FERC summer outlook flags California, Texas as posing potential reliability problems

摘要

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will maintain its watchfuleye on the West this summer as the risk for wildfires adds to stresseson that system. It also intends to monitor the Texas grid for reliabilitychallenges stemming from that region’s tight power supplies, staffsaid in their summer outlook Thursday.Even with the West, Southwest and Northeast regions of the USexpected to experience higher than average temperatures thissummer, staff in FERC's offices of Electric Reliability and Enforcementfound the power system to generally be in a better position than lastyear, they said in their annual summer assessment of reliability and thenatural gas and power markets.For instance, heavy snowfall in northern California over the wintercreated an above-average snowpack that is expected to boosthydropower output and displace higher-priced natural gas generationduring peak load periods this summer. By contrast, summer 2018 sawthe lowest hydropower output since 2015, staff said.