Dallas city officials say it will take about a month to clean up the storm's damage. | © RTO Insider LLC

June 7, 2024

Happy Friday from all of us at ERO Insider, and we hope you’re having a wonderful start to your summer. It’s been a sad few weeks for all of us here and at our sister publications after the passing of RTO Insider co-founder and COO Merry Eisner-Heidorn. You can read her very moving obituary here.

But, as we always say, the world of electric reliability never stops turning, and our correspondents have tried their best to honor Merry’s memory by covering this particularly active week around the ERO Enterprise and beyond. So let’s check out the work of our awesome team! 

With summers growing hotter and hotter, it’s more important than ever for grid operators to focus on the risks of the season. This week saw a slew of reports on the potential reliability challenges coming this summer, and our reporters were on hand to check out each region’s chief concerns. Holden Mann is up first, with a look at the Northeast Power Coordinating Council’s reliability checkup, which left the regional entity confident it can make it through the summer with few problems. (See NPCC Predicts Adequate Electricity Supply This Summer.) 

Holden also got a look at SERC Reliability’s summer assessment, which was similarly confident about the season’s reliability outlook. Check out his story behind the link. (See SERC Reports Sufficient Resources in Summer Assessment.) 

WECC’s summer forecast isn’t so sanguine, as Ayla Burnett reports. In a call this week, officials from the RE explained they’re concerned about extreme heat in desert areas, along with challenging hydro conditions in the Northwest, and about how quickly conditions in the region could deteriorate. You can find her full report after the break. (See WECC Flags Hydro in BC, SW Heat as Potential Summer Concerns.) 

SPP also shared its summer outlook this week, reassuring stakeholders that it expects to be able to meet demand despite higher-than-average regional temperatures. Follow the link for Tom Kleckner’s full report. (See SPP: Enough Generation to Meet Summer Demand.) 

Tom also covered a NERC and EPRI workshop in Dallas last week, where attendees discussing the ERO’s draft standard on extreme weather got a vivid demonstration of nature’s power. Check out the details on how participants navigated their work in the aftermath of a series of violent thunderstorms. (See Extreme Weather Workshop Hit by Extreme Weather.) 

NERC is seeking information from industry on inverter-based resources and the models used to track them. Click through to see how the ERO’s newly issued Level 2 Alert is linked to recent incidents involving solar and wind facilities. (See NERC Targets IBR Modeling Concerns in Level 2 Alert.) 

Finally, NERC CEO Jim Robb joined a webinar hosted by the United States Energy Association this week to discuss the biggest emerging challenges to reliability. Join James Downing inside for more on why data centers and artificial intelligence are particular concerns. (See USEA Event Looks into Addressing Growing Data Center Demand.) 

Thanks again for joining us! We’re honored as ever that you decided to start your weekend with ERO Insider, and we’ll be on the job all next week to bring you the latest from the exciting world of electric reliability. Until then, stay safe and have a great weekend! 

Upcoming Stakeholder Meetings:

• 6/10/24: Technical Talk with RF
• 6/11/24: NERC Reliability and Security Technical Committee Meeting
• 6/12/24: SERC Board of Directors Meeting
• 6/12/24: NERC Reliability and Security Technical Committee Meeting
• 6/12/24: NERC Standards Committee Meeting
• 6/12/24: Joint RSTC/SC Meeting