Grid

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.

Northern natural gas and thermal oilsands production will be able to grow in step as a result of approval granted Thursday for a C$1.29 billion (US$993 million) set of pipeline additions in Alberta and British Columbia.

The expansion of the western electricity grid promises $3.4-9.1 billion in cost reductions the first 20 years, according to a study issued Tuesday by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), which is considering integrating with Portland, OR-based PacifiCorp.

As another footnote to the changing electric generation fuel mix in New England, plans for a new 900 MW natural gas-fired power plant in Rhode Island were unveiled, with Gov. Gina Raimondo touting the project’s boost for the state’s economy and environment.

While grid operators in the Northeast have taken steps to smooth out the kinks in electricity grids that are increasingly relying on natural gas-fired generation, further refinement of the U.S. natural gas and electricity grid systems is needed, FERC Commissioner Philip Moeller and other speakers told an industry forum Wednesday in Valley Forge, PA.