natural gas

19Feb

Manufacturers Join the Chorus: Keep the Coal Fleet Open

In just a matter of weeks, momentum has swung decisively in favor of preserving the coal fleet. First, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman, Mark Christie, put out a statement saying the nation must “stop the premature retirement of dispatchable generation.” He was followed by the Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, who said the U.S. should […]
08Jan

Beginning the Year in Crisis

While Americans rang in the new year with “auld lang syne,” the electricity grid regulators at the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) were singing a very different tune: another winter grid crisis is here. On New Year’s Eve Jim Robb, NERC’s president and CEO, took to YouTube with a strong warning to the power […]
20Nov

NERC Warns of Power Shortfalls During Bitter Cold this Winter

Winter is here. The first snow of the season is expected across parts of the Midwest, Northeast, Great Lakes and even into the Southeast later this week. At elevation, a foot or more of snow could be coming. In the Northwest, a “bomb cyclone” storm is forming offshore with the potential to have the intensity […]
01Mar

EPA Misses the Point on Grid Reliability

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has picked a winner in the energy markets and, in doing so, the American people will undoubtedly be the losers. Yesterday, the news broke that existing natural gas power plants will be exempted from the so-called Clean Power Plan 2.0. While EPA claims that a new comprehensive rule on […]
01Nov

The Next Winter Reliability Crisis is Almost Here

It may have been a balmy 80 degrees in the nation’s capital this week but make no mistake, winter is coming and with it ever-greater concern about the perilous state of the nation’s electricity grid. For all the white knuckling from grid operators during summer months, when heat waves and record demand stressed power supply […]
12Oct

Germany’s Coal Conundrum

Despite ongoing talk across Europe of weaning off coal, European coal-generated power production grew by around 9 percent in September. With winter cold approaching and Europe’s energy crisis far from over, that growth may well continue, and Germany, specifically, is once again turning to its coal fleet as an energy security failsafe. Germany’s cabinet has […]
04Oct

The Gas Reliability Gap

The U.S. has a natural gas problem. While regulatory pressure continues to place an ever-greater burden on the gas fleet and gas infrastructure to provide dispatchable power when it’s needed most, the gas system is again and again showing it’s simply not up to the challenge. The latest alarming example comes from the after-action report […]
22Mar

Handcuffed to Natural Gas Volatility

Can U.S. natural gas be two maddeningly contradictory things at the same time? The answer appears to be a resounding yes. The nation’s supply of natural gas has become both the crutch of the U.S. energy system and also an energy affordability and reliability landmine. Once persistent fears of natural gas shortages were turned on […]
08Feb

The Country Needs Coal Too Mr. President

Call it an admission of pragmatism. While talking to the nation’s energy future last night during the State of the Union address, President Biden went off script and admitted that “we’re still going to need oil and gas for a while.” It was a statement of fact even if it made climate hawks grimace. What […]
18Jan

The U.S. Grid is Running on Empty

As we’re coming to learn, the bitter cold that forced rolling outages in parts of the Carolinas and Tennessee over Christmas also pushed neighboring grids right to the very edge. While the lights didn’t go out on the PJM, MISO and ERCOT grids, grid operators were at times left scrambling. And now, after-action reports are […]