What's Going On In New England? Reuters Is Reading The Blog -- January 11, 2022

Updates

Later, 1:47 p.m. CT: eighteen percent of Boston's electricity is now being generated by burning oil. Link here. Coal? 3%. Total demand is relatively low. They could probably bring in more hydro (I don't know) but it's incredibly costly, but renewables only accounting for 9% of supply. When the reader sent me the note below, he noted that burning oil was accounting for an astounding 19% of provided electricity. The oil was coming from a refinery in Canada or a refinery in Russia. See original post. 

Original Post

I'll fill in the details and background to this later, but those who have been following the NE ISO story will understand this note from a reader who provides regular background and granularity to what's going on in the northeast:

Micro summary of present New England ISO fuel status ... 

An FSRU (Floating Storage and Regasification Unit - the Exemplar) has been just offshore Boston for 2 weeks feeding LNG into the region's pipeline system. 

The timing of the injections can be seen on the 'Fuel Mix Graph' by the abrupt increase in 'Gas fueled' power generation (top, light blue line). The source is from Trinidad. 

Just off Cape Cod - 5 hours from docking at Everett - is an LNG ship also coming from Trinidad. 

The high oil burning component (19% !!! at this moment) largely comes from the Irving refinery at nearby St. Johns, New Brunswick or the Primorsk refinery just north of St. Petersburg, Russia. 

(Undoubtedly VERY large supporters of the Renewable (sic)/anti gas pipeline movement in that region). =

Looking ahead, if the cold continues for 10/12 days with only brief interludes of milder temperatures - as current weather models predict - the region's supply of both natgas (in the form of LNG at Everett) and fuel oil may run precariously low. 

The irrationality of this situation is beyond belief and the next 2 to 3 winters will have similar parameters vis a vis wintertime electricity generation. 

(That picture of Corky with the 'banana telephone' is priceless).

Yes, I owe a lot to Corky keeping me up-to-date. She's a good soul.

This is quite incredible. In the comment section at another post, I suggested that this was exactly what was going on, but I don't have the specifics and the granularity to prove my point. This reader does and it is very much appreciated. 

By the way, Reuters is now reading the blog: "US New England power prices jump to four-year high as region freezes." Link here. A huge "thanks" to the reader who caught this.