Washington (Platts)--21Mar2013/409 pm EDT/2009 GMT

Regions all over the US are forming task forces, holding meetings and drafting studies to improve coordination between the gas and electric industries and figure out whether the gas system is adequate to meet electricity demands, staff of the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Thursday.

"This is good government, when you are anticipating a crisis before it happens," Commissioner Philip Moeller said after the presentation at FERC's monthly meeting.

The North American Electric Reliability Corp. is nearly finished with the second phase of a special reliability assessment on gas-electric interdependency, which will identify ways to minimize reliability vulnerabilities, staff said.

ISO New England and the New England Power Pool Participants Committee proposed alternative ways to modify the schedule of the ISO's day-ahead energy market. FERC also accepted, on an interim basis, revisions to its information sharing policy.

Other work in New England is being led by the New England States Committee on Electricity Gas-Electric Focus Group, which holds monthly calls and meetings to bridge communication gaps between the two industries. The group intends to issue a report on steps that can be taken in the short, intermediate and long term. The group will also include a study on the amount of pipeline capacity needed to alleviate existing bottlenecks, staff said.

In the Mid-Atlantic region, independent system operators and the Tennessee Valley Authority are doing a study of the adequacy of the gas system to supply gas-fired generation needs in the Eastern Interconnection, and other issues. The study is slated to be completed by the end of 2014, according to the presentation.

The New York Independent System Operator staff has also commissioned a study, to be completed in the second quarter, of more immediate issues in New York. Stakeholders in NYISO have also set up a working group that is studying the issue, staff said.

The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator and its stakeholders have formed an Electric-Natural Gas Coordination Task Force that is planning a discussion of the misalignment of the gas-electric days and possible modifications to its resource adequacy construct to account for possible fuel supply disruptions, according to staff.

The Southwest Power Pool is in the early stages of setting up a Gas-Electric Coordination Task Force. SPP also plans to set up a system to allow its staff to monitor gas pipeline information relevant to gas-fired generators.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has held meetings of ISO/RTO Council operations executives, discussing communications, best practices for gas-electric planning, costs of pipeline services, and gas-electric scheduling day differences. ERCOT is also studying the impact of electric outages on pipelines and pipeline outages on generators.

In the West, there are a suite of subregional task forces and committees that meet to discuss policy, planning and reliability challenges. For example, the Western Gas-Electric Regional Assessment Task Force is seeking input on the adequacy of the gas system to meet the electricity needs of the Western Interconnection. The Western Electricity Coordinating Council has developed a draft communication protocol. And the California Independent System Operator is working on assessing the gas infrastructure needed to integrate renewable power.

In the Southeast, Southern Company and gas pipelines have decided to hold monthly meetings to coordinate planned gas and electricity system outages. They are also discussing the type of information that would be available after a catastrophic event affecting either system.

--Kate Winston, catherine_winston@platts.com

--Edited by Jason Lindquist, jason_lindquist@platts.com

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