New England Faces Higher Blackout Risk With Harsh Weather

(Bloomberg) -- New England could face blackouts this winter if severe cold snaps and fuel supply disruptions strike at the same time, warns the region’s grid operator.

Although power plants and the transmission system in the area are well prepared for a mild winter, colder-than-average weather could threaten electricity supplies -- particularly if it happens when supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas have been disrupted, according to ISO New England Inc., which runs the region’s power grid.

“The region would be in a precarious position if an extended cold snap were to develop and these fuels were not available,” ISO’s Chief Executive Officer Gordon van Welie said Monday in a statement.

New England’s electricity supplies were stretched thinner than many residents realized during the last harsh winter four years ago, he told reporters during a press conference. After a cold snap last February plunged Texas into darkness and killed more than 200 people, van Welie said his company wanted customers to be prepared in case they’re asked to conserve power and gas.

“We’re not trying to cause undue alarm, but we need people to understand how vulnerable the system can be under the right set of conditions,” he said during the conference. “What happened in Texas changed everything. We’ve not rested well since the February event.”

New England relies on LNG and oil to keep power plants running if natural gas supplies grow tight, something that often happens during cold snaps. The energy crisis gripping Europe and Asia this year has at times sent prices for those fuels soaring and made LNG imports hard to obtain.

Blackouts could be triggered if fuel supplies are disrupted and the region experiences temperatures similar to the winter of 2013 and 2014, which brought several severe cold snaps, the operator warned. Still, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting a warmer-than-average winter for the region. Should that forecast prove accurate, grid operators don’t anticipate the need for emergency measures, including outages.

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