grid reliability

06Jan

The Important Difference Between Capacity and Security

To hear environmental groups and renewable boosters tell it, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) recent action to restore competition to PJM Interconnection’s capacity market was a terrible solution in search of non-existent problem. The capacity market is supposed to ensure that PJM’s customers will have adequate generating capacity, including a strong reserve of power, […]
06Nov

Fuel (In)Security

“A group of well-resourced hackers have been combing through the networks of the gas pipeline operator for almost a year, harvesting crucial information. Now the hackers know the network better than the pipeline company does: every piece of equipment, the company’s entire workforce, usernames and passwords. They have the privileges needed to access both the […]
30Oct

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

What’s scarier than a Stephen Strasburg curveball? Ask the Houston Astros and they’d probably say, “not much.” But Halloween’s imminent arrival means a different kind of scary. If there’s a constant about what scares us, it’s the dark. Watch most – if not all – scary or post-apocalyptic films and the first thing to go […]
11Sep

Restore Competition to Electricity Markets

Are renewable sources of power ready to stand on their own two feet? Ask wind and solar boosters and the answer would seemingly be yes. The story we’re being told is that after decades of government support, wind and solar projects are now cost-competitive with traditional sources of power. Except when they’re not. Curiously, these […]
28Aug

From Texas to Germany, Grid Reliability Concerns are Growing

Texas’ recent near-miss with blackouts has turned more than a few heads. The challenges posed to the Texas grid, and other regional grids, by growing reliance on intermittent sources of power and, in some cases, an overstretched natural gas transmission system, have caught the attention of regulators and policymakers. Last week, U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer […]
14Aug

The Texas Reliability Two Step

The Texas grid has been pushed to its limits this week. Demand for power has exceeded supply, prices have soared and energy experts and consumers alike have waited with bated breath for rolling brownouts or blackouts.   On Monday, electricity demand hit a new record and electricity prices spiked to $6,500 per megawatt hour. On […]
07Aug

When Down is Up

The reduction in the price of electricity from solar and wind power over the last decade has made for a fantastic story. But it’s hiding a more complex and troubling truth. While the price of generating power from renewables has fallen, the cost, or burden, of integrating these intermittent sources of power onto the grid […]
17Jul

A Fuel Security Crisis

If you’re in the grid reliability business, the New England grid is a problem most don’t want to touch with a 10-foot pole. New England’s challenge is two-fold. First, the region has retired nearly all of its baseload coal capacity and much of its nuclear power capacity. New England has put all its eggs in […]
10Jul

No Way in Hell

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) analyzes the reliability of our electricity supply. NERC’s reports and statements are consistently measured, typically packing all the flair and excitement of a buttoned-down white dress shirt. So, it’s with good reason that eyebrows were raised when NERC’s CEO, Jim Robb, recently told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission […]