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FERC to look at PJM capacity construct during two-day technical conference in March

February 22, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 22, 2021

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in March will convene the first in a series of technical conferences focused on modernizing electricity market design.

The technical conference will be held on March 23 and 24, 2021. News of the conference was unveiled at FERC’s monthly open meeting on Feb. 18. The meeting was Richard Glick’s first open meeting as Chairman.  Glick was named Chairman by President Biden on January 21, 2021.

 At the meeting, Glick noted that next month’s conference will address the role of capacity constructs. The focus of this first conference will examine the PJM Interconnection’s capacity construct “and examine options for creating a durable resource adequacy construct” that will accommodate states’ exercise of their authority in the modern electricity sector, he noted.

“We will also plan to hold similar conferences regarding ISO New England and New York ISO in the months ahead,” Glick said.

“In addition, later this year we will convene additional conferences to examine how energy and ancillary services markets may need to evolve to meet challenges posed by the grid of the future.”

Clements to lead effort to establish new FERC Office of Public Participation

In another announcement, Glick said that he has asked Commissioner Allison Clements to take the lead in getting a FERC Office of Public Participation up and running. 

Although 1978 legislation provided for such an office within FERC, it has never been established. Congress recently directed FERC to develop a plan for establishing and operating the Office of Public Participation. 

With respect to her lead role in establishing an Office of Public Participation, Clements said that she intends “to place priority on listening to stakeholders, in particular reaching out to environmental justice and front line communities, that lacked representation before FERC.” 

She cited the importance of such an office not only for natural gas pipeline proceedings, but in cases impacting the reliability and affordability of electricity. 

Clements said FERC would be holding a workshop on April 16, 2021 to receive input on the establishment of the Office of Public Participation, along with an opportunity to submit written comments. 

Glick also highlighted his recent announcement of the creation of a senior level position to help consider the impact of FERC actions on historically marginalized communities.

FERC terminates docket tied to grid resilience issues in RTOs, ISOs, Chatterjee dissents

In other news from the meeting, FERC terminated a generic administrative docket it initiated in January 2018 to explore grid resilience issues in regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs). 

Commissioner Neil Chatterjee dissented from FERC’s decision to terminate the docket.

“I acknowledge that the issues teed-up in this proceeding are multi-layered and complex. I also acknowledge that this proceeding has politically charged origins beginning with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) initial proposed rulemaking to compensate certain categories of generators with on-site fuel,” wrote Chatterjee in his dissent.

“However, a unanimous, bi-partisan Commission rejected DOE’s proposal and, in its stead, posed fuel-neutral, critical questions about what it means to have a resilient grid and what steps the Commission can take to foster it. Those questions and their answers remain as critical today as they were three years ago.”

Despite thorough examinations of previous cold weather events, “we find ourselves wondering what went wrong this week when much of the nation encountered extreme cold weather that led to load shed in ERCOT, MISO, and SPP,” he said.

“Initial reports suggest that, as with previous cold weather events, these regions experienced unusually high demands, inadequate natural gas supplies, frozen infrastructure, correlated generation resource outages, and varying levels of load shed,” wrote Chatterjee.

The severity of the event, “measured in duration, geographic scope, amount of load shed, customers affected, and amount of unplanned generation outage — suggests that, despite the lessons learned and actions taken in the past to improve winterization and gas-electric coordination, the bulk power system may not be able to adequately withstand extreme cold weather events,” he said.

Chatterjee said he is concerned that extreme weather events will continue to increase in frequency and severity, and present serious risks to the resilience of the bulk power system.

“I would prefer that the Commission grapple with the resilience concerns raised in this proceeding in a more comprehensive way,” he wrote. “The Commission is well positioned to, for instance, adopt a definition of resilience that could be implemented in all regions, describe categories of resilience concerns that would include extreme weather events and common-mode failures, and then take additional steps to ensure that the Commission, RTOs/ISOs, and stakeholders can understand how each RTO/ISO assesses the resilience of its region.”

Such assessments “would enable a comparative, cross-market view of how each RTO/ISO identifies and addresses resilience needs and would enhance coordination across regions. Such a holistic review would not only assist RTOs/ISOs and their stakeholders in considering different approaches to these efforts, but also help the Commission understand how to best assess and address bulk power system resilience,” Chatterjee said.

FERC Commissioner James Danly offered a concurrence.

“I concur in the result of this order insofar as it is the privilege of the majority to terminate a discretionary inquiry. I write separately, however, to highlight my concern that the resilience issues raised in this proceeding have not been solved—indeed, in most cases they have not even been addressed,” he wrote.

Commissioners Christie, Clements offer joint concurrence

Commissioners Mark Christie and Clements offered a joint concurrence in the RTO/ISO grid resilience docket “to emphasize that our agreement to terminate this specific proceeding is purely procedural, not substantive.” 

 The issues “attendant to grid resilience and reliability that this particular proceeding raised are compelling and must command this Commission’s future attention. Procedurally, this matter has languished for more than three years with no action, so the unavoidable conclusion is that these issues need to be shifted to other procedural vehicles to make progress.  On that basis, we concur,” wrote Christie and Clements.

“As the widespread power outages this very week in Texas – as well as the outages in California last summer – graphically demonstrate, the challenges of ensuring a reliable supply of power to American consumers as the generation mix changes, remain as relevant and compelling as ever,” the Commissioners said.

“Reliability to most Americans means power available 24/7; not just during good weather, but during bad weather, when they need it most to heat or cool their homes, operate their businesses, and to some consumers, even to maintain their very health.”

Christie and Clements also agree that “while there are general issues attendant to reliability and resilience, each RTO/ISO is different and faces different challenges from its generation mix and weather patterns.  FERC’s job is to ensure that each RTO/ISO is meeting its individual operational responsibilities to ensure a 24/7 supply of power.”

To meet that reliability challenge, RTOs and ISOs “must be willing to face and speak inconvenient truths about what is – and is not – feasible from an engineering standpoint, given the state of technology,” the Commissioners wrote.

“They must also tell the public and the elected political leaders at both the state and federal levels about the realistic impacts on the bills consumers will have to pay for reliability. Politically driven mandates and deadlines may not be grounded in engineering reality and we depend on the leadership of each RTO and ISO to provide forthright information about what is needed to ensure the 24/7 power supply Americans expect.”

Christie and Clements said that decarbonization “is a necessary policy goal and preliminary reports from ERCOT, for example, indicate supply problems not only with wind resources, but also with gas and other forms of dispatchable generation as well. We should avoid drawing final conclusions about the events in these various RTOs/ISOs before complete investigations and reports are available. Common sense tells us, however, that as what is called the ‘energy transition’ takes place, it must be grounded in the scientific facts of electrical engineering and physics, if Americans are to receive the reliable supply of power they need at the least cost to them.”  

The Commissioners noted that they do not take issue with the sentiments included in Chatterjee’s dissent — “indeed, we share them. Resilience and reliability issues remain compelling and unavoidable. Unfortunately, this specific proceeding, which began long before we came to this Commission and is rooted in another proposal that was unanimously rejected, no longer appears to be the right vehicle.” 

In that regard, “we agree with Commissioner Chatterjee’s statement that he ‘. . . would prefer that the Commission grapple with the resilience concerns raised in this proceeding in a more comprehensive way.’ It is our hope that this Commission will do exactly that – and soon.”

Texas regulators, lawmakers, governor and AG want answers on outages, soaring bills

February 22, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 22, 2021

Texas utility regulators, state lawmakers, the governor and the state attorney general are moving to get answers on events tied to the recent series of rotating power outages implemented by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and soaring power bills faced by some customers.

ERCOT on Friday, Feb. 19 said it expected to come out of emergency conditions later that morning. “There is enough generation on the electric system to allow us to begin to return to more normal operating conditions,” said ERCOT Senior Director of System Operations Dan Woodfin.

No additional outages were needed overnight to keep power supply and electric demand in balance, and only a few generating units tripped, the grid operator said, noting that electric utilities continued to address remaining customer outages.

As of 7:30 on the morning of Feb. 19, approximately 34,000 megawatts of generation remained on forced outage due to the winter weather event. Of that, nearly 20,000 MW was thermal generation and the rest is wind and solar.

In the wake of record-setting freezing temperatures, ERCOT entered emergency conditions and initiated rotating outages at 1:25 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 15. Two other grid operators — the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) — also took steps in response to bitterly cold temperatures.

Texas PUC launches investigation

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) on Feb. 19 said it was launching an investigation “into the factors that combined with the devastating winter weather to disrupt the flow of power to millions of Texas homes.” The action took place at an emergency open meeting held by the PUCT.

The Commission also unanimously approved a series of steps designed to protect retail electric customers feeling the financial effects of the ERCOT grid event.

“The immediate impact of this terrible weather was the loss of power for millions of Texas households and the financial aftershocks could be devastating,” said PUCT Chairman DeAnn Walker in a statement. “We must act swiftly to discover not only how this crisis came together, but also take meaningful steps to protect electricity customers.”

The Commission said that chief among its customer-focused actions was the decision to waive deadlines surrounding the Provider of Last Resort (POLR) program in which retail electric providers (REPs) volunteer to accept the customers of other REPs exiting the market.

These “volunteer” REPs are required to charge a competitive rate, rather than the higher so-called “POLR rate.”

The changes include extending the registration deadline for REPs willing to serve as a volunteer provider in order to expand the pool of available providers and delaying customer transitions to volunteer providers until February 24, 2021 to allow the new POLR REPs time to register and prepare for the influx of new customers.

Commissioners delegated authority to the agency’s Executive Director to execute the plan.

Texas state lawmakers schedule hearings

Meanwhile, Texas state lawmakers have scheduled hearings for this week to examine events surrounding the outages.

On Feb. 25, the Committees on State Affairs and Energy Resources in the Texas House of Representatives will hold a joint public hearing “to consider the factors that led to statewide electrical blackouts during the recent unprecedented weather event; the response by industry, suppliers, and grid operators; and changes necessary to avoid future power interruptions.” 

And Texas Senator Joan Huffman on Feb. 18 announced that the Senate Committee on Jurisprudence will hold a hearing to examine the law and jurisprudence governing ERCOT and the PUCT.

Texas law charges the PUCT with the duty to oversee ERCOT, and the hearing will study whether additional jurisprudential safeguards, such as statutes or administrative provisions, could have prevented the ongoing crisis, Huffman’s office said in an news release.

“The Senate Committee on Jurisprudence is committed to investigating the legal implications of ERCOT’s and the PUC’s action, or inaction, in contributing to this catastrophe across our state,” Huffman said. “As critical entities to the state, their legal responsibilities to the people they serve must be crystal clear in state law. If there are ambiguities, inconsistencies, or potential deficiencies in state law, they must be addressed immediately through legislative action,” she said.

The date of the hearing will be released in the coming days as the Senate prepares to reconvene.

The hearing is intended to complement a hearing of the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce on February 25 by examining the crisis through a jurisprudential lens, the news release said.

The purpose of the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce hearing will be to examine extreme weather condition preparedness and circumstances that led to the power outages as directed by ERCOT, according to a notice from the committee.

The committee will also review generator preparedness and performance, utility outage practices, natural gas supply, and the reliability of renewable generation, as well as overall ERCOT system resilience.

Texas governor

On Saturday, Feb. 20, Texas Gov. Governor Greg Abbott convened a meeting with Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, and members of the Legislature “to discuss the spike in energy bills affecting many Texans following the recent power outages throughout the state,” Abbott’s office said.

Abbott opened the call by discussing financial challenges many Texans will face as a result of the winter storm. He also gave an update on his conversations with the White House and potential federal relief that may be available to Texans.

The governor discussed the need to ensure that Texans are not left with unreasonable utility bills they cannot afford because of the temporary massive spike in the energy market, according to a readout of the meeting.

On Feb. 17, Abbott’s office noted that the governor had ordered natural gas producers not to export product out of state until February 21 and instead sell it to providers within Texas.

On Feb. 16, the governor declared the reform of ERCOT an emergency item this legislative session. In declaring this item an emergency, Abbott called on the legislature to investigate ERCOT “and ensure Texans never again experience power outages on the scale they have seen over the past several days,” a news release from the governor’s office said.

Texas attorney general

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Feb. 19 issued Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) to ERCOT and other power companies regarding power outages, emergency plans, energy pricing, and more related to the winter weather event.

CIDs were sent to:

The CIDs sent to these entities are available here.

A story posted on the Dallas Morning News website on Friday, Feb. 19 reported that Griddy “warned its customers over the weekend that their bills would rise significantly during the storm and that they should switch providers.”

Last week, “foreseeing a huge jump in wholesale prices, the company encouraged all of its customers — about 29,000 people — to switch to another provider when the storm arrived. But many were unable to do so,” the New York Times reported on Feb. 20.

Austin Energy says customers should not expect to see massive electric bills

Texas public power utility Austin Energy on Feb. 20  said it was “aware of media reports regarding potential massive electric bills for non-Austin Energy customers and want to stress to our customers that Austin Energy will not benefit financially in any way from this winter storm event.”

The customers impacted by major bill spikes are seeing electric rates controlled by variable price billing and are therefore vulnerable to sudden price swings from the wholesale energy market, both increases and decreases, Austin Energy noted.

In contrast, Austin Energy’s base rates are fixed and any changes must be authorized by Austin City Council, our governing body, after a thorough rate review process.

The Austin City Council directed Austin Energy to adjust customer’s base electric rates most recently in 2017 when rates decreased 6.7%.

Part of Austin Energy’s rate structure is a Power Supply Adjustment (PSA). Austin Energy charges customers what it costs to provide power to the community. It covers fuel for our power plants, the cost of electricity purchased from the grid and any net revenues or losses experienced as Austin Energy produces and sells power to the grid. The PSA is reviewed annually. The City Council last directed Austin Energy to reduce the PSA by 1.9% in November 2020. 

Austin Energy said it will evaluate the impact, or the cost, of buying electricity from ERCOT, minus the net revenue from generating electricity during the winter event. The electric utility will then have a better indication of the financial impact on the PSA and make recommendations to City Council.

Residential customers are billed for their actual energy usage, measured in kilowatt hours (kWh), recorded from their electric meter. Anyone without power during this time period had no electric use recorded from meters during these outage events.

Austin Energy noted that customers are charged only for the power consumed and will be charged at the existing rates as approved in the November 2020 rate tariff. If a customer consumed higher than average kWh, their electric bill will be higher than a normal month. If a customer consumed less than their average kWh, their bill will be less than a normal month.

Austin Energy offers customers insight into their usage and bills at COAUtilities.com, giving information they need to manage their accounts and bills. Auto Pay is a free service and customers continue to receive a bill for review before it is drafted.

Greenville Electric Utility System

Another Texas public power utility Greenville Electric Utility System (GEUS) on Feb. 20 said it “recognizes many of you have concerns about media reports concerning high electric prices caused by the recent extreme weather conditions.” 

This concern “is real for non-GEUS customers that are getting their power from electric utilities that depended heavily or solely on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ (ERCOT) real-time market to purchase energy during this event,” it said.  

“Maintaining stable rates for customers is a priority for municipal utilities like ours so we work hard every day to maximize our energy purchase options,” said GEUS General Manager Alicia Hooks. 

GEUS noted its energy portfolio includes a mix of local natural gas-fired generation, wind, solar and fixed price power agreements used to cap energy prices for our customers. This enables the utility to stabilize rates during periods such as this.  

“We generated energy from our local power plant through this winter event, which helped protect GEUS customers from record high ERCOT energy costs while also utilizing the other resources in our energy portfolio,” Hooks added.

CPS Energy

In a Feb. 20 media briefing, Paula Gold-Williams, President and CEO of Texas public power utility CPS Energy, said that “our focus is to make sure that we can protect our customers as much as possible from the affordability standpoint.”

CPS Energy is “going to use every tool in our toolbox to make sure that San Antonio doesn’t see some of the excessive monthly bills that we think will follow across Texas,” she said.

Public power utilities in other states offer help

Public power utilities from out of state are taking actions to help utilities affected by the outages.

For example, Missouri public power utility Carthage Water and Electric Plant reported that two of its linemen departed on Feb. 19 for San Augustine, Texas to aid in the power restoration efforts.

And Iowa public power utility Waverly Utilities “self-generated electricity for 24 hours from Tuesday to Wednesday to aid southern states experiencing rolling blackouts caused by the extreme cold weather conditions,” reported the Waterloo, Iowa newspaper the Courier on Feb. 19.

“With our self-generating ability, as long as fuel is available, we can isolate the community from grid-reliability issues that we witnessed happen in the southern states,” Waverly Utilities CEO Darrel Wenzel said in the article.

President Biden approves Texas disaster declaration

Meanwhile, President Biden on Feb. 19 declared that a major disaster exists in the state of Texas and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by the recent severe winter storms.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Federal funding is also available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency protective measures and hazard mitigation measures statewide.

The President’s action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in a large number of Texas counties. The complete list of those counties is available here.

FERC

At the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s monthly meeting on Feb. 18, FERC Chairman Richard Glick acknowledged the power outages in Texas and other parts of the country, calling it a “humanitarian crisis.” 

He characterized the situation as “simply unacceptable,” and said that, while the short-term focus should be on restoring power to the grid, FERC has a responsibility to ensure a similar situation does not happen again. 

Although recognizing FERC’s lack of jurisdiction over ERCOT, the Chairman observed that FERC, along with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), has a responsibility to protect bulk power system reliability, including in Texas. 

FERC and NERC announced on Feb. 16 that they will open a joint inquiry into the operations of the bulk-power system during the extreme winter weather conditions experienced by the Midwest and South Central states.

Glick said that FERC must make sure that the results of the inquiry “don’t just sit on the shelf gathering dust like so many other reports of this kind.”

He also suggested that past reliance on voluntary guidance in response to weather-related outages had been inadequate, pointing in particular to a 2011 FERC-NERC report on cold weather outages in the Southwest. 

Glick said he was “prepared, if necessary, to support the imposition of new mandatory standards to make sure that electric generators and others are better prepared when weather strikes the next time and there will be a next time.”

Climate change “is unfortunately already having a dramatic impact on our weather, be it wildfires, hurricanes or the extreme cold we’ve seen across the middle of the country. The challenges that climate change poses for the grid are only going to grow more starker and more immediate.”

He also said that Congress and the Texas state government need to rethink the state’s “go it alone approach” for much of the state’s electric grid. “Does it really make sense to isolate yourself and limit your ability to get power from neighboring regions just to keep FERC at bay? That strikes me as the proverbial cutting off your nose to spite your face.”

Kansas governor, other state officials urge FERC to launch investigation

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and other state officials on Feb. 19 urged FERC “to take all necessary and possible steps” to investigate the causes of system failures during the recent extreme-weather event in Kansas and protect Kansans from natural gas and electricity price surges resulting from increased demand.

Along with Kelly, Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) Chair Andrew French, Commissioner Dwight D. Keen, and Commissioner Susan K. Duffy also signed onto the letter sent to Glick urging a federal investigation.

Specifically, Kelly and the KCC called for FERC to:

U.S. Congress

Federal lawmakers are also seeking answers related to the recent events in Texas.

In a Feb. 16 letter to Bill Magness, President and CEO of ERCOT, and DeAnn Walker, Chairman of the PUCT, a group of U.S. Representatives from Texas asked Magness and Walker to respond to a series of questions related to the outages.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., has sent a letter to the Energy Department, FERC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission “calling for federal investigations into possible price gouging of natural gas in the Midwest and other regions following severe winter storms that plunged Texas and other states into a deep freeze that caused power outages in millions of homes and businesses,” the Associated Press reported.

SPP, MISO

Effective at 10:00 p.m. Central time, Feb. 20, SPP said that it had returned to normal operations for the entire SPP balancing authority area, signaling it has enough generation to meet demand and available reserves and foresees no extreme or abnormal threats to reliability.

For its part, MISO on Feb. 19 said its MISO system was currently steady and stable with sufficient generation and transmission resources online.

A Maximum Generation Alert for the South Region was terminated at 11am ET on Feb. 19. 

MISO said it would continue supporting member restoration efforts from this week’s winter weather event. 

Public power utilities warn of scam activity

In the wake of the frigid temperatures and strain on the grid, a number of public power utilities warned their customers to watch out for scam activity.

Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), which is in the SPP footprint, “is asking power customers around the state to be wary of scammers trying to take advantage of the recent winter weather and power outages,” it said on Feb. 18.

“These predatory individuals will call and state the customer’s bill must be paid immediately or the power will be shut off and will recommend several methods of payment. They may also indicate that immediate payment will keep someone from being included in emergent rotating outages. Sometimes the scammer’s caller-identification is falsified so it appears to originate from the utility company, a practice known as ‘spoofing’.”

Another Nebraska-based public power utility, Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) on Feb. 17 reported that it was beginning to learn of more customers receiving phone calls from scammers, falsely alleging their power will be shut off within 30-minutes for failure to pay their bills.

“This is a national scam. However, recent headlines about our regional power issues may have sparked the latest round of calls in our area. Utilities often see a spike in calls after severe weather or other power-related events, when customers may feel the most vulnerable,” it said.

Most of the latest calls have been automated messages left by a caller pretending to be employees. The message states power will be disconnected in a half hour if customers do not call back to settle up.

OPPD warned that these callers do not represent the utility, noting it never cold calls customers demanding payment.

CPS Energy in a Feb. 16 Facebook post noted that ERCOT had reported a scam circulating on social media asking customers to text their private account numbers.

“Please, DON’T DO IT! This info is not needed to restore your power. We’re working hard to get power back on. Thank you for your patience!,” CPS Energy said.

In Missouri, City Utilities of Springfield on Feb. 18 warned of two scams. One scam call claimed “that you’ll avoid being part of a rolling blackout by paying the caller immediately. HANG UP,” CU said in a tweet. It said customers could call it or send a direct message if they were concerned about their account status.

A second scam involved a call that appears like it is coming from the CU phone number “and the caller threatens to disconnect your service in the next 30-60 minutes if you don’t pay them immediately,” the utility said.

Texas grid operator continues to grapple with extreme weather, outages

February 17, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 17, 2021

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on Feb. 17 continued to grapple with bitter cold temperatures and power outages in its footprint.

According to powerOutage.US, which collects, records, and aggregates live power outage data from utilities all over the U.S., Texas had outages totaling 3,355,316 as of mid-day on Feb. 17.

ERCOT on Feb. 17 reported that it continued to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. During the overnight hours, ERCOT was able to restore approximately 3,500 megawatts of load, which is roughly 700,000 households, it said.

“We know millions of people are suffering,” said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness, in a statement. “We have no other priority than getting them electricity.”

However, ERCOT said that some of that was lost when the Midwest went into a power emergency of its own and ERCOT was no longer able to import approximately 600 MW.

As of 9 a.m. on Feb. 17, ERCOT was instructing local utilities to shed 14,000 MW of load representing around 2.8 million households.

“Although we’ve reconnected more consumers back to the grid, the aggregate energy consumption of customers (those recently turned back on and those already on) is actually lower this morning compared to yesterday because it’s less cold,” said ERCOT Senior Director of System Operations Dan Woodfin. “However, we are anticipating another cold front this evening which could increase the demand,” he said.

“The ability to restore more power is contingent on more generation coming back online,” said Woodfin.

Since the winter storm began on Monday, approximately 185 generating units have tripped offline for one reason or another. Some factors include frozen wind turbines, limited gas supplies, low gas pressure and frozen instrumentation, ERCOT said.

As of 9 a.m. on Feb. 17, approximately 46,000 MW of generation has been forced off the system during this extreme winter weather event. Of that, 28,000 MW is thermal and 18,000 MW is wind and solar.

Southwest Power Pool

Meanwhile, Southwest Power Pool (SPP) on Feb. 17 tweeted that “We continue to urge all homes & businesses in our 14-state region to conserve electricity, but are not directing any interruptions of service at this time. The public should follow their service providers’ directions regarding local outages, tips for conservation and safety.”

Nebraska public power utility Lincoln Electric System (LES) noted in a Feb. 17 tweet that LES officials “are in direct contact with SPP this morning as they monitor the electric grid’s status. At this time, we remain in an Energy Emergency Alert Level 2. We will let you know if a decision is made to move back to Level 3 and begin subsequent rotating outages.”

Energy Emergency Alert Level 2 is declared when SPP can no longer provide expected energy requirements and is an energy deficient entity, or when SPP foresees or has implemented procedures up to, but excluding, interruption of firm load commitments. 

Nebraska public power utility Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) noted in a tweet on the morning of Feb. 17 that while there were no current requirements for controlled outages by SPP, “this is a very fluid situation & we could be directed by the SPP to implement controlled outages w/ very little advance notice.”

“We have been able to avoid service interruptions this morning, but things may change quickly,” Nebraska Public Power District said on Feb. 17. “SPP is currently at a level 2. The next couple of hours are critical & we will keep you informed if things change. We appreciate our customers’ efforts to continue conserving energy.”

Effective at 1:15 p.m. Central time, SPP declared an Energy Emergency Alert Level 1 for its entire 14-state balancing authority area.

Generation is currently sufficient to serve system-wide demand across the region and to fully satisfy operating reserve requirements, SPP said.

“We continue to urge all homes and businesses throughout our 14-state region to conserve electricity, but are not directing any interruptions of service at this time. The public should follow their service providers’ directions regarding local outages, tips for conservation and safety.”

Electric power industry is closely coordinating in response to weather

As extreme cold weather and a series of winter storms continue to impact electricity customers across the country, investor-owned electric companies, electric cooperatives, and public power utilities are working together to ensure that power is restored to customers safely and as quickly as possible, the American Public Power Association, Edison Electric Institute and National Rural Electric Cooperative Association said on Feb. 17.

“Electric utilities in several states in the middle of the country are facing serious challenges due to extreme cold weather conditions and related power constraints,” said APPA President & CEO Joy Ditto. “The electric power industry is united in responding to this situation in order to protect the grid and get the power back on for everyone as quickly and safely as possible.”

In addition to extreme cold, several states — including Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, and West Virginia — have been hard hit by devastating ice and winter storms. In these areas, mutual assistance networks are activated, and crews continue to work around the clock to restore power to customers who lost power due to downed wires and other infrastructure impacts.

Electricity providers in all impacted areas are encouraging their customers to remain vigilant against scams targeting utility customers and are reminding customers that portable generators and grills never should be used indoors or in other enclosed areas where lethal fumes quickly can accumulate.

With another winter storm in the forecast this week, electric companies, electric co-ops, and public power utilities in the path are preparing and in close coordination with emergency response officials, state leaders, and customers.

FERC, NERC to open joint inquiry into recent cold weather grid operations

February 16, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 16, 2021

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) announced on Feb. 16 that they will open a joint inquiry into the operations of the bulk-power system during the extreme winter weather conditions currently being experienced by the Midwest and South Central states.

The severe cold weather over the weekend, and continuing into this week, has contributed to power outages affecting millions of electricity customers throughout the region.

“For now, the emphasis must remain on restoring power to customers and securing the reliability of the bulk-power system,” FERC and NERC said.

“In the days ahead, FERC and NERC will formally begin the inquiry, which will work with other federal agencies, states, regional entities and utilities to identify problems with the performance of the bulk-power system and, where appropriate, solutions for addressing those issues.”

Grid operators, utilities continue to grapple with freezing temperatures

Grid operators and electric utilities on Feb. 16 continued to grapple with bitter cold temperatures and address strains on the power grid that resulted in rotating outages starting on Feb. 15.

SPP

SPP early on the morning of Feb. 16 said it was declaring an Energy Emergency Alert (EEA) Level 3 effective immediately for its entire 14-state balancing authority area. SPP said that systemwide generating capacity had dropped below our current load of approximately 42 gigawatts (GW) due to extremely low temperatures and inadequate supplies of natural gas.

“We’ll be working with our member utilities to implement controlled interruptions of electric service throughout our region,” SPP said. “This is done as a last resort to preserve the reliability of the electric system as a whole. Individuals in the SPP service territory should take steps to conserve energy use and follow their local utilities’ instructions regarding conservation, local conditions and the potential for outages to their homes and businesses.”

SPP said that it was forecasting a morning peak of above 44.6 GW around 9:00 a.m. Central time.

Nebraska public power utility Lincoln Electric System (LES) on Feb. 16 said it had been instructed to shed load by SPP, the balancing authority for LES.

Rotating outages, also known as rolling blackouts, are controlled, temporary interruptions of electricity that reduce demand on the system. Outages are typically limited to 30 to 60 minutes, but may last longer, before being rotated to another location, LES noted.

Customers may experience multiple outages, LES said Feb. 16. Locations of controlled outages are determined by load shed requirements from SPP, which happens in minutes.

Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) on Feb. 16 said in a Facebook post that in order to maintain system reliability, “we have just been informed by SPP that we need to do emergency coordinated interruptions of service. These 30-minute interruptions of service occur in real-time, so we have very little, if any, notice as to where these interruptions will take place. This is done to prevent longer, uncontrolled outages. If you experience a controlled outage, it should only last approximately 30 minutes.”

Another Nebraska public power utility, Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), on the morning of Feb. 16 reported that it had rotated another 12,222 customers back online as controlled outages continued Tuesday morning.  Customers in Sarpy County and parts of west and central Omaha had been brought back online after undertaking approximately one-hour outages.

SPP “has directed all its member utilities, from North Dakota to Texas, to have controlled outages to help the power grid stay balanced. Record setting cold temperatures have settled in over the Central Plains region over the last few days and some snow and ice storms in the southern regions have also impacted the situation,” OPPD noted.

All utilities in the SPP footprint have been taking part in these controlled outages. For the OPPD area, those outages have been about one hour on a rotating basis. “While inconvenient for our customers and businesses impacted, the impacts of these outages have been minimal compared to winter snow and ice storms which can cause outages for days at a time.”

As of 10:05 a.m. CT, there were about 130 customers impacted by the rotating outages, OPPD said.

Missouri River Energy Services (MRES) noted that it was notified that SPP declared an EEA Level 3 starting on Feb. 16 at 6:15 a.m. “MRES had hoped to provide advance notice to its members but SPP was unable to notify us in time,” MRES said.

MRES is a joint-action agency made up of 61 member municipalities in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. MRES provides its members with wholesale electricity along with a host of energy-related services.

MRES noted that the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) and MRES are both transmission owners in SPP and both serve the power supply needs of MRES members, adding that MRES members located in the SPP footprint may be affected by this event.

Upon instructions by the reliability coordinator of SPP, WAPA began to curtail power to substations within the MRES membership, causing power outages in those communities. MRES was notified at about 10:50 a.m. that WAPA was in the process of restoring curtailed load. “MRES has no control over, and does not make any decisions regarding when and if these rolling blackouts are required,” it pointed out.

All MRES-operated generation resources have been operating to the fullest extent during this extreme weather event and are performing well, it said. Those include Laramie River Station in Wheatland, Wyoming, the Exira Station near Atlantic, Iowa, and the Watertown Power Plant in Watertown, South Dakota. Many MRES members with local generating units in their communities are also running those units to support power supply in the region.

MRES noted that it was asking its member municipal utilities to do whatever they can to reduce power usage in their communities, such as requesting that customers voluntarily reduce electric usage by delaying running the dishwasher and clothes washer, turning down the heat, and shutting off lights.

SPP subsequently declared a move from EEA Level 3 to EEA Level 2 at 11:30 a.m. Central time. “SPP’s forecasts anticipate that due to high load and persistent cold weather, it is likely its system will fluctuate between EEA levels over the next 48 hours,” it said in a tweet.

SPP as of 12:31 p.m. CT downgraded the EEA to level 1. This is declared when all available resources have been committed to meet obligations, and SPP is at risk of not meeting required operating reserves.

ERCOT

On Feb. 15, ERCOT reported that it had started to restore some of the power lost due to the winter weather event in Texas. As of 4 p.m. on Feb. 15, approximately 2,500 MW of load was in the process of being restored – enough power to serve 500,000 households. Earlier in the day, ERCOT entered emergency conditions and initiated rotating outages.

“The number of controlled outages we have to do remains high. We are optimistic that we will be able to reduce the number throughout the day.” Dan Woodfin, Senior Director of System Operations, said on the morning of Feb. 16.

ERCOT said in a Facebook post that it should be able to restore some customers the afternoon of Feb. 16 due to additional wind and solar output and additional thermal generation “that has told us they expect to become available. But, the amount we restore will depend on how much generation is actually able to come online.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Feb. 16 declared reform of ERCOT an emergency item this legislative session. “In declaring this item an emergency, the governor is calling on the legislature to investigate ERCOT and ensure Texans never again experience power outages on the scale they have seen over the past several days,” a news release from the governor’s office said.

Texas public power utilities

Texas public power utility CPS Energy on Feb. 16 said that extreme cold temperatures and high energy usage “are continuing to force multiple power outages across our community and our state. If you are currently experiencing an outage, it is possible that the outage will continue for longer periods,” it said on its Facebook page. “If you have power, it is also possible you may experience a power outage and you should plan accordingly. Please seek shelter if you are in need of assistance.”

San Antonio, Texas, public power utility CPS Energy on Feb. 16 said that after exhausting all other options, these additional controlled service interruptions are a last resort, “and a step we take only when necessary to safeguard continued reliability of the statewide” ERCOT grid.

CPS Energy officials on Feb. 16 held a media briefing via Facebook Live to provide the latest update on outages caused by the extreme cold temperatures.

CPS Energy officials participating in the briefing included Paula Gold-Williams, President and CEO, and Rudy Garza, Interim Chief Customer Engagement Officer.

Meanwhile, Texas public power utility Austin Energy on Feb. 16 reported that as electric providers all wait for the ERCOT grid to stabilize, customers who have sustained outages should expect those outages to continue until the situation improves.

“All of our crews are ready to restore power to those affected as soon as we are authorized to do so by ERCOT,” Austin Energy said.

“We recognize the hardships and understand why customers are frustrated,” it noted.

Austin Energy General Manager Jackie Sargent was joined by city and county officials on Feb. 16 in a virtual press conference to address the unprecedented severe weather that has impacted residents. The replay of the press conference is available here.

MISO

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and its members managed multiple interdependent issues this week including transmission constraints and generation outages, MISO said on Feb. 16. MISO is also supporting its members’ restoration efforts in the South Region which remains under emergency declarations due to high demand and frigid temperatures.

MISO on Feb. 16 noted in a tweet that in light of uncertain operating conditions, it had declared additional emergency actions including instructing South Region members to issue a Public Appeal to conserve electricity (https://www.misoenergy.org/mcsnotification/?id=1121).

MISO has issued several emergency declarations since last week, some of which resulted in temporary power interruptions in parts of Southeast Texas, Southwest/South-Central Louisiana and South-Central Illinois. Most of those outages have been restored. Load demand is being driven by the freezing temperatures expected through the rest of this week, the grid operator said.

MISO said it continues to actively monitor developments related to the Arctic Outbreak, including information and guidance from our members and weather experts.

Texas grid operator initiates rotating power outages in wake of freezing temperatures

February 15, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 15, 2021

In the wake of record-setting freezing temperatures, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) entered emergency conditions and initiated rotating outages at 1:25 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 15.

Two other grid operators — the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) — were also taking steps in response to bitterly cold temperatures. SPP instituted rotating outages on Feb. 15.

“We continue to have communication with our members about this evolving situation and look forward to continuing to work with them to help address this serious situation,” said Joy Ditto, President and CEO of the American Public Power Association.

“A sprawling winter storm continued to sweep across the country on Monday, knocking out power for millions of people as it dumped snow and ice in places where such perilously frigid conditions tend to arrive just once in a generation,” the New York Times reported on Feb. 15.

ERCOT

About 10,500 megawatts of customer load was shed at the highest point, ERCOT said on Feb. 15.

“The entire state was below freezing on Monday, with temperature ranging from 25 degrees in Brownsville in the south to 15 degrees below zero in the Panhandle,” CNN reported in a story posted on its website.

Extreme weather conditions caused many generating units across fuel types to trip offline and become unavailable, ERCOT said, noting that there was over 30,000 MW of generation forced off the system as of the early morning hours of Feb. 15.

“Every grid operator and every electric company is fighting to restore power right now,” said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness, in a statement.

Rotating outages will likely last throughout the morning and could be initiated until this weather emergency ends, ERCOT said on Feb. 15.

On Sunday, Feb. 14, ERCOT asked consumers and businesses to reduce their electricity use as much as possible through Tuesday, Feb. 16.

“We are experiencing record-breaking electric demand due to the extreme cold temperatures that have gripped Texas,” said Magness. “At the same time, we are dealing with higher-than-normal generation outages due to frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units. We are asking Texans to take some simple, safe steps to lower their energy use during this time.”

ERCOT starts to restore power

Later in the day, ERCOT reported that it was beginning to restore some of the power lost due to the winter weather event in Texas.

As of 4 p.m., approximately 2,500 MW of load was in the process of being restored.

“ERCOT and Texas electric companies have been able to restore service to hundreds of thousands of households today, but we know there are many people who are still waiting,” said Magness. “It’s also important to remember that severe weather, mainly frigid temperatures, is expected to continue, so we’re not out of the woods.”

At the time, the grid operator said it was instructing transmission owners to shed approximately 14,000 MW of load, down from 16,500 MW earlier in the day.

Controlled outages will likely last throughout the evening and into Tuesday, Feb. 16 as ERCOT works to restore the electric system to normal operations.

White House issues emergency declaration

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Feb. 14 announced that the White House had issued a Federal Emergency Declaration for Texas in response to the severe winter weather throughout the state. The governor submitted a request for this declaration on Saturday to assist the state in response efforts related to the storm.  

The Federal Emergency Declaration authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide emergency protective measures for mass care and sheltering and Direct Federal Assistance for all 254 counties in Texas.

Abbott on Feb. 12 declared a state of disaster in all 254 Texas counties due to severe weather posing an “imminent threat of widespread and severe property damage, injury, and loss of life due to prolonged freezing temperatures, heavy snow, and freezing rain statewide.”

Also on Feb. 12, the Railroad Commission of Texas issued an Emergency Order pursuant to Texas Utilities Code affecting the gas utility systems in the state. The order specified increasing the priority of gas supplies to ERCOT generators.

Public power utilities in Texas

Public power utilities in the state were affected by the outages and took a number of steps to keep their customers up to date with the latest news and ways that they can help conserve electricity.

In the early morning hours of Feb. 15, San Antonio-based CPS Energy noted that as part of its participation in ERCOT and the critical nature of this stage, “we are required to participate in coordinated rotating outages in an effort to prevent larger and more extreme impacts on the Texas grid. CPS Energy is also asking natural gas customers to reduce energy use as well.”

“Rotating outages are necessary to help preserve the integrity of the Texas electric grid,” said Rudy Garza, Chief Customer Engagement Officer for CPS Energy.  “It is crucial that we, along with other Texas utilities, implement rotating outages as directed by ERCOT. The mandatory request for load shed can be subsidized by residential and commercial customers doing what they can to reduce energy use.”

Meanwhile, Texas public power utility Austin Energy on the morning of Feb. 15 said that due to the severity of weather and the condition of the electric grid, rotating outages in the Austin Energy area were lasting longer than the expected duration. “To serve critical loads and protect the overall reliability of the grid, customers experiencing an ERCOT-directed outage will remain out until conditions improve,” it said.
 
“The situation continues to worsen across Texas and here in Austin,” said Austin Energy General Manager Jackie Sargent. “Austin Energy implemented required outages early Monday morning, doing our part to help stabilize the ERCOT grid. The required outages are more extensive than anyone expected and do not allow us to bring affected customers back online at this time. We will continue working with ERCOT and working through our contingency plans to get power back on to customers as soon as the grid allows.”
 
Conservation is still needed by those who have power. Customers are urged to keep electric use to only what is essential for heating and safety, Austin Energy said.

The utility noted that ERCOT declared an Energy Emergency Alert Level 3, calling for rotating outages across the state.  Rotating outages are controlled, temporary interruptions of electrical service implemented by utilities when it is necessary for ERCOT to reduce demand on the system. This type of demand reduction is only used as a last resort to preserve the reliability of the electric system as a whole.

When power is restored, circuits can become overloaded because of lights, electronics and thermostats left on prior to the outage. This is called cold load pickup and can cause a second outage.

Austin Energy said that customers currently without power can help the utility avoid cold load pickup by turning off their thermostats, turning off or unplugging any fixtures or appliances and only leaving on one light to indicate when the power is back on.

A number of other public power communities also proactively kept their customers up to date on the rotating outages.

In a Feb. 15 Facebook post, the City Hall of Denton, Texas, noted that the duration and frequency of outages depends on the severity of the event and the directions provided by ERCOT.

“Due to the severity of the statewide electric supply shortfall, our originally expected 30 min. outage time has been significantly extended,” the post said. “In addition, we are responding to separate outages caused by the record-breaking weather. We are doing everything possible to respond to this event and keep power on for as long as statewide electric supply will allow.”

The City of Denton is served by public power utility Denton Municipal Electric.

Texas public power utility Greeneville Electric Utility System (GEUS) issued a news release on Feb. 15 in which it noted that ERCOT is encouraging all consumers to reduce their electricity usage to the lowest possible. “Your conserving electricity now can improve ERCOT’s grid reliability and possibly avoid prolonged rotating outages and/or blackouts should conditions worsen,” GEUS said.

New Braunfels Utilities also issued a news release noting ERCOT’s declaration of an Energy Emergency Alert Level 3 and detailing steps that customers can take to help reduce electricity usage and manage their utility bills.

“It is very important that all utilities participate in helping reduce strain on the electric grid, and at this time ERCOT has determined that this can only be accomplished by shedding load from the system,” said Gary Miller, General Manager of Texas public power utility Bryan Texas Utilities.

“BTU’s primary concern is the safety and well-being of our customers, and while these outages are certainly not ideal, they are in the best interest of our service territory and the integrity of the Texas electric system as a whole.”

During this period of rolling blackouts, customers are urged to reduce their electric load to the smallest amount possible, by turning off all unnecessary lighting, appliances, and electronic equipment, BTU said. Additionally, businesses should avoid starting equipment that utilizes a large amount of electricity, and postpone any non-essential production processes, it said in a news release.

“ERCOT is doing everything in its power to keep the electric system from going critical. Consumers are asked to lower thermostats & turn off unneeded appliances/lights,” the public power city of College Station, Texas, said in a tweet.

Other Texas public power utilities and communities that issued news releases or leveraged their social media channels to provide updates on the rotating outages included the City of Georgetown, Kerrville Public Utility Board, Floresville Electric Light and Power System and Brownsville Public Utilities Board.

U.S. Department of Energy issues emergency order

On Feb. 14, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued an emergency order under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act relaxing environmental restrictions on certain units in ERCOT through Feb. 19. The order was issued by David Huizenga, Acting Secretary of Energy.

“ERCOT is in the beginning stages of an unprecedented cold weather event brought on by a rare, southward excursion of the jet stream into the South Central United States,” the order states. Temperatures for Sunday and Monday in many parts of Texas are forecasted to drop well below the lowest temperatures experienced in several decades, and abnormally low temperatures are expected to persist for several more days. This weather event is expected to result in record winter electricity demand that will exceed even ERCOT’s most extreme seasonal load forecasts.”

ERCOT had asked the DOE to immediately issue an order, effective February 14, 2021 through February 19, 2021, authorizing “the provision of additional energy from all generation units subject to emissions or other permit limits” in the ERCOT region.

“Given the emergency nature of the expected load stress, the responsibility of ERCOT to ensure maximum reliability on its system, and the ability of ERCOT to identify and dispatch generation necessary to meet the additional load, I have determined that additional dispatch of the specified resources is necessary to best meet the emergency and serve the public interest for purposes of FPA section 202(c),” wrote Huizenga.

“Because the additional generation may result in a conflict with environmental standards and requirements, I am authorizing only the necessary additional generation, with reporting requirements” detailed in the order.

Southwest Power Pool

Meanwhile, due to an unprecedented energy demand during record low temperatures, SPP, Lincoln Electric System’s (LES) regional reliability coordinator, had notified utilities within its regional footprint that energy curtailments are required, LES, a Nebraska-based public power utility, said on Feb. 15.

SPP declared an Energy Emergency Alert Level 3, which means utilities across the SPP region have been instructed to begin rotating planned outages because there is not enough power available to keep up with customer demand, LES noted.

SPP reported late in the afternoon that after directing member utilities to implement controlled interruptions of service shortly after noon on Feb. 15, SPP had restored load to its 14-state region as of 2:00 p.m. Central time. “The grid operator now has enough generation available to meet demand throughout its service territory and to fully meet its minimum reserve requirements,” it said.

The SPP system reached a peak electricity usage of 43,661 MW on Feb. 15 and is required to carry additional operating reserves in excess of load, it noted. After committing all of its reserves and exhausting other avenues such as importing power from other regions, available generation in SPP fell about 641 MW short of demand for a period beginning just after noon. In response, SPP directed its member utilities to implement planned interruptions of service to curtail electricity use by that amount.

Effective at 2:00 p.m., SPP cancelled the Energy Emergency Alert Level 3 it had declared at 10:08 a.m. when its reserves were exhausted and re-entered an EEA Level 2. SPP’s forecasts anticipate that due to high load and persistent cold weather, it is likely its system will fluctuate between EEA Levels 2 and 3 over the next 48 hours and may have to direct further interruptions of service if available generation is inadequate to meet high demand.

At 10:08 a.m.  Central time on Feb. 15, SPP declared an Energy Emergency Alert Level 3 in response to conditions created by persistent and extreme cold across its service territory. An EEA3 signals that SPP’s operating reserves are below the required minimum. SPP has also directed its member utilities to be prepared to implement controlled interruptions of service if necessary to mitigate the risk of more widespread and longer-lasting outages.

LES had asked customers to continue to voluntarily and safely implement one or more energy-saving measures listed on LES.com.

LES later reported that it had stopped controlled outages after only going through two cycles. “While LES hasn’t received additional requests from the Southwest Power Pool to curtail, we ask customers to remain prepared for rotating outages over the next 36 hours,” LES said.

Another public power utility, Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) on Feb. 15 posted a tweet stating that OPPD and other utilities were asking customers to conserve energy now, “as the bitter cold continues in our region.” OPPD president and CEO Tim Burke addressed the polar vortex event in a YouTube video.

“We are asking customers to conserve energy,” Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) said in a Feb. 15 Facebook post. “The record cold forecast is putting a high demand on the electrical system.”

In Missouri, City Utilities of Springfield reported that it had been told to reduce its electric load within the SPP. This is a combined group of power generating utilities throughout 14 states and all utilities are under similar reduction requirements. “This process has started at this time,” CU noted in a news release.

CU “will begin what is commonly known as a rolling blackout in sections of Springfield. These will last from 30 to 60 minutes in duration and will be executed in different areas of the city. All areas of the City Utilities electric service territory may potentially be impacted.”

The Kansas City Board of Public Utilities (BPU) on Feb. 15 reported that it was asking customers to conserve electricity use as much as possible through Wednesday, Feb. 17, at the request of SPP.

The SPP “advises that the region’s coldest weather in decades is creating high demand for electricity. At the same time, the extreme weather is driving high demand for natural gas used to heat homes and businesses, straining the gas supply available to generate electricity, and icy conditions have made availability of wind generation uncertain,” Kansas-based BPU said.

“Everybody must do their part to save electricity the next few days and this in turn will help us make sure the power supply continues to best serve the region’s needs,” said David Mehlhaff, BPU Chief Communications Officer.

Later in the day, BPU reported that beginning on February 15 at 12:10 p.m., BPU began to turn off electricity to blocks of customers for approximately 40 minutes. Once the period concluded, power was restored to the impacted area. The emergency outages will then rotate to another portion of BPU’s service area and power may cycle off and on periodically until the reduction is no longer required by the SPP, BPU said.

MISO also takes action in response to weather

Meanwhile, MISO on Feb. 15 said that sustained frigid temperatures and winter weather impacting the MISO South Region contributed to the loss of generation and transmission. This led to emergency actions in the region’s western portion to avoid a larger power outage on the bulk electric system.  Periodic power outages began early Monday morning for some customers in Southeast Texas.

“We fully committed every available operating asset before the event to lessen the impact on our system, but conditions eventually deteriorated to a point where demand exceeded supply,” said Renuka Chatterjee, executive director – System Operations at MISO. “The accelerated change in conditions led us to our last resort in order to maintain grid reliability and we are in direct communication with our members to support their restoration efforts in the affected areas.”

MISO and its members worked together to identify the worst-case scenarios to limit the effects of temporary power supply interruptions to those areas that will provide the most relief, it said. That plan focused on the forecasted load demand and expert weather forecast as well as the risks associated with generation availability and transmission capacity across the region.

“This was truly a coordinated effort with all of our members to avoid a potentially larger grid outage,” said Daryl Brown, executive director – South Region at MISO.  “We are in direct communication with our members in the affected area to support their restoration efforts.”

Periodic power outages are always the last stage of several emergency procedures and steps taken to maintain grid reliability, MISO said.

Later in the day, MISO declared a Maximum Generation Event – Emergency Event Step 2c in its South Region due to the extreme cold and weather conditions causing high demand on the bulk electric system.

The declaration was effective February 15 at 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. ET. As part of its emergency procedures, MISO directed South Region members to make a public appeal of conservation to their customers to avoid a larger power outage.

“The frigid temperatures have increased the number of uncertainties and conditions are changing to a point where demand could exceed supply,” said Chatterjee. “We’re moving into uncertain territory which is why we are asking the public for assistance.”

MISO said that this is a highly unusual situation with current power demand nearly exceeding what current generation and transmission can supply because of the extreme weather. The situation has been taking a toll on parts of the bulk electric system limiting MISO’s ability to import electricity from neighbors that are in a similar situation, it said.

“Our members regularly provide customers advice on how to conserve regardless of weather conditions,” said Brown. “However, we are specifically asking those customers in the South Region to heed that advice and limit electricity usage to only the most essential functions so we can avoid a larger grid outage.”

The Maximum Generation Event – Emergency Event Step 2c notification includes instructions for Local Balancing Authorities to issue a public appeal to reduce demand. MISO Operating Conditions FAQs provide details on the necessary steps to manage system demand and ensure grid reliability during tight situations. MISO said it woud continue closely monitoring conditions in the South Region for the duration of the winter weather event.

FERC closely monitoring weather conditions

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “is closely monitoring the extreme weather conditions occurring in much of the country and the impact they are having on electric reliability,” said FERC Chairman Richard Glick.

“The Commission is in contact with ERCOT, SPP and MISO — as the regions served by these grid operators have been particularly hard hit by record cold and wintry precipitation.  Safeguarding the reliability of the bulk power system is paramount and I have directed FERC staff to coordinate closely with the RTOs/ISOs, utilities, NERC, and regional reliability entities to do what we can to help,” he said. 

“In the days ahead, we will be examining the root causes of these reliability events, but, for now, the focus must remain on restoring power as quickly as possible and keeping people safe during this incredibly challenging situation.”

Members of Southeast energy exchange market file for approval at FERC

February 12, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 12, 2021

Members of the Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM) on Feb. 12 filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the approval of an automated, intra-hour energy exchange.

The FERC filing and approval process will provide an opportunity for the members of SEEM to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed market design and for interested parties to provide feedback and comments for FERC to consider, according to a news release related to the filing.

Founding members of SEEM are expected to include:

Participation in SEEM is open to other entities that meet the appropriate requirements. Some utilities will make decisions about whether to commit following FERC approval. 

The new SEEM platform will facilitate sub-hourly, bilateral trading, allowing participants to buy and sell power close to the time the energy is consumed, utilizing available unreserved transmission.  The platform is an extension of the existing bilateral market.

The result will be cost savings and improved integration of all energy resources, including renewables, which are expanding rapidly in the Southeast, the news release said.

California community choice aggregators form joint powers authority

February 10, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 10, 2021

Eight community choice aggregators (CCAs) in California are joining forces to form a joint powers authority (JPA) that will allow the CCAs to combine their buying power to procure new, cost-effective clean energy and reliability resources, the CCAs said on Feb. 8.

The CCAs forming the JPA, which is called California Community Power, represent 2.6 million customer accounts and 6.6 million people across more than 140 municipalities spanning from Humboldt County to Santa Barbara County.

The CCAs serve a combined annual load of 32,600 gigawatt hours, which represents about 40% of PG&E’s annual electric load.

The member CCAs include: Central Coast Community Energy, East Bay Community Energy, MCE, Peninsula Clean Energy, Redwood Coast Energy Authority, San José Clean Energy, Silicon Valley Clean Energy and Sonoma Clean Power. CleanPowerSF is pursuing membership.

The CCAs said that additional benefits of the new JPA include enhanced negotiating power, larger renewable and storage project procurement, shared risk mitigation, and increased opportunities for innovation, as demonstrated by the first, major joint procurement for 500 megawatts (MWs) of long-duration energy storage.

The long-duration Request for Offers seeks a minimum 10-year contract for grid-charged technologies to come online by or before 2026 with a discharge period of at least eight hours. The solicitation is currently in the project evaluation stage.

Under the JPA structure, individual members will not be obligated to participate in every procurement or joint project.

The CCAs said that the JPA structure safeguards members from additional liabilities so there is no added risk for the members.

The American Public Power Association has initiated a new category of membership for community choice aggregation programs.

Ditto outlines APPA priorities for 2021, details success in meeting pandemic, hurricane challenges

February 9, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 9, 2021

In remarks made at recent energy industry events, Joy Ditto, President and CEO of the American Public Power Association, outlined APPA’s priorities for 2021 and detailed how public power in 2020 was successful in meeting the dual challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and a significant hurricane season.

“As we go into the legislative environment on COVID-19 response, we are certainly looking for increases in programs like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which we’ve long supported,” she said at the United States Energy Association’s annual State of the Energy Industry Forum on Jan. 28 in detailing the Association’s priorities for this year.

“We’re looking for some changes: to the program “to allow folks above the typical threshold of low income to access that program.”

Ditto noted that the Biden Administration has proposed a very robust program for COVID-19 response that is currently being debated. “We will certainly be very engaged in that.”

A group of national gas and electric utility associations, including APPA, on Feb. 4 sent a letter to Congress calling for a $10 billion emergency supplemental appropriation for LIHEAP.

On the climate change front, APPA supports climate change legislation, Ditto noted. “We will be working on the specifics of what that legislation should look like.”

In addition, APPA also believes it is important to continue to highlight the fact that public power utilities do not receive tax credits for clean energy development, while investor-owned utilities and independent power producers do receive such credits.

“Our communities are frankly being put at a disadvantage vis a vis federal policy in that regard,” she said. “We have long sought what we call comparable incentives for development of these clean energy projects and that’s something that we have strong bipartisan support on and I’m very hopeful we can get across the transom this Congress.”

Turning to financing tools for public power, Ditto noted that APPA will be working to put back in place advance refunding bonds. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated the ability to issue advance refunding bonds.

Ditto said that a COVID-19 omnibus energy bill package that passed in December included elements that will benefit public power.

For example, there is a new grant program that has been created at the Department of Energy that will help cooperatives and public power to deploy energy storage infrastructure. This will need to be funded through the appropriations process, “so we’ll be working on that.”

Along with energy storage, other infrastructure-related issues of importance to APPA include electric vehicles “and about what Congress may say about transmission policy.”

APPA has “long supported additional capabilities to site transmission within parameters. We had a provision in the Energy Policy Act that was struck down in the courts, but we certainly support additional efforts to site needed transmission.”

At the same time, APPA would be hesitant about any additional incentives for transmission if that were to be proposed in legislation.

The public power trade group is also looking at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “to see if they’ll back off some of their incentive rate proposals. There was some good action on that recently where they did not take that forward in a rulemaking related to revisiting transmission incentives. We think the existing policy around transmission incentives is the right one.” 

APPA continues to care deeply about the ability to use all types of resources. “When we are going into any kind of climate change legislation we want to make sure we have a diverse portfolio of resources we can deploy” and that costs, affordability and reliability “are still at the forefront of any climate change legislation that comes down the pike, as well as the emissions reduction piece that is so important.”

In addition, APPA would work with the electric cooperative community to oppose any “nefarious activity” related to the federal power marketing administrations and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

In February 2020, APPA and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) said that they were disappointed to see that the fiscal year (FY) 2021 budget request released by then-President Trump proposed to divest the transmission assets held by the Tennessee Valley Authority and three of the Power Marketing Administrations: Southwestern Power Administration, Western Area Power Administration, and Bonneville Power Administration.

This was the fourth year in a row that the budget request made the misguided proposal to divest their transmission assets, the associations said, adding that they would adamantly oppose any effort by the federal government to privatize TVA and PMA assets that have been paid for by electricity customers.

At the same time, APPA and NRECA said that they were also disappointed to see that the FY 2021 budget request again proposes to increase PMA rates by changing the current cost-based rate structure.

Ditto noted that we have seen these types of problematic efforts in previous administrations as well, regardless of party affiliation.

Ditto discusses pandemic response, reliability and cybersecurity issues at NERC summit

Meanwhile, in late January, Ditto participated in a Reliability Leadership Summit hosted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and the Reliability Issues Steering Committee.

In her remarks, Ditto noted that many public power communities include electric, gas and water utilities and, in some cases, broadband utilities.

When the pandemic emerged, APPA brought together members that have this mix of utilities to talk through the pandemic response and some of the challenges “to our respective utilities as we manage emergencies,” Ditto noted.

“Layered on top of the pandemic last year was a major hurricane season that probably” would have received a lot of attention had it not been for the pandemic, she said.

Early on in the pandemic, the power sector began planning for “what would we do when we needed to have a response to a hurricane or a major weather event.”

Through mutual aid events, public power utility crews need to cross state lines and work together in order to restore power, “so they had to plan for how they were going to travel” and what steps would be taken in order to ensure their safety in the midst of the pandemic.

“The good news is we did that successfully while keeping our folks safe,” Ditto said.  “We worked very closely with the gas industry when we were talking about our response in” the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC).

The ESCC serves as the principal liaison between the federal government and the electric power industry on national level response issues such as pandemics. Ditto serves on the ESCC Steering Committee. Kevin Wailes, CEO of Lincoln Electric System, is an ESCC co-chair.

Three other public power CEOs also sit on the ESCC directly (Jackie Crowley, Middleborough Gas & Electric Dept.; Gil Quiniones, New York Power Authority; and Mike Hummel, Salt River Project) and another three lead or participate in working groups: (Brian Skelton, Tullahoma – cross sector communications working group; Randy Howard, NCPA – ESCC Wildfire working group Co-Lead; and Scott Corwin, NWPPA – ESCC Wildfire Working Group member).

GridEx

Meanwhile, Ditto noted that during the 2019 GridEx, which occurred in November 2019, natural gas executives were invited to participate in the exercise.

“That dialogue was really helpful, and I think it opened some eyes on both the electric and gas side to some of the challenges that might face them in a true crisis situation,” she said. Ditto said that continuing to invite natural gas officials to participate in GridEx is something that should be continued “and also other exercises that encourage that cross-sector component to come into play.”

GridEx allows utilities, government partners and other critical infrastructure participants to engage with local and regional first responders, exercise cross-sector impacts, improve unity of messages and communication, identify lessons learned and engage senior leadership.

The exercise began in 2011 and NERC hosts the GridEx series. The next GridEx takes place Nov. 16-17, 2021. APPA encourages its members to participate in GridEx. Please reach out to Cybersecurity@publicpower.org for additional information.

Telecommunications

The electric sector has always understood that communications is integral to what the power industry does, she said.

“We’ve understood that there was an important connection between communications and the grid for decades and we’ve tried to manage that risk by actually performing the telecommunications function ourselves,” Ditto said.

But some members of APPA “just aren’t situated to do that.” Other public power utilities have decided to lay down fiber and provide broadband services externally to their communities “because they were having trouble getting that service and that helps them with their robust internal needs as well.”

Some public power utilities have to rely on external public networks that aren’t as reliable and “we don’t have control over them.”  

From a cybersecurity standpoint, that can be a risk “because we don’t have direct situational awareness” in terms of “what is coming into our system, what attacks are happening on our system,” Ditto said.    

Noting that telecommunications plays a key role in ensuring the reliability of the grid, Ditto said that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fallen short in terms of recognizing the need for it to move beyond its singular focus on the telecommunications sector.

With respect to private wireless communications networks, there is a regulatory regime in place at the FCC “that has no interest in really caring or hearing about other sectors beyond the communications sector.” Ditto pointed out that the federal agency was created at a time when that was its sole focus.

“Communications apply across the board much more fully now in a digital society. Yet the FCC’s mandate does not really lend itself to looking more broadly at the impact its policies have on our industry.”

Access to radio spectrum is “the lifeblood of being able to communicate wirelessly,” she said. “Having interference to that wireless communications can be the difference between a reliable electric system and something that’s less than reliable.”

She underscored the importance of this issue, noting that “we can’t lay wire everywhere.” She said that “there is a gap here and I think it’s going to require some leadership by Congress, some leadership by the administration to try to really force the FCC to allow us to come to the table and to hear us when we express these concerns.”

Southwest Power Pool launches Western Energy Imbalance Services (WEIS) market

February 2, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
February 2, 2021

Southwest Power Pool (SPP) launched its Western Energy Imbalance Services (WEIS) market at midnight Feb. 1. The real-time balancing market is the latest of SPP’s contract-based Western Energy Services to be implemented in the Western Interconnection.

Several regional utilities are participating in the market. Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Deseret Power Electric Cooperative, the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN), Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), and the Wyoming Municipal Power Agency announced in 2019 their intent to join the WEIS market.

WAPA’s agreement includes the firm electric service loads and resources of Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program–Eastern Division in the Upper Great Plains Western Area Balancing Authority footprint and the Loveland Area Projects and Salt Lake City Area Integrated Projects, in the Western Area Colorado Missouri Balancing Authority footprint.

SPP noted that many of the WEIS participants are now evaluating full membership in the SPP RTO. A 2020 SPP Brattle study found RTO membership could produce an annual savings of $49 million for both SPP and western entities, SPP said.

If Basin Electric Power Cooperative, MEAN, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and WAPA pursue membership in SPP, “SPP can extend the reach and value of its services and the synergies they provide when bundled under the RTO structure,” SPP said.

The real-time imbalance market is one of many services SPP offers to western utilities under its Western Energy Services umbrella.

In 2018, SPP became the administrator of the Western Interconnection Unscheduled Flow Mitigation Plan.

In 2019, SPP launched its Western Reliability Coordination service, through which it ensures the reliability of the bulk electric system in the west on behalf of 12 entities across seven states.

In 2020, SPP was hired by entities in the Northwest Power Pool to be the program developer for its regional Resource Adequacy Program.

SPP manages the electric grid across 17 central and western U.S. states and provides energy services on a contract basis to customers in both the Eastern and Western Interconnections.

El Paso Electric commits to joining CAISO’s Western EIM in 2023

Meanwhile, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has signed an implementation agreement with El Paso Electric (EPE) to join CAISO’s Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) in 2023, extending the real-time market to 12 western states.

Investor-owned EPE provides generation, transmission and distribution services to 441,200 retail and wholesale customers in a 10,000-square mile area of the Rio Grande valley in west Texas and southern New Mexico.

The Western EIM currently serves balancing authorities in nine states, which represents more than 60 percent of the total load in the Western Electric Coordinating Council.

The Western EIM is slated to expand this spring with the addition of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, NorthWestern Energy, Turlock Irrigation District, Public Service Company of New Mexico, and the Balancing Authority of Northern California (BANC) Phase 2.

Biden appoints Richard Glick as Chairman of FERC

January 21, 2021

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
January 21, 2021

President Joe Biden has appointed Democrat Richard Glick to be Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). 

Glick, who announced the news on Twitter on Jan. 21, has been a commissioner since November 2017.  His term runs through June 30, 2022.

Biden was sworn in as President of the United States on Jan. 20.

In a Jan. 21 tweet, Joy Ditto, President and CEO of the American Public Power Association, offered her congratulations to Glick, adding that the public power community “looks forward to working with you in this new capacity!”

In other recent FERC news, Mark Christie was sworn in as a member of FERC on Jan. 4.

Christie, who was previously the Chairman of the Virginia State Corporation Commission, fills the FERC seat vacated by Bernard McNamee in September 2020. Christie is a Republican.

His term runs through June 30, 2025. 

Christie joined Commissioner James Danly (R), Commissioner Neil Chatterjee (R), Commissioner Allison Clements (D), and Glick to give FERC a full complement of five commissioners for the first time in nearly two years.

Danly on Nov. 5 was named FERC Chairman by then-President Donald Trump, replacing Chatterjee as head of the agency, but with Biden’s naming of Glick as Chairman, Danly will now serve as a commissioner.