Blackstart Capability Study

ERO (Electric Reliability Organization) Enterprise staff, in collaboration with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), will conduct a joint review of the availability and readiness of the blackstart generators during cold weather conditions in the U.S. portions of the Eastern and Western Interconnections. This review is an outcome of the October 2023 Inquiry into Bulk Power System Operations During December 2022 Winter Storm Elliott report and follows the release of the Blackstart and Next-Start Resource Availability in the Texas Interconnection study, which similarly assessed blackstart capabilities as recommended by the February 2021 report on Winter Storm Uri.

Blackstart generators can be used to help restore the electricity grid in the event of a blackout; however, the Winter Storm Elliot inquiry in particular found that 155 blackstart -capable units in the Eastern Interconnection became unavailable due to freezing equipment, fuel issues, or other problems, which caused 248 reported outages between December 22-25, 2022.

For the report now underway, the team’s findings will be developed during fall 2024 and presented in the first quarter of 2025. While units in Texas RE will not be examined, the work that was done for the Uri recommendation has set the path for this new effort. Texas RE will share results as well as continue its follow-up activity within our Region to improve blackstart unit readiness and availability.