Grid Security & Reliability

Extreme weather, low hydro and fuel shortages could threaten grid in multiple regions this winter: NERC

Power plants are struggling to obtain coal and gas supplies are low, said officials. The winter assessment recommended utilities review non-firm customer inventories and rolling blackout procedures.

By Robert Walton • Nov. 19, 2021

Changing climate and electricity mix renew region-wide power market ambitions for the 'Wild West'

Replacing today's "inflexible" dispatch in 11 Western states with an RTO's optimized operations and avoided capacity costs could deliver up to $1.3 billion in annual benefits, according to a DOE-funded study.

By Herman K. Trabish • Nov. 15, 2021

Explore the Trendline➔

Cybersecurity of the Grid

While cyber threats to the power sector are expanding, so are the tools to address them. But a key question remains — are companies doing what's needed to reduce the risk?

By Utility Dive staff

A year after SolarWinds, third-party risk still threatens the software supply chain

The federal government and private sector, including power companies, are collaborating to shore up supply chain vulnerabilities.

By David Jones • Nov. 12, 2021

Texas blackouts prompt New York ISO to consider 'once in a century' winter events

Extreme weather and widespread blackouts in Texas and the Southwest last winter have changed the way grid operators consider capacity risks, say experts.

By Robert Walton • Nov. 10, 2021

Southeast utilities confront extreme weather, new peak demand patterns to avoid Texas-style blackouts

The Texas storm was a reminder for utilities in the region, which are more familiar with summer peaking events, that extreme weather is now a year-round concern.

By Jason Plautz • Nov. 8, 2021

Biden signs $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill with funding for EVs, transmission, hydrogen

Biden also created a task force to be run by former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to help coordinate the spending.

By Ethan Howland • Updated Nov. 16, 2021

Duke Energy eyes offshore wind, advanced nuclear, to meet NC decarbonization goals

Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good told analysts Thursday the company is exploring an array of options to meet North Carolina's new decarbonization goals.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Nov. 8, 2021

'Imagine the unimaginable': How the Pacific Northwest is trying to build a reliable grid in a changing climate

Utilities and regulators are contending with changing temperatures, shifting demand patterns and a rapidly transitioning electric system.

By Kavya Balaraman • Nov. 8, 2021

Infrastructure bill allots billions to enhance grid's cyber defenses, creates new authority for Homeland Security

Neither the private sector nor the federal government alone can defend the nation's power grid from hackers, said U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary David Turk. "Extreme partnerships" will be required.

By Robert Walton • Nov. 8, 2021

California increases gas storage capacity at Aliso Canyon amid concerns over winter reliability

"Like many decisions, this is not one that I had hoped or planned for — but it is one that we must take," CPUC Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves said. 

By Kavya Balaraman • Nov. 5, 2021

California proposes demand response, other measures to shore up summer grid reliability

The Public Utilities Commission is also proposing that the state's utilities collectively procure between 2,000 MW and 3,000 MW of new resources.

By Kavya Balaraman • Nov. 2, 2021

Develop a resilient utility supply chain program

Manage evolving threat vectors across your diverse vendor ecosystem by iterating and supporting your team and vendors.

By David Chaddock, Director, Cybersecurity, West Monroe & Sean Murphy, Manager, Energy & Utilities, West Monroe • Nov. 1, 2021

APS vows legal action after Arizona regulators deny cost recovery for $215.5M coal plant upgrades

Regulators approved the utility’s first rate decrease since 1996, while voting against full cost recovery for APS' investment in upgrades to a coal plant being closed earlier than initially planned.

By Scott Van Voorhis • Updated Nov. 3, 2021

Sophisticated hackers could crash the US power grid, but money, not sabotage, is their focus

For now, the capability remains in the hands of nation-state actors. But "sophistication can ultimately be bought," Edison Electric Institute Vice President for Security and Preparedness Scott Aaronson said.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 28, 2021

FERC's Glick urges power plant owners to line up fuel supplies as gas prices soar

Rising liquefied natural gas exports are helping drive up natural gas prices, posing a risk in New England markets, FERC said Thursday in a report.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 22, 2021

To secure the energy supply chain, feds want to reimagine the power sector as defense

Department of Energy officials say vulnerable software and data supply chains expose the U.S. power grid to attack.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 21, 2021

Texas regulators tee up market changes, weatherization standards in response to February crisis

The Public Utilities Commission of Texas on Thursday could vote to adopt weatherization requirements for generators and transmission owners that were originally contained in a pair of decade-old reports.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 20, 2021

Entergy failures threaten New Orleans' future

Entergy's way of doing business is unaffordable to ratepayers and it is unable to provide the kind of reliability and resilience that are more necessary in the face of climate disaster, the author writes.

By Jesse George • Oct. 15, 2021

California ISO, utilities weigh in on more aggressive emissions goal, reliability needs

A portfolio of resources that would enable the electric sector to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 38 million metric tons by 2030 will leave only 500 MW of effective capacity above what is needed to meet reliability targets in 2026, according to the California Independent System Operator. 

By Kavya Balaraman • Oct. 12, 2021

House lawmakers demand answers from LUMA Energy regarding Puerto Rico's failing electric grid

Legislators wrote to the company's CEO seeking details on staffing levels and efforts to bolster the workforce throughout a stretch of power outages that have occurred since the company took over grid operations.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 12, 2021

Utilities and the decarbonization portfolio

Can a multi-faceted portfolio approach enhance utility decarbonization efforts?

By Andrew Dillon, Innovation Fellow, Energy & Utilities, West Monroe & Carolyn Weiner, Senior Manager, Energy & Utilities, West Monroe • Oct. 11, 2021

DOE teams with Xcel, Berkshire Hathaway Energy on cybersecurity program to protect clean energy

The challenge hackers present to the U.S. electric grid "is bigger than any one utility," according to the head of Xcel Energy's security efforts.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 7, 2021

California considers increasing Aliso Canyon's gas storage to boost reliability, despite calls to shut it down

The state Public Utilities Commission has released two proposals aimed at ensuring there is sufficient natural gas supply in the Los Angeles Basin this winter.

By Kavya Balaraman • Oct. 5, 2021

'Maybe it's not the right approach anymore' — FERC Chair Glick mulls new security paradigm for power sector

The electric industry is considering a new approach to securing "low-impact" grid assets, which have typically had fewer protections in place but are increasingly seen as vulnerable to cyberattacks.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 4, 2021

MISO, ISO-NE execs stress need for new power supply planning framework at FERC reliability meeting

Increasing wildfires, heat domes and deep freezes require a new paradigm for resource adequacy planning, experts from grid operators told FERC.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 1, 2021