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FERC-NERC final report: Natural gas struggled the most during Winter Storm Elliott

The amount of generation that failed during the Christmas 2022 storm was unprecedented — 90,500 MW in coincident unplanned outages.
FERC-NERC final report: Natural gas struggled the most during Winter Storm Elliott
(Source: Wikimedia Commons.)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) have released their final report on Winter Storm Elliott, the Christmas 2022 storm that caused widespread power outages for millions of customers in the Eastern U.S.

With Winter fast approaching, the report recommends completion of cold weather reliability standard revisions initially identified after 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, and robust monitoring of how the industry is implementing these standards.

The report adds that NERC should obtain an independent technical review of the causes of cold-related mechanical and electrical generation outages to identify preventive measures.

It also states that congressional and state legislation or regulation is needed to establish reliability rules for natural gas infrastructure to ensure cold weather reliability.

Finally, the report recommends the North American Energy Standards Board convene a meeting of gas and electric grid operators and gas distribution companies to identify any needed communications improvements. It further suggests an independent research group analyze whether additional gas infrastructure is needed to support grid reliability.

‘Unprecedented’ amount of lost generation

FERC and NERC staff previously shared sobering details of the effects of Elliott, which took place December 21-26, 2022. During that time, 1,702 generating units experienced 3,565 outages, derates or failures to start. 825 of the units were natural gas-fired generators.

In their final report, the regulatory bodies said there were 90,500 MW of coincident unplanned generating unit outages, derates and failures to start at the worst part of the event. Including generation that was already out of service, a total of over 127,000 MW of generation was unavailable, representing 18% of the U.S. portion of the anticipated resources in the Eastern Interconnection.

As we previously reported, several electric grid operators had to shed firm load to maintain system reliability, with a total of 5,400 MW shed at different times. This was the largest controlled firm load shed recorded in the history of the Eastern Interconnection.

According to the final report, the 1,702 generating units that experienced problems included: 47% natural gas-fired, 21% wind, 12% coal, 3% solar, 0.4% nuclear, 17% other (oil, hydroelectric or biomass).

96% of all outages, derates and failures to start were attributed to three causes: Freezing Issues (31%), Fuel Issues (24%) and Mechanical/Electrical Issues (41%). Natural gas fuel issues represented 20% of all MW generation outages and 83% of all outages due to fuel issues.

During Elliott, natural gas production experienced its greatest decline since 2021’s Winter Storm Uri.

Natural gas pipeline pressures dropped largely because of freeze-related production declines in production of Marcellus (23 percent) and Utica (54 percent) shales, as well as other natural gas infrastructure freeze- and equipment-related problems. These included wellhead freeze-offs, processing plant disruptions and poor road conditions which prevented maintenance.

“I want everyone to take time during this Reliability Week to read this report and begin implementing
these recommendations, particularly those addressing the interdependence of gas and electricity,” FERC Chairman Willie Phillips said. “The report highlights what I’ve called for before: Someone must have authority to establish and enforce gas reliability standards.”

Read the full report here