The Impact of Wind Exposure on Power Plant Cold Weather Readiness in Winter Storm Elliot

Abstract Winter Storm Elliot was a severe winter storm hitting the northeast USA from December 21 to December 26 2022. Temperatures dropped rapidly and high winds picked up. The electric power grid in the Northeast USA was stressed to the limit. According to FERC 1702 individual large electric generating plants experienced 3,565 unplanned outages, debates or failures to start. These resulted in 90500 MW of coincident outages, debates and failures to start. Penalties for failure to provide committed power were over $2 billion USD. Most if not all of these power plants had existing cold weather readiness plans that had been exercised in previous winter operations. The coincident occurrence of very cold temperatures and high wind speeds were a key factor. FERC noted that most freezing events occurred above the rated minimum operating temperature of the affected power plants. This paper will discuss the overall risks to plant operation from freezing conditions and role of high winds in exposing weak points in the plants. Examples of use of wind walls/screens to shield exposed plant components, insulation of supports and valve actuators, and periodic purge of normally stagnant water piping during wind/cold conditions will be discussed. The role of wind in preventing the refill and restart of idled steam generators will also be discussed. The impact of local screening on pipe racks and ground level equipment as modeled by CFD will be illustrated.