1.0Citizens Utility Boardhttps://www.citizensutilityboard.orgrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="MAssXdb862"><a href="https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/2023/05/09/cub-qa-winter-storm-exposes-the-myth-of-fossil-fuel-reliability/">CUB Q&A: Winter storm exposes the myth of fossil fuel reliability</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/blog/2023/05/09/cub-qa-winter-storm-exposes-the-myth-of-fossil-fuel-reliability/embed/#?secret=MAssXdb862" width="600" height="338" title="“CUB Q&A: Winter storm exposes the myth of fossil fuel reliability” — Citizens Utility Board" data-secret="MAssXdb862" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); /* ]]> */ </script> By Sarah Moskowitz, CUB Deputy Director This past Christmas Eve, as many of us were busy with last-minute holiday preparations, CUB rushed out an email to people in northern Illinois with this ominous subject line: ALERT: Power grid operator calls for energy conservation over the next 24 hours. We were in the middle of Winter Storm Elliott, and PJM Interconnection, which oversees the grid serving ComEd customers in northern Illinois, made the unusual request that everyday customers conserve energy as “the risk of rotating customer outages is very real.”  Fortunately, PJM did not have to implement rolling blackouts to save the grid (other regions, however, weren’t so lucky). But it was an unacceptably close call, and the fossil-fueled power generators who for years had sold themselves as necessary for grid reliability, failed to deliver. Elliott, and these generators’ spectacular failure to show up when needed, exposed the myth of fossil fuel reliability. Let me break it down.  How bad was Winter Storm Elliott?  Elliott was a “bomb cyclone,” a weather event marked by an extreme drop in atmospheric pressure, creating dangerous cold, high winds and heavy snow. This “once-in-a-lifetime” storm plunged 55 million people across the country into wind-chill alerts; at its height, it left 1.6 million customers without power; and resulted in more than 60 deaths.  The storm brought record-low temperatures to parts of PJM’s footprint, and resulted in higher-than-anticipated demand for electricity in many areas.  The possibility of unexpected electricity demand is nothing new, however.  PJM even runs a special “capacity auction” to ensure that when this happens, there are generators ready to step in and supply extra power when the grid needs it. That’s what makes the events during Winter Storm Elliot so outrageous: Generators who had committed to provide the extra power failed to do so. How did Elliott impact utility customers in Illinois?  Illinois, with its ample nuclear power, didn’t experience widespread outages. (We had a surplus of carbon-free electricity during the storm, thanks to strong policies like the Future Energy Jobs Act and the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act.) But conditions impacting another part of the power grid can threaten us all, especially with PJM. The largest power grid operator in the country, PJM covers 65 million customers in Washington, D.C., and all or parts of 13 states, from northern Illinois all the way to the Atlantic Coast. (Read about CUB’s CLEAR RTO project to advocate for consumers at PJM.)  Prompted by “continuing frigid weather” and power plant outages, PJM on Dec. 23 called for consumers in its region, including ComEd customers, to conserve electricity. So what went wrong?  How did fossil-fueled power plants perform in the storm? The Natural Resources Defense Council said: “By Christmas Eve, an astonishing 46 GW of power plants were out of service—enough to power California. What did nearly all these plants have in common? They were powered by fossil fuels, mostly gas. PJM reported failures across the gas system, including low pressure, frozen compressors, and simply no commercially available fuel.” While the fossil fuel industry has bragged that natural gas “defines reliability,”  the opposite was true during Winter Storm […]https://www.citizensutilityboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/PJM-Generator-Performance-in-Winter-Storm-Elliot-300x167.png