"There were many sleepless nights during that two-week period. The two-week event "nearly pushed the bulk power system to the brink," ISO-NE said, but the severity of the situation did not come to light until after the fact. More: Municipal light plants facing clean energy requirements partner with offshore wind developer 9, 2018, regional power generators burned two million barrels of oil - more than twice the amount of oil they burned during all of 2016 - to produce sufficient electricity. During a frigid stretch between Christmas 2017 and Jan. If an emergency situation develops this winter, ISO-NE has a handful of options available before it would have to resort to controlled outages, including importing emergency power from neighboring regions, calling on power system reserves, and urging businesses and residents to voluntarily conserve energy.įour years ago, amid a brutal cold snap, the New England grid came within days of catastrophe. Steps such as asking for conservation of electricity and natural gas usage throughout the cold snap could help minimize or avoid the possibility of more drastic actions." "If a worst-case scenario develops, the ISO, utilities and government officials will need to act quickly to avoid an overall power system collapse. Rather, by identifying and sharing the conditions under which the power system would be most challenged, we hope to prepare the region," van Welie said during a briefing with New England reporters Monday afternoon. "I'm not saying this to cause undue alarm at this early stage. Help is available: Fuel Assistance Program opens for the season
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If those risks come to pass and threaten the reliability of power for the region this winter, van Welie said, it could "force the ISO to take emergency actions up to an including controlled power outages."
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Gordon van Welie, president and CEO of ISO-NE, said the severity of the cold weather is one of three main variables that could put the region in a more precarious position than in previous winters, along with the global availability and price of oil and liquified natural gas deliveries into New England and constraints on natural gas pipeline capacity at times of simultaneous demand from heating customers and electricity generators. Pacheco critical of slow pace of switch to electric heat The highest peak demand on the grid, regardless of time of year, was 28,130 MW on Aug.
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17, 2020, and the all-time winter peak demand is 22,818 MW, set on Jan. The winter demand forecast, about 2 percent lower than the forecast peak demand for last winter, is based on a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration outlook that projects a milder-than-average New England winter.ĭemand peaked last winter at 18,756 MW on Dec.
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ISO-NE expects demand among the 14 million electric customers in New England to peak this winter at 19,710 megawatts under average winter weather conditions of 10 degrees and as high as 20,349 MW if average temperatures drop below 5 degrees.
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But having come close to a major problem during a costly cold snap here four years ago, and watching the recent struggles of power systems in California and Texas, ISO-New England is also doing more to highlight the risks the region's power system faces as temperatures drop. Electric grid operators expect to be able to keep the lights on in New England this winter.