Federal energy regulators on Wednesday launched an inquiry into bulk power systems operations during the extreme weather conditions during Winter Storm Elliott.
FERC, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and NERC’s regional entities said the joint inquiry would review the “severe cold weather” last weekend that “contributed to power outages affecting millions of electricity customers across the country” (No. R23-12).
Most of these outages followed weather impacts on electric distribution facilities that are operated by local utilities. However, “utilities in parts of the Southeast were forced to use rolling blackouts, and the bulk power system in other regions was significantly stressed,” regulators noted.
“The effects of Winter Storm Elliott demonstrate yet again that our bulk power system is critical to public safety and health,” Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Rich Glick said.
“The joint inquiry with NERC…will allow us to dig deeper into exactly what happened so we can further protect the reliability of the grid.”
A historic tropical bomb cyclone led to blizzard conditions and winter storms across most of Canada and the United States beginning Dec. 21 through Monday (Dec. 26). About 70 people were killed, including at least 34 people in Erie County, NY, where Buffalo was slammed by up to 50 inches of snow.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said it was the deadliest storm in western New York in at least two generations. State and military police were in the Buffalo area to enforce a driving ban to allow officials to clear the snow. New York’s National Guard was going door to door for welfare checks in neighborhoods that lost electricity.
"Karma owes us big time next year,” Poloncarz said. “We have gone through the the Great Blizzard of 2022, and it is devastating, paralyzing. It has taken 34 of our fellow citizens. I offer my deepest condolence and sympathies to the individuals who have lost loved ones this holiday season."
More than 20,000 flights across the United States were delayed or canceled over the Christmas holiday weekend, stranding passengers as airports were forced to close. Southwest Airlines was still struggling on Wednesday to get flights on track, leading to an investigation by the Department of Transportation.
In assessing the impacts of the Arctic blast for the week ending last Friday (Dec. 23, before last weekend), NGI modeled a 199 Bcf withdrawal from U.S. natural gas storage. Should the Energy Information Administration’s weekly storage report confirm the print, it would far outpace the five-year average 106 Bcf withdrawal.
FERC, NERC and the regional entities plan to coordinate with other federal agencies, states and utilities to identify problems with the performance of the bulk power system. Where it is appropriate, the regulators plan to recommend solutions for addressing issues.
“There will be multiple lessons learned from last week’s polar vortex that will inform future winter preparations,” NERC CEO Jim Robb said. “In addition to the load shedding in Tennessee and the Carolinas, multiple energy emergencies were declared and new demand records were set across the continent.
“And this was in the early weeks of a projected ‘mild’ winter,” Robb said. “This storm underscores the increasing frequency of significant extreme weather events (the fifth major winter event in the last 11 years) and underscores the need for the electric sector to change its planning scenarios and preparations for extreme events.”
