FERC Issues Final ERCOT Report
November 22, 2021
Winter storm Uri caused more than 200 deaths and an economic impact of up to $130 billion. According to its final report on the crisis, FERC largely pins the blame on cold temperatures and natural gas supply. During the event, ERCOT averaged 34,000 MW of generation unavailable for over two consecutive days, equivalent to nearly half of its all-time winter peak electric load.
“Despite multiple prior recommendations by FERC and NERC, as well as annual reminders via Regional Entity workshops, that generating units take actions to prepare for the winter (and providing detailed suggestions for winterization), 26 generating units in ERCOT still did not have any winterization plans, and 81 percent of the freeze-related generating unit outages occurred at temperatures above the unit’s stated ambient design temperature.”