Grid

A little more than a month after Texas’ main electric grid operator failed to keep the lights on during a prolonged freeze across the state, it said it has more than enough resources to meet projected record demand this summer. In its preliminary Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy (SARA) for the summer released Thursday, the…

In an attempt to avoid a repeat of last summer’s rolling blackouts, California regulators have proposed a set of actions by the power utilities to add grid safety and reliability. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) proposal addresses added efforts to shave demand in peak load periods of summer heat. Earlier the CPUC had ordered…

Accelerating innovation is among the long list of recommendations needed to strengthen the U.S. power grid, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.  The report, mandated by Congress, came in the wake of the winter freeze last month that severely strained the power grid in Texas and other states. In the report,…

Massachusetts regulators on Monday ordered National Grid plc to halt all nonessential work in the state after excess natural gas was “inadvertently” introduced into pipelines, raising concerns of a repeat of last month’s Merrimack Valley explosions.

PJM Interconnection said Monday that it would immediately begin a process to analyze long-term fuel security as part of an ongoing effort to ensure that the nation’s largest grid remains reliable and resilient to the broader changes underway in wholesale power markets.

As construction is completed on pipeline additions this year, the next stage is taking shape in a multi-year program to adapt the Western Canadian natural gas pipeline grid to spreading shale production.

The PJM Interconnection system is not becoming too reliant on natural gas and renewable resources, even as more baseload coal-fired facilities continue to retire, according to an analysis of the system’s reliability released on Thursday by the grid operator.

California Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers on Monday put on hold the state grid operator’s pursuit of a western regional power grid that gradually lessens dependence on natural gas-fired generation among other byproducts called for under a state law passed last year (SB 350). Concerns about the state’s ongoing aggressive climate change programs prompted the action.

California’s grid operator on Tuesday said it now has FERC approval for a first-in-the-nation tariff change to encourage more distributed generation on the grid. It is another move toward redesigning power grids that has implications for both natural gas and electricity operations.