Natural Gas Markets and Grid Reliability

Contracts for transportation capacity, competing uses of natural gas and grid reliability during winter storms The increasing dependence of the electric power sector on natural gas poses vulnerabilities caused by competition for scarce pipeline capacity that are especially pronounced when both heating and electricity needs spike. During extreme cold weather events in the U.S., pipeline deliveries to distribution companies serving heating customers receive the highest priority of service, while natural gas-fired generators may have their service curtailed regardless of contractual priority. This creates grid reliability challenges that are expected to become more prominent, as electricity consumption in U.S. residences grows while natural gas consumption for space heating declines through 2050. In her talk, Chiara Lo Prete will discuss this pressing problem and present modeling results quantifying the potential benefits of prioritizing gas to power plants during winter emergencies in the Northeastern U.S. Speaker Chiara Lo Prete is Associate Professor of Energy Economics in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research centers on the economics of energy markets, focusing on the areas of competition and design of electricity markets, natural gas market design to enhance grid reliability, geopolitics and energy security, and the impacts of environmental regulations on electric power generation. She and her team develop mathematical models and apply empirical methods to study electricity market structures for resource adequacy and wind energy integration, interdependent natural gas and electric power systems, the weaponization of electricity trade, emission leakage and cross-product manipulation. Before joining Penn State, Lo Prete was a Ziff Environmental Fellow at Harvard University. She earned a B.A. in Economics (summa cum laude) from LUISS University, an M.A. in Energy Economics from the Scuola Mattei, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Geography and Environmental Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University.