- Gas pipeline failure could lead to significant disruption in Midwest, Mid-Atlantic
- White House says power plant retirements are negatively impacting resilience of grid
- Preservation of nuclear power plants could lead to added resilience
A new NEI study conducted by ICF details how a future gas pipeline disruption, combined with continued nuclear power plant retirements and/or failure to improve natural gas infrastructure, could lead to prolonged electricity service disruption in the areas served by the PJM Interconnection.
The report comes as the Trump administration, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and PJM grapple with the issue of the electricity grid’s diminishing resilience due to premature nuclear power plant retirements.
The ICF report finds that a disruption to natural gas pipelines would have a major, prolonged effect on electricity service in the Mid-Atlantic, if nuclear power plants are not there as a backup resource and/or natural gas infrasctructure is not enhanced.
“Such an event could result in the loss of nearly 27 gigawatts [GW] of gas-fired generation, with 18 GW serving the PJM Mid-Atlantic area, depending on the severity and location of such event,” the ICF report says.
“When combined with the retirement of a similar amount of nuclear capacity, the analysis implies such an event would put as much as 22 percent of the area’s load at risk of being shed in the highest load hours.”
Earlier this month, the White House released a statement saying that “impending retirements of fuel-secure power facilities are leading to a rapid depletion of a critical part of our Nation’s energy mix, and impacting the resilience of our power grid.”
According to the ICF report, during a gas pipeline disruption caused by extreme weather or equipment failure and lasting 60 days, the PJM service area would experience “load losses for more than 200 hours spread across as many as 34 days.”
“Of the nearly 18 GW of gas-fired capacity that could be impacted by such an event, over 45 percent has no backup fuel capability and would be immediately unavailable during such an event,” the report says.
The report examines a scenario, The Policy Case, in which nuclear power plants continue to run thanks to prudent state and federal policies. Under that scenario, nuclear power plants would be able to compensate for the losses in natural gas generation due to an unexpected interruption.
“The nuclear capacity that remains online is able to offset the gas generation impacted by the infrastructure event, resulting in load being served in all hours over the 60-day period,” the report says.
Nuclear power plants have a long-term supply of fuel onsite. A steady supply of fuel delivered via pipelines is necessary to generate electricity from natural gas. Some natural gas plants have the ability to run on oil as a backup fuel, but those supplies would only last for a handful of days before needing to be refilled.
The steady supply of onsite fuel is one reason nuclear power plants are able to continue supplying electricity during extreme weather, including 2017’s Hurricane Harvey in Texas.
Last year, Energy Secretary Perry directed FERC to “take swift action” to address threats to the resiliency of the U.S. electric grid and issue a rule requiring organized markets to develop rules to compensate “fuel-secure” electricity generators for the resiliency they provide. FERC declined to adopt that proposed rulemaking, but the agency did open a new proceeding in which it directed regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) to assess grid resilience and recommend actions. The ICF report has been submitted to FERC as part of this proceeding.
Last month, 10,000 megawatts of nuclear generating capacity failed to clear PJM Interconnection’s annual capacity auction. NEI President and CEO Maria Korsnick said that result showed the urgent need for electricity market reform.
NEI Senior Director of Policy Development Matt Crozat adds that mounting evidence points to serious underlying flaws in how electricity markets are set up.
“This new study underscores nuclear power’s vital role in ensuring a reliable and resilient supply of electricity,” Crozat said.
“Policymakers and administrators interested in continuing and strengthening the resilience of America’s grid should act promptly to ensure nuclear power plants are fairly compensated in the marketplace for the reliable, emission-free electricity they provide.”