Winter Weather
As I wrote in Shorting the Grid,
the quest for reliable electricity in the winter in New England is far
more difficult than it needs to be. The root of the problem is the FERC rules for areas like New England. This area is organized on the RTO system and
the FERC rules for RTOs are not particularly concerned with grid
reliability. The rules are very concerned with “fuel neutrality." In
other words, it doesn’t seem to matter if we have rolling blackouts in
winter in New England, as long as the rules that led to the rolling
blackouts were fair to everyone. The rules especially have to be fair to
all the different types of fuels and generators.
Of course, “fair to everyone” is in the eyes of the beholder.
Local Attempts to Encourage Winter Reliability, Despite FERC
I document many of the RTO winter problems in Shorting the Grid.
ISO-NE, our grid operator, set up the early Winter Reliability
Programs. These programs worked well to provide reliability for the grid
by making sure gas-fired plants had oil on hand when they couldn’t
obtain gas on cold days. Then FERC shut down that program as not being
fuel-neutral. In response, ISO-NE suggested a complex formula of fines
and rewards, Pay for Performance, to substitute for the Winter
Reliability Program. It was approved by FERC, but it failed,
financially, within four months of being implemented. Then came the
Inventoried Energy plan. That got implemented, on top of the Pay for
Performance plans. Next, ISO suggested three new auctions which I
reviewed in my book, and I said they would not work. As it happens,
these three auctions did not get formally presented to FERC.
Now we get beyond the material presented in Shorting the Grid, because books have a lag time to publication. After ISO-NE set aside the three auctions reviewed in my book, ISO-NE proposed three differerent new auctions for FERC approval. Those auction plans were turned down by FERC on October 31 of this year. In the most recent news, ISO-NE is asking FERC for guidance in setting up a program which will meet FERC’s fuel-neutral criteria, and still provide winter reliability for electricity in the Northeast. If such a thing can actually be done.
What Kind of Rock?
In other words, since FERC seems to turn down any ISO-NE program that might work, maybe FERC can suggest a program?
A friend of mine who is retired from
the Navy suggested that FERC has been giving orders that are the
equivalent of “Get me a rock.” What kind of rock? How big? Round or
jagged? Those issues aren’t addressed. As far as I can tell, leadership
training in the Navy includes “Don’t give ‘get me a rock’ orders.” Maybe
FERC needs a little training?
Despite the lag time required by book publication, Shorting
is still basically up to date. The latest three-auction go-around was
completely predictable to anyone who read the book. The RTO system can’t
solve even simple problems of reliability, which is how I started the
tale of Shorting, and where I will end this email.
Buy the book
If you haven’t read Shorting the Grid,
let me encourage you to buy it. If you have read it, let me encourage
you to leave a review on Amazon. Amazon decides which books to feature
based on the number of reviews, or so I am told. Your review is a sort
of gift to me. Thank you.
Be well. Be happy. Buy my book.
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