ISO New England Inc. is equipped to meet winter demand which is forecast to peak at 20,357 megawatts under normal conditions and 21,057 megawatts at extreme temperatures, according to a Nov. 28 press release. Based on lessons learned from last winter, the grid operator recently unveiled new initiatives including a 21-day forecast of the region’s available fuel supplies and a market-based mechanism that improves reliability and cost-effectiveness by conserving fuel for the times when it will be needed most. The previous winter’s two-week cold spell caused the system to rely heavily on power generation from using oil stored in onsite tanks, forcing oil-powered plants to face the risk of running out of fuel. Last winter’s demand peaked at 20,631 megawatts. This will be the first winter under the ISO-NE’s “pay-for-performance” market design, which rewards or penalizes power resources ensuring that they are prepared to meet their obligations to provide energy and reserves or reduce demand when the system is stressed. In the event of unexpected outages, the grid operator has operation procedures in place such as importing emergency power and asking consumers to voluntarily conserve power in order to maintain reliability.