Even though it is concerned about the region’s reliance on natural gas, power grid administrator ISO New England says there will be enough resources to meet electricity demand this winter.
ISO expects peak demand this winter to be between 21,000 to 22,000 megawatts, depending on the extremes of the cold. To meet that obligation, ISO has secured 29,835 megawatt of generation from New England’s power plants for the winter.
However, ISO is concerned that half of the obligated generation comes uses natural gas as a fuel. Because natural gas is a significant source for heating in winter, ISO is worried there won’t be enough supply for the power plants is the delivery pipelines become constrained or there is an extended cold snap.
To combat this concern, ISO contracted with nearly 2 million megawatt hours of power from oil-fired power plants for the winter, as well as contracting with major electricity users who could power down if resources got constrained.
