Grid operators still don’t know exactly how prepared the gas industry is to deliver fuel to power plants and millions of homes during another deep freeze.
A new coalition of industry and regulatory officials aims to change that. Gas Electric Reliability for America, or GERA, says its goal is to bring more transparency to opaque natural gas markets and the readiness of gas-burning generators to keep electricity flowing during periods of extreme cold.
“The electric grid and natural gas industries are intertwined,” said Robert Gee, an energy analyst and co-founder of the coalition. “Disruptions in one system can have devastating consequences for the other, as seen during Winter Storm Uri and Winter Storm Elliott.”
Leaders of the new campaign say past failures of the gas and electricity sectors to work together during weather emergencies simply can’t continue. More than 200 people died in Texas after Winter Storm Uri in 2021 turned power and heating off. Winter Storm Elliott in 2022 triggered outages across a massive eastern region.
