J.S. Held, a global consulting firm providing technical, scientific, and financial expertise across all assets and value at risk, announced today a paper focused on Rethinking Energy Reliability with Modern Power Systems. In this paper, J.S. Held energy experts discuss how grid-scale electrical reliability (the ability to avoid system interruptions) and resilience (the ability to bounce back from those interruptions once they occur) are changing as our systems of electrical generation.

As the primary forms of generation that supply our electrical grid are moving from a carbon-based to a non-carbon-based state, J. S. Held Senior Vice President of Energy Transition & Impact Assessment John Dulude observes, “decision-makers need to correctly price reliability and resilience in the evaluation process for project selection. In many instances, new generation selection decisions are made based on classical, alternative comparison models, which do not necessarily capture differences in the operational capability of the various alternatives. The overall effect of not correctly pricing or valuing reliability and resilience in the decision-making process for new electrical generation impacts our overall system operations. This concern has recently been reinforced by negative electrical system performance impacts associated with recent extreme weather events in the U.S., such as the Texas winter storm event in February 2021.”

This timely publication explores several of the issues addressed in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approvals on February 16, 2023, of Reliability Standards EOP-011-3 (Emergency Operations) and EOP-012-1 (Extreme Cold Weather Preparedness and Operations) as proposed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). J. S. Held Senior Vice President and Environmental Risk and Compliance expert John F. Peiserich, observes, “the order also approves associated violation risk factors and violation severity levels while presenting several newly defined terms.”

Chris Norris, Vice President of Energy Transition – Special Projects, adds, “to ensure system stability, reliability, and resilience during inclement weather events going forward, it will be imperative that generation and transmission Owners, Operators, and Asset Managers, as well as fuel providers and other critical services, work together to quickly identify weaknesses causing some of the system derates and outages.” Mr. Norris continues, “Hardening (weatherproofing) of the assets is crucial to overall reliability and involves thoughtful planning, adequate capital and expense investment, and O&M excellence.”

To learn more, download Rethinking Energy Reliability with Modern Power Systems here: https://www.jsheld.com/insights/articles/rethinking-energy-reliability-with-modern-power-systems.

About J.S. Held

J.S. Held is a global consulting firm providing technical, scientific, and financial expertise across all assets and value at risk. Our professionals serve as trusted advisors to organizations facing high-stakes events demanding urgent attention, staunch integrity, clear-cut analysis, and an understanding of both tangible and intangible assets. The firm provides a comprehensive suite of services, products, and data that enable clients to navigate complex, contentious, and often catastrophic situations.