An Eversource crew responds to a downed tree and broken pole in Meriden, Conn., during a storm. | Eversource

Dec. 22, 2023

Happy holiday weekend to everyone, and welcome to the final ERO Insider newsletter of 2023! It’s been great being with you through all of this year’s twists and turns, and we hope you’ve had a good year too. Let’s check out one last batch of stories from the world of electric reliability before we start our year-end hiatus. 

Thousands went without power this week after storms pummeled the Atlantic coastline. John Cropley has a detailed look at the fallout from the weekend storms and how utilities have responded, particularly in the hard-hit New England region. (See Storm Cuts Power to 750,000-plus in New England.) 

As those storms were making their way toward New England last week, the Texas Reliability Entity’s chief engineer told the organization’s Board of Directors that ERCOT is making good progress on its winterization efforts ahead of the cold season. Join Tom Kleckner inside for more on how utilities are preparing to ride out the winter. (See Texas RE: Winterization Activities in ‘Good Shape’.) 

Meanwhile, a study released by FERC, NERC and Texas RE this week raised concerns about the availability of black-start resources in Texas. Holden Mann took a closer look at the report, which raised the specter of a crippling mass outage if operators of the natural gas and electric systems can’t work together. (See FERC Black Start Report Pushes Gas-electric Coordination.) 

FERC and EPA received comments this week on the reliability implications of EPA’s proposed rule for power plant emissions. Join James Downing inside for more on the debate. (See EPA and FERC Hear from Stakeholders on Reliability.) 

Finally, FERC’s yearly audits for compliance with the Critical Infrastructure Protection standards produced some good news, with the commission releasing the fewest recommendations for improvement since the audits started in 2016. Click the link for more on the audits’ findings. (See FERC’s CIP Report Finds Fewer Issues Again.) 

Thank you so much as always for joining us! We will be back in the new year to bring you all the news you need from the ERO Enterprise and beyond. Until then, may those of you celebrating holidays have a joyous time, and may you all have a safe and restful end of 2023! 

Upcoming Stakeholder Meetings:

• 1/17/24: NERC Standards Committee Meeting
• 1/22/24: Technical Talk with RF