A group of major U.S. electric utilities have banded together to form a "membership shopping network" (think Costco or Sam's Club for transformers and other electric utility heavy equipment) called Grid Assurance. (WSJ, April 8, 2016) The idea is that electric utilities need to have a ready reserve of vital system components in the event of a localized natural disaster or terrorist attack that destroys facilities in catastrophic event.
While Congress considers the development of a national Strategic Transformer Reserve for the same reasons, the utilities (American Electric Power, Berkshire Hathaway energy, Duke Energy, Edison International, Eversource Energy, Exelon Great Plains Energy and Southern Company) have proceeded on their own to create a repository of critical electric utility components that are available to the Grid Assurance members on short notice. Given that the fabrication of certain electric utility components can take around 18 months, an emergent need for these components cannot necessarily be met in a timely fashion in certain situations. Stockpiling these specialized components for immediate distribution and installation is in addition to the utility's standard operating procedure of maintaining a certain inventory of replacement parts and components.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently made a number of determinations that confirm the prudence of subscribers to Grid Assurance's services in stockpiling components and enabling cost recovery by utilities that do so. (Utility Dive, April 13, 2016)
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