Today’s LiveWire Spotlight evaluates NERC’s 2022 Summer Assessment, their latest seasonal assessment addressing BES reliability and adequacy. The report confirms that all twenty of the North American assessment areas meet traditional adequacy measures (i.e.; on-peak Anticipated Reserve Margin) of projected summer demand, but MISO, the California sectors, and ERCOT are exposed to elevated risk due to resource capacity shortfalls and transmission build-out delays.
Recession, stagflation, and a re-emergence of COVID-19 could lower actual electricity usage in North America this summer and lower the threat levels. Still, NERC remains concerned that a massive heat-wave will prevent inter-area support and overwhelm the system.