Reliability remains top priority after NERC releases 2023-2024 winter reliability assessment report

The 2023-2024 winter reliability assessment report was recently released by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). These assessments are done each summer and winter. NERC looks at every power market across the United States to determine available generation resources and load levels so they can ensure there is enough generation to serve the load. The winter report identifies and assesses reliability concerns for the months of December, January, and February. 

A key finding mentions a higher risk of insufficient electricity during peak winter months due to the complexity of load forecasting in the winter months. 

Val Weigel, Basin Electric vice president of Energy Markets, said the assessment noted two areas of concern in Basin Electric’s service area. “When we look at Southwest Power Pool and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator areas, where we have a good majority of Basin Electric’s member load, we see an elevated risk in certain conditions,” Weigel said. “Those conditions would likely be timeframes where we see higher loads maybe due to weather conditions.” 

Extreme cold and icy conditions made its way into North Dakota in January. Dave Rudolph, Basin Electric manager of NERC compliance, said Basin Electric has implemented all the requirements of a new NERC reliability standard focusing on cold weather preparedness, which includes a cold weather preparedness plan, associated training, and cold weather preparedness maintenance activities. “Before a bad storm or cold snap arrives, supervisors talk to all employees reminding them to make sure doors and windows are closed,” Troy Tweeten, Basin Electric senior vice president of Generation, said. “It’s the small things that can cause problems. If a window is open and the wind is blowing on an instrument line, it can cause it to freeze up. That freeze up can trip either a system or even the whole unit. These are things we can prevent.” 

As uncertainties such as irregular weather patterns, low renewable output, and forced outages continue to stack on top of each other, Basin Electric’s membership provides some mitigation against them. “For example, you could have an extreme weather event in one area of our member service territory, but because our member service territory is so large it may not impact all of our load,” Weigel said. “The widespread member load in our service territory helps to soften the blows and protects the entire membership against some of those risks and uncertainties that we’re continuing to see.” 

Because Basin Electric maintains an all-of-the-above generation strategy, using coal, natural gas, wind, hydropower, oil, recovered energy, and soon solar, the cooperative is well positioned to ensure reliability and affordability. 

Generation facilities which have a reliable source of fuel, such as coal and natural gas, ensure power is available to members when they need it. Two of the cooperative’s four coal facilities are “mine mouth” facilities, meaning the mine is located close to the plant to ensure adequate supply. Basin Electric manages its natural gas fuel position in a reliable and cost-effective manner, which includes securing sufficient natural gas purchases and utilizing natural gas storage.

Both coal and natural gas facilities are dispatchable, meaning they can generate electricity on demand to ensure reliable power is being generated when intermittent resources, such as wind and solar, are not available.

Basin Electric also owns oil and diesel facilities that only run when they are needed. There are fuel reserves on site to ensure the units can run when necessary. For example, Spirit Mound Station, an oil-based peaking station near Vermillion, South Dakota, currently has about 1,500,000 gallons of fuel oil on site.  

In addition to generation, Basin Electric line crews maintain more than 2,500 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and the associated infrastructure necessary to move power to locations where it is most needed. 

Resource adequacy and proper planning are critical to reliable electricity, and Basin Electric is staying on top of any impact that may affect generation and load.