Winter Storm Uri

Mexico’s natural gas system is standing firm amid bitingly cold weather in Texas that brought back memories of the 2021 winter storm that deeply impacted cross-border flows. On Friday night, Mexico power system operator Cenace declared a state of operational emergency on the national grid “due to the possibility of rationing of natural gas imported…

Winter Storm Elliott, which slammed the East Coast in late 2022, made it “abundantly clear” that major improvements have to be made to the natural gas and electric grid systems, FERC Chair Willie Phillips said Thursday. Speaking during a regular Federal Energy Regulatory Commission meeting, Phillips said improvements must be made to the grid to…

The Supreme Court of Texas has ruled in a split decision that the operator of the Texas power grid is shielded from civil lawsuits related to 2019’s Winter Storm Uri.  In a 5-4 opinion on Friday (June 23), the court found that sovereign immunity, which shields government agencies from most civil lawsuits, also protects the…

Electric grid operators said they are ready to meet power consumption this summer except in extreme circumstances, with natural gas-fired generation comprising the lion’s share of the sources expected to handle the peak loads. The largest U.S. grid operator, PJM Interconnection, said it has more than 186,000 MW of installed generating capacity, with reserve resources…

A series of bills aiming to shore up the Texas power grid with backup dispatchable power is progressing through the state Senate, though some legislators fear the size and scope of the proposed rules ultimately will not address the reliability issues.  State Republican Sens. Phil King (District 10) and Charles Schwertner (District 5) introduced a…

FERC last week approved new reliability standards to enhance grid reliability during extreme weather events such as Winter Storm Uri in February 2021.  Two years after Uri’s rampage across the U.S. South, during which hundreds died from hypothermia following blackouts that affected millions, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission implemented enhanced cold weather preparedness plans, generator…

Memories of Winter Storm Uri were fresh on the minds of natural gas buyers in Mexico as a cold front raced south through the United States and down into Texas. Mexico’s power grid operator Cenace warned that up to 9,000 MW of natural gas-fired power could be under stress due to limited natural gas supply.…

Following “aggressive grid management planning,” the Texas electrical grid is prepared to meet the winter 2022-2023 forecast peak demand of nearly 67.4 GW, the Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said. ERCOT late last month released its Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy (SARA) report, in which it detailed the 87.3 GW of resources that are…

PJM Interconnection LLC, which serves 65 million across the Mid-Atlantic, said it is armed to combat winter, with adequate fuel and energy supplies to meet a forecast peak demand of about 137 GW. The regional transmission operator serves customers in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West…