T&D Grid

The regional power grids are changing rapidly and facing unprecedented challenges. One day in May illustrates interesting dynamics in three regions, those of the California ISO, PJM in the mid-Atlantic, and ERCOT in Texas.

FERC Order 881 was the subject of discussion at a recent IEEE Power & Energy Society T&D Conference, which was attended by POWER Engineers’ Lisa Deppa. She explains here the latest on Order 881 and why it is important to the decarbonization journey.

By increasing the reach of these programs, utilities get greater insight into customer behavior and the ability to tackle distribution-level issues more effectively.

How much is enough? That’s so often the central question for those considering investments in our national defense. Along with secondary questions of nearly equal importance, such as, should we invest in this particular defense program? Or that one instead?

“Here, the focus is on the high-voltage transmission infrastructure of one hundred thirty-two kilovolts and above, from an unfortunately overlooked perspective, that of the customers and ratepayers who will pay the bill.”

“We have a pragmatic and prudent approach to both IT and OT data integration. The utilization of OT data is a critical path for utilities to address the energy transition and build resilient and flexible grids.”

The panel was moderated by United States Energy Association CEO Mark Menezes. Excerpts feature Edison Electric Institute CEO Dan Brouillette, EPRI CEO Arshad Mansoor, and Nuclear Energy Institute CEO Maria Korsnick.

“As a make-ready program, we help cover the cost of bringing power from the grid, including any grid upgrades the customer would be responsible for, all the way to the electric vehicle charger, but the program doesn’t cover the charger itself.”

A roundtable with Holy Cross Energy’s Bryan Hannegan, SECO Energy’s Gregg Morrell, Rio Grande Electric Cooperative’s Abraham Vasquez, Block Island Utility District’s Jeffery Wright, and NRECA’s Angela Strickland.

“The depth of the canyon in PJM is projected to be around seventy gigawatts in 2035. Which is equal to the total peak load of New England. And the average hourly ramp rate is projected to be over ten gigawatts per hour.”