Recent winter storms Elliott in 2022 and Uri in 2021 have shown that both the electric generation fleet and natural gas supply infrastructure are significantly challenged during extreme cold weather. Both of those storms resulted in a lack of adequate generation and unprecedented calls to shed firm load to maintain the electric supply and demand balance and avoid significant system reliability issues. Since 2011, there have been five major extreme cold weather events that greatly impacted electric system operators’ ability to meet customer load obligations with sufficient energy supply from generators. Bulk power system performance during each of these storms was jointly reviewed by FERC, NERC, and the Regional Entities. Significant, unplanned loss of generation was identified as a common failure during these extreme cold weather events.
Each year, NERC and the ERO Enterprise collaborate to produce a continent-wide winter reliability assessment that highlights anticipated challenges to the North American bulk power system during the next winter season. A significant amount of outreach is conducted across the enterprise to raise awareness of winter reliability risks and mitigating activities. The MRO region is unique in that it spans the far northern portions of North American from the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan down to the northern tip of Texas. The region experiences a wide gamut of weather extremes during all seasons of the year.
MRO works with industry experts across the region to determine which of the continent-wide winter risks are most prevalent or impactful within MRO’s regional footprint. MRO’s annual Regional Winter Assessment is produced to share information on the prior year’s bulk power system performance, anticipated challenges for the upcoming season, and best practices to reduce winter weather risk.
Additionally, in 2021, MRO launched a Generator Winterization Program to provide winterization best practices to industry. The program involves MRO staff visiting generator owners and/or operators representing diverse locations and fuel mixes to discuss challenges and lessons learned, and the results are shared with program participants and other registered entities across the region. Additionally, MRO hosts a Cold Weather Preparedness webinar in the fourth quarter to discuss insights from past cold weather events and to highlight effective strategies for cold weather readiness.