Energy Policy Creating Risks to Power System Reliability
Jason Doering, P.Eng
Grid & Physics Advocate - physics trumps rhetoric every time
Alberta is not alone in the power system challenges we are experiencing due to the rapid pace of renewables development driven by policy objectives. NERC released its 2023 RISC ERO Reliability Risk Priorities Report in August and cited Energy Policy as the top risk facing the bulk power system.
NERC's view is that:
"The implementation of policy decisions can significantly affect the reliability and resilience of the BPS. Decarbonization, decentralization, and electrification have been active policy areas. Implementation of policies in these areas is accelerating, and, with changes in the resource mix, extreme weather events, and physical and cyber security challenges, reliability implications are emerging. Demonstrated risks, such as energy sufficiency as well as natural gas and electric interdependence, are becoming increasingly critical." and,
"Energy Policy at the federal, province, state, provincial and local levels is providing incentives and targets for resource changes and end-use applications of electricity. It is further contributing to the Grid Transformation, which includes the shift away from conventional synchronous central-station generators toward a new mix of resources that include natural-gas-fired generation; unprecedented proportions of non-synchronous resources, including renewables and energy storage; demand response; smart- and micro-grids; and other emerging technologies which will be more dependent on communications and advanced coordinated controls that can increase the potential Security Risks. Collectively, the new resource mix can be more susceptible to long-term, widespread Extreme Events, such as extreme temperatures or sustained loss of wind/solar, that can impact the ability to provide sufficient energy as the fuel supply is less certain."
NERC's report provides an excellent overview of the risks that narrow policy objectives are creating for power systems across North America. While the need to decarbonize is clear, we need to respect the physics of power system operation and policy makers must make reliability a companion policy objective to decarbonization. The results of unidimensional policy thinking are becoming clear and continuing down the current policy path will compromise both reliability and decarbonization if we have to react to widespread reliability problems with suboptimal solutions.
Minister Steven Guilbeault and the Federal policy team - please review NERC's report as you consider electricity policy development going forward.
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