A heads up from Reuters:
U.S. power grid survived polar vortex, but only just
The U.S. power industry survived its toughest test in years in January when lights and heaters stayed on even as the polar vortex swept over the country. But it was a close run thing, as regulators revealed in a new report published on Tuesday.
According to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), power system operators “successfully maintained reliability” during the coldest winter temperatures since 1997 through a combination of training, preparation and emergency tools to manage generation and demand. (“Polar Vortex Review” Sep 30)
On Jan. 7, as average temperatures across the eastern United States fell to 20-30 degrees below the seasonal norm, demand on the Eastern and Texas Interconnections hit a record 559,000 megawatts, exceeding the previous peak by almost 3 percent.
A bit more:
Equipment failures were particularly severe in Texas and the Southeast, crippling almost 10,000 MW of generating capacity so that it was unable to start when instructed by the grid.
NERC catalog more than 60 different equipment failures, including iced up transformers, frozen valves and cooling systems, and lubricating oils and diesel that became gelled because of the extreme cold.
In the Midwest and on the East Coast, where equipment is designed to cope with lower temperatures, lack of fuel was more of a problem.
Since the late 1990s, most new power generating units have been built to burn natural gas. Unlike coal or oil, gas is not usually stored on site, so generators rely on real-time deliveries from the gas pipeline network.
And let us not forget but it looks like the Polar Vortex might make another appearance this winter. Blackouts anyone?
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