Cold Weather Preparedness

Reliability Recommendations

To help prevent impacts from cold weather events throughout the season, SERC recommends that entities consider the following:

• Establish and verify contingency plans that address protecting power generating and support equipment from adverse effects of freezing temperatures and sustained high winds.
• Pre-treat high foot traffic areas to provide a safe working environment for the maintenance crews.
• Place thermostats on the outside of structures to minimize heat loss from opening and closing entryways.
• Replace any damaged pipe insulation and heat trace.
• Properly tag and communicate the status of equipment that requires service.
• Be cognizant of fuel inventory and have a good line of communication with the fuel suppliers.
• Review Lessons Learned from previous winters and address any areas identified that experienced freezing issues.
• Communicate with neighboring sites with similar generation to share Lessons Learned and other potential issues. 
• Ensure availability and readiness of on-site equipment needed for winterization (tarps, portable heaters, fuel, blankets, etc.). 
• Implement a walk-down of the site and perform basic checks on known problem areas as determined by the generation facility procedures. 
• Review the NERC Reliability Guideline Generating Unit Winter Weather Readiness –Current Industry Practices. 
• Review the SERC Extreme Cold Weather Guidelines.