Editorial: Regional power grid not ready to abandon coal

This region didn’t experience rolling blackouts in the days leading up to and including Christmas, but it came close. The group that ensures reliability of the power grid had asked people and industries to cut back on their power use because of strain on the grid as temperatures plummeted and as gas-fired plants began having problems.

Last week, grid operator PJM Interconnection provided the early results of its investigation into what happened.

PJM covers all or parts of West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Cold weather through the weekend of Dec. 23–25, coupled with unusually high generation outages, resulted in a number of emergency measures despite the system’s advanced planning, PJM officials said last week in releasing their preliminary findings.

“Quite frankly, while a lot of resources did perform well, generator forced outages were unacceptable,” said Mike Bryson, senior vice president of operations.

Power demand peaked the evening of Friday, Dec. 23. PJM began seeing high levels of generation outages as power was needed most. Demand peaked on Saturday, Dec. 24. The low point of demand that day was higher than the highest demand on that day in a decade.

As demand for electricity peaked, more generators went off line, often with little or no advance notice. The worst part was over on Saturday night and emergency procedures ended Sunday night.

Plants burning natural gas accounted for about 71% of the unexpected generating outages. Coal-burning plants were a little more than 16% of the outages.

During the worst part of the generating shortfall, two coal-burning plants in Pennsylvania were given permission by the Department of Energy to run at levels that exceeded their environmental permitting limits.

In the early hours of the polar vortex, PJM had sent electricity to other regions to help out with shortfalls there. As problems mounted in PJM’s own region, it halted those transfers the evening of Dec. 23.

More information on what happened is being compiled, and PJM will fine some generators for not meeting the allocated output. A full report is due in mid-April.

This problem is not limited to this region. The Tennessee Valley Authority had problems with power supply during the polar vortex, and Texas continued its struggles to keep up with demand.

If natural gas power plants in the PJM region and Texas have problems keeping up with demand during the worst of cold weather, it emphasizes the point that the nation needs an all-of-the-above approach to energy supply, whether that means electricity, motor vehicle fuel or other needs.

Smaller coal-fired plants don’t produce enough power at low enough prices to justify the continued investment in equipment to meet environmental regulations. That’s why so many have closed and been demolished or are being demolished. The section of Ohio River from Huntington to Cincinnati once had five coal-burning plants. Now it has one, along with one gas-fired plant and two small hydroelectric plants.

The futures of larger plants such as the John Amos plant in Putnam County and the Gavin plant at Cheshire, Ohio, could be secure, but they are aging.

Demand for electricity will increase as cars and trucks make the transition to electric power. If the grid is to continue operating and producing power as it’s needed, a realistic approach to electricity generation, transmission and distribution is vital.