气体故障

This is a condensed, online version of the report. For the full text and figures, please download the 完整的报告.

美国电力行业在向风能转型方面取得了重大进展, 太阳能, and other clean sources of electricity. 然而, 天然气发电厂(“燃气电厂”)仍然在电网中扮演着重要角色, 提供40%的发电量，占发电量的43%. This overreliance on gas plants, coupled with mistaken assumptions about their reliability, is a significant grid vulnerability. 在极端天气事件中，天然气厂的运营特别容易受到破坏和中断, which are becoming more frequent and severe as the climate changes. Gas plant failures in extreme weather threaten grid reliability, and they can lead to rolling blackouts when people most need electricity. Amid a rapidly changing climate and increasingly frequent gas plant failures, we must reassess the role of this resource in ensuring grid reliability.

The Problem: Gas Plant Failures in Extreme Weather

Gas plants are vulnerable to a range of extreme weather events, 包括热浪, 寒流, 和干旱, with the most catastrophic failures occurring in winter. 联邦官员已经确定了过去十年中威胁电网可靠性的五次冬季风暴. 在每种情况下, 远远超出预期水平的天然气厂故障是可靠性挑战的主要原因(见图1)。.

天然气厂被迫减少发电量或完全关闭的主要原因有两个. 一种是天然气厂自身故障，通常是设备在冰冻温度下故障. 燃料供应问题, 第二个原因, 例如，当运输和生产中断导致天然气厂无法获得足够的燃料时，就会出现这种情况, when freezing temperatures affect gas production wells.

这些问题导致天然气厂大面积故障，多次出现轮流停电. 最具破坏性的例子发生在2021年，当时冬季风暴乌里袭击了美国中部. 在最糟糕的时候, 这场风暴使受影响地区近四分之一的发电厂无法发电. Gas plants accounted for most of the failed capacity. Due in large part to these power plant failures, Texas's grid operator implemented rolling blackouts for more than 70 hours. 加起来，超过4个.5 million customers in the state lost power, some for as long as four days. 在德克萨斯州246例死亡病例中，体温过低导致了大约三分之二的人死亡.

Clean 能源 解决方案 for Reliability

公用事业公司可以通过在供需双方寻求清洁能源解决方案来提高电网的可靠性. 供应解决方案, 比如可再生能源, 能量储存, 和传输, can be effective at improving grid reliability, 特别是当它们包括各种地理分布的可再生能源技术时. 需求解决方案, including energy efficiency, 灵活的需求, and distributed energy resources, 在电力需求通常急剧增加的时候，如何减少对电力的需求, such as for air conditioning during heat waves and heating during 寒流.

采用清洁能源替代化石燃料不仅可以减少全球变暖排放，还可以减少危害公众健康的有毒空气污染物, 特别是在有色人种社区，那里的天然气工厂分布得不成比例. 进一步, 需求方解决方案可以减少对新基础设施的需求，并减少大型项目带来的土地使用影响.

政策建议

电网规划, 监管机构, 政策制定者必须用减少对天然气工厂依赖的解决方案来更新美国的能源体系, bolster grid reliability, and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

• 联邦能源管理委员会(联邦能源管理委员会)应要求电网运营商在评估这些资源的可靠性时，考虑到在极端天气下天然气厂大面积故障的风险.

• 国家监管机构不应该批准新建天然气工厂，除非在极其有限的情况下，即没有可行的清洁能源解决方案来提高电网的可靠性. 这样的决定应该依赖于改进的建模工具，以解释极端天气对天然气厂性能的影响. No new gas plants should be built in environmental justice communities.

• 联邦能源管理委员会, 电网运营商, 各州公用事业委员会应继续减少清洁能源的市场和监管障碍.

• 电网运营商, along with federal and state 监管机构, should provide the public with detailed, easily accessible information about power plant outages. This will aid in holding plant owners accountable for preparing for, 并回应, threats to grid reliability.

• 政策制定者应该加强对天然气系统的监管审查，以减少在极端天气下发生故障的风险, in the event that failures do occur, ensure that they do not lead to widespread gas plant outages.