Policy & Regulation

Two years after Winter Storm Uri, FERC approves new cold weather rules

The rules now require generator owners to implement freeze protection measures.
Two years after Winter Storm Uri, FERC approves new cold weather rules
(A joint report issued by FERC and NERC cited freezing and natural gas fuel supply issues as the two largest causes for the disaster.)

Two years after Winter Storm Uri caused one of the largest load shedding events in U.S. history that led to the deaths of at least 200 people, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved two extreme cold weather reliability standards aimed at implementing recommendations from a joint inquiry into the February 2021 storm.

The reliability standards were proposed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) last October. They contain both new and revised requirements to advance reliability of the grid during extreme cold weather temperatures. 

The rules include implementation of generator freeze protection measures, enhanced cold weather preparedness plans, identification of freeze-sensitive equipment in generators, corrective actions for when equipment freeze issues occur, annual training for generator maintenance and operations personnel, and procedures to improve the coordination of load reduction measures during a grid emergency.

FERC also directed NERC to modify the extreme cold weather preparedness and operations reliability standard to address concerns related to applicability, ambiguity, a lack of objective measures and deadlines, and prolonged, indefinite compliance periods. It also directed NERC to collect and assess data to monitor and assess entities’ implementation of the new requirements.

The reliability standards put in place around half of the standards-related recommendations from a joint inquiry into the 2021 winter storm. The remaining recommendations are expected to be addressed in a second phase of NERC’s standards development, which is under way.

In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri led to one of the largest controlled firm load shed events in U.S. history, with more than 4.5 million people losing power and at least 210 people losing their lives during the event, which affected Texas and large portions of the Southeastern U.S. 

The draft order that FERC approved on February 16 covered two NERC Reliability Standards, EOP-011-3 (Emergency Operations) and EOP-012-1 (Extreme Cold Weather Preparedness and Operations).  

The rules now require generator owners to implement freeze protection measures on their applicable generating units based on the extreme cold weather temperatures for their units’ locations, including enhanced cold weather preparedness plans. Operators also must identify generator cold weather critical components that are susceptible to freezing, implement corrective actions to ensure that the identified causes of equipment freezing do not recur, and design and implement annual training for generation maintenance and operations personnel.

In addition, operators must develop procedures to improve the coordination of load reduction measures during a grid emergency.

The order also found that new Reliability Standard EOP-012-1 needs improvement to address concerns relating to six factors: the ambiguity of facility applicability; generator-defined declarations of technical, commercial, or operational constraints that exempt a generator owner from implementing the appropriate freeze protection measures; the 12 continuous hour requirement for new generating units under Requirement R1; the one-hour continuous operations requirement for existing generating units under Requirement R2; the extensive period before generators must implement freeze protection measures or develop corrective action plans; and the lack of a time limit for completion of corrective action plans once they are developed.  

Finally, the order directed NERC to work with FERC staff to submit a plan within a year on how it will collect and assess data to monitor implementation of the new requirements.

Tags