The report on the status of the resilience of the electric grid in North Dakota was presented Friday to the North Dakota Industrial Commission and delivered to the North Dakota Legislative Council. The 2021 Legislative Assembly directed that the Transmission Authority prepare this report annually.
The report includes an examination of the 10-year plans of utilities that serve North Dakota. It summarizes the operational condition and planning efforts of the Independent System Operators (ISOs) that operate the electric grid in North Dakota and factors that affect the ability of the grid to reliably serve the consumers in North Dakota.
The electric grid in North Dakota includes a complex integration of resources across much of North America. The grid must deliver enough electricity across the whole system at the time it is consumed to avoid grid failures. In recent years the pace of change has been very rapid due to changing generation resources and new technologies.
“While the report determined that North Dakota is in a strong position with long-term reliable generating resources and good utility planning, it also noted that critical vulnerabilities will need to be addressed in the years to come,” the Industrial Commission said in a joint statement. “It takes years to plan and build transmission lines and power generation facilities, and our nation has fallen behind in preparing for the future needs. North Dakota remains committed to doing our part to meet the nation’s power demands.”
The report noted that decisions made in other parts of the country and weather events in other locations can affect reliable service to North Dakota consumers as experienced in parts of North Dakota in February 2021. The retirement of dispatchable resources that can immediately increase or decrease power generation as needed is happening faster than new dispatchable resources are being added, resulting in significant uncertainty in the power grid
The report also examines the potential impact of adding capacity to the grid without having transmission capacity in place to deliver the electricity to locations where it is needed.
“North Dakota has an abundance of energy resources, but the product needs to be able to reliably reach market to support economic development and ensure grid resiliency and redundancy,” stated John Weeda, North Dakota Transmission Authority Director.
The North Dakota Industrial Commission, which consists of Gov. Doug Burgum as chairman, Attorney General Drew Wrigley and Agriculture Commissioner Goehring, oversees the North Dakota Transmission Authority. The report is available at https://www.nd.gov/ndic/ic-press/TA-22- ResiliencyReport.pdf
For further information contact John Weeda at 701-527-7148
Karlene K. Fine, Executive Director and Secretary
State Capitol, 14th Floor - 600 E Boulevard Ave Dept 405 - Bismarck, ND 58505-0840
E-Mail: kfine@nd.gov
Phone: (701) 328-3722
"Your Gateway to North Dakota”: www.nd.gov
Attachment: North Dakota Transmission Authority presents electric grid resilience report