Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, NERC Final Report On Winter Storm Elliott Says Legislative Action Needed To Establish Reliability Rules For Natural Gas Infrastructure

On September 21, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation released its final report on Winter Storm Elliott in December saying major improvements are needed in the cold-weather reliability of natural gas systems.

The report outlines 11 recommendations for action to help prevent similar occurrences during future extreme winter weather. The recommendations cover cold weather reliability improvements for power generators, natural gas infrastructure, gas-electric coordination and electric grid operations.

The report also states that Congressional and state legislation or regulation is needed to establish reliability rules for natural gas infrastructure to ensure cold weather reliability.  

Currently, no regulatory entity is tasked with ensuring the reliability of the natural gas infrastructure on which the electric grid relies. 

“It’s abundantly clear that we must make major improvements to the cold-weather reliability of both the natural gas and electricity production and grid systems,” FERC Chairman Willie Phillips said. “I have said repeatedly: Someone – it doesn’t have to be FERC – must have authority to establish and enforce natural gas reliability standards. And some recommendations from the 2021 Uri report are still not implemented. Please get that done. It shouldn’t take five winter storms in 11 years to show us the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in.”

NERC President and CEO Jim Robb said, “This sobering report underscores the need to take urgent action on the interdependence between the bulk electric and natural gas systems, including the need for sufficient and reliable gas and electric infrastructure to sustain energy reliability. NERC, the Regional Entities, and FERC are fully committed to finding effective, collaborative solutions in line with these findings. The report also reaffirms NERC’s equally strong commitment to completing Reliability Standards work to ensure industry is prepared for extreme cold weather.”

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Related Articles - Winter Storm Elliot:

-- PUC Vice Chairman [Now Chair] Stephen DeFrank: During Winter Storm Elliot We Learned Natural Gas Can Be An Intermittent Generator Of Electricity Just Like Renewables    [PaEN]

-- PUC Urges Consumers To Shop For Natural Gas Supplies To Lock In Lower Gas Prices To Help Insulate Against Potential Energy Price Spikes   [PaEN]

-- 3 Days That Shook Washington County: Natural Gas Plant Explosion; Pipeline Leak Of 1.1 Million Cubic Feet Of Gas; 10,000 Gallon Spill At Compressor Station  [PaEN]

-- KDKA: Natural Gas Gathering Pipeline Crashes Into, Thru Westmoreland County Home And A Loophole In State Law That Doesn’t Regulate Gathering Pipelines For Safety  [PaEN]

-- PJM Interconnection Reports Higher Percentage Of Natural Gas-Fired Electric Generation Outages Than Originally Thought During Winter Storm Elliott - 70%  [PaEN]

-- PJM Interconnection Hears Testimony On Making Electricity Market Reforms To Address Nonperformance Of Natural Gas And Other Generators During Winter Storm Elliot; Transition To Clean Energy  [PaEN]

-- S&P Global: Federal Inquiry Finds Same 3 Causes Driving U.S. Electric Generation Outages In Extreme Cold - Reliability Of Natural Gas System Remains A Concern   [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing: Wholesale Electricity Prices Too Low To Support Coal, Natural Gas Power Plants In Market; Natural Gas Reliability Issues Will Continue   [PaEN]

-- Senate Hearing On Electric Grid Reliability: Natural Gas Continues To Have Reliability Problems; Renewables Aren’t Coming Online Fast Enough; Energy Office To Be Proposed   [PaEN]

-- PJM Sends Penalty Assessments Of Up To $2 Billion To Electric Generators That Failed To Perform During December’s Winter Storm Elliot; Natural Gas Power Plants Had 63% Of Outages   [PaEN]

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[Posted: September 21, 2023]  PA Environment Digest