS), particularly during extreme and prolonged cold conditions, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) has warned.

The nation’s designated Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) in its latest Winter Reliability Assessment, issued on Nov. 17, said several regions face risks of insufficient electricity supplies during peak winter conditions owing to higher peak-demand projections and inadequate weatherization. The reliability watchdog also prominently highlighted fuel supply risks for coal, natural gas, and oil, and it underscored risks related to natural gas infrastructure constraints.

According to NERC’s evaluation of the generation resource and transmission system adequacy to meet projected peak demand, several regions may be highly vulnerable to extreme weather this winter and could require load-shedding procedures. These include the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT); the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO); SERC-East—a region that includes North Carolina and South Carolina; WECC-Alberta; and the Northeast Power Coordinating Council (NPCC) Maritimes, a region that comprises the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, and the northern portion of Maine...

This topic is covered ably in my friend Meredith Angwin's increasingly discussed book Shorting the Grid. The Hidden Fragility of Our Electrical Grid.

Her book focuses on the arcane dealings of the New England ISO, which according to the map provided in the Power Article, is potentially threatened with rolling blackouts this winter if a polar vortex drives South, something made increasingly likely by climate change but often utilized by Trump Scale idiots to deny that climate change is real.

A map from the article of the regions considered most at threat:



Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and the wind will blow in the period just after the winter solstice, but I wouldn't bet on avoiding energy poverty for those who can least afford it. Winter is a likely time for Dunkelfluate.

Welcome to antinuke heaven, a world dependent on access dangerous fossil fuels.

I trust you will have a pleasant and happy Thanksgiving.