MISO this year will again ask thermal generators for information on their fuel supplies through weekly surveys and consumables data requests.
Staff will begin collecting the information Oct. 3. The recurring data requests will open each Monday and close on Sunday and can be updated throughout the week.
The RTO is collecting the data from members with units that use coal, oil and petcoke and that are registered in the commercial model. Staff has been testing the surveys.
MISO’s Mike Mattox told the Reliability Subcommittee Thursday that members’ individual answers on the nine-question survey will be confidential, with aggregated data published on MISO’s website.
The weekly surveys were introduced last winter after the RTO issued warnings about natural gas and coal fuel-security issues and forced-generation outages during cold fronts. (See MISO Sounds Alarm on Potential Winter Fuel Scarcity.) It announced early this year that the task would become permanent so it can better understand fuel positions during winter. (See MISO Winter Fuel Security Surveys Now Permanent.)
Mattox said the RTO still plans to turn winter fuel security surveys into a year-round task for owners of fossil fuel generation owners. However, he said fuel survey issuances “may change [in] frequency as conditions warrant.”
The grid operator said last year’s fuel surveys indicated generators had healthy stockpiles, despite the reliability anxiety. The RTO attributed the results to generally mild winter weather and careful fuel management. Some operators reported slower train deliveries because of supply chain issues, labor shortages and harsh weather.
