A NERC Perspective
Tom Coleman is Director of Reliability Assessment at the North American Reliability Corporation, NERC.
Assuring the reliability of the bulk-power system in North America requires identifying challenges and formulating appropriate solutions to a rapidly evolving generation-resource mix.
As the Electric Reliability Organization, NERC is charged with assuring the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of the grid. As such, NERC conducts annual, seasonal and special reliability assessments to identify and analyze trends or potential risks.
One of the areas of focus has been the generation mix's potential impact on bulk-power system operations. Natural gas is becoming the predominant generation fuel, a reality reflected by the U.S. Energy Information Administration's recent projection that gas-fired power plants are providing more electricity to consumers during the 2018 summer than all other generation resources.
Similar growth in renewables is underscored by grid operators in North America and Europe experiencing new records for the amount of electricity provided by solar or wind during a twenty-four-hour period.