Cold Weather Forces PJM to Preemptively Secure Gas-Fired Electricity

PJM Interconnection has committed to buy electricity from gas-fired power plants until the end of the month in a rare move aimed at securing an uninterrupted supply during a cold blast across much of the United States.

Bloomberg reported, citing employees of the grid operator, that PJM will procure electricity until January 31^st and not, as is the normal practice, on a daily basis. This commitment, per the report, would prompt generators to secure gas supplies for a longer than usual period, enhancing power supply security in case the cold spell extends and deepens to the point of freezing gas pipelines in regional production hubs.

The company has also asked dual-fuel generating companies to prioritise using natural gas first and save the oil for later in the week, the Bloomberg report also said. PJM supplies electricity to about 25% of the U.S. population.

Reuters reported earlier today that close to 850,000 U.S. households and businesses are without power as of Sunday night amid heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain. That, however, is an improvement on some 950,000 households and businesses without power earlier in the weekend. The situation is the worst in Tennessee, where over 250,000 households and businesses are without power. In Louisiana and Mississippi, the blackouts have affected over 120,000 households and businesses each.

The cold spell sweeping the United States has prompted recalls of winter storm Uri that swept across much of the country five years ago, hitting Texas especially hard and leading to massive blackouts that claimed human lives. According to the latest coverage from ABC, the total number of households and businesses hit by blackouts across the country as of early Monday morning was over 800,000 across 11 states. CBS News reported that “millions” were without power due to the storms.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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