Key Takeaways

While much attention has been paid to summer reliability, the grid remains vulnerable to cold snaps. Winter Storm Elliott demonstrated this, as high demand coupled with challenged weather-related generator performance pushed the grid in some regions to the edge.

Emergency measures, particularly through demand reduction, helped avoid more significant and extended disruption.

Gas and power remain interdependent, and the utility industry will look closely at where continued improvement in planning and processes is needed.

Winter Storm Elliott surprised system operators and planners with unexpected significant spikes in demand during a holiday weekend. Looking ahead, increased electrification will amplify this challenge and require more sophisticated planning approaches and processes. In particular, the seasonal performance of power supply will come into greater focus.

The post-mortem analyses both by grid operators and by FERC and NERC should be monitored and lessons learned as these issues can and will impact all systems.