This week, in addition to being the end of the first year of Chairman Phillips’ term, is the one-year anniversary of Winter Storm Elliott which, as we all know, blanketed the Central and Eastern United States, causing an unprecedented number of generator failures and other issues, pushing our system to the brink of collapse during the holiday season. I think it is important that we step back and ensure that we are absorbing and acting on the lessons from this event.
I am really pleased with how much the Commission has already done in response to these storms. Among other actions, in February, we directed NERC to finalize cold weather reliability standards for generators. As the joint FERC and NERC reports following both Winter Storms Uri and Elliott pointed out, freezing problems with generation caused a large number of outages. I am watching with keen interest the status of the ongoing standards development process, which I understand is headed to a third ballot. I hope that NERC is able to finalize and propose standards sufficient to ensure widespread winter generator outages do not impact customers in the same way again.
Heading into the New Year, I’m thinking about what’s next as well. I find myself coming back to the question of how to plan for the future in the face of inevitable uncertainty—like the kind we experienced during Elliott. While this uncertainty is a challenge, it is not unbounded, and it must not paralyze us. I don’t know what college looks like for my 9- and 11-year-olds, but I know I’m in trouble if I don’t start planning for a few different outcomes at this point.
As ever, transmission is at the front of my mind. The Uri and Elliot reports, as well as our experiences in recent summer heat waves and countless credible studies suggest an urgent, generational need for regional and interregional transmission investment.
When it comes to long-term planning, we already know we won’t be exactly right in forecasting the future. But the risk of inaction is far greater than the risk of planning without perfect foresight. Fortunately, we have powerful tools to light the path—from better data to ever more sophisticated system modeling, to post-event examinations like the Elliott report that help us then refine our planning techniques.
The proposal we have outstanding on regional transmission planning and cost allocation is designed to make this uncertainty manageable. Robust, reality-based, scenario planning is an effective risk management approach. We also have dockets open on interregional transmission. I am also pleased to hear [the Chairman] announce that we are going to do some workshops on further issues on interconnection. That is really exciting and important.
We have gotten a lot of work done this year. We’ve got our work cut out for us as a Commission, and I’m looking forward to collaborating with my colleagues on these issues next year. Thank you.