The United States Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (“Committee”) held a June 1st hearing titled:
The Reliability and Resiliency of Electric Services in the United States in Light of Recent Reliability Assessments and Alerts (“Hearing”)
The stated purpose of the Hearing was to continue the Committee’s oversight of the reliability challenges facing the United States electric grid.
In opening the Hearing, Chairman Joe Manchin (West Virginia) stated:
. . . concerns about recent North American Electric Reliability Corporation reliability assessments (referencing assessments indicating two-thirds of the United States faces reliability challenges this summer and into the future)
Also noted were concerns expressed by grid operators about the loss of dispatchable generation sources before they were able to be replaced.
Concern is also expressed by the Chairman regarding what he describes as:
. . . premature retirements of our fossil plants.
Such retirements are stated to be coupled with what he characterizes as:
. . . gaps in our power market designs that fail to require the right reliability attributes for renewables being added to the grid.
An additional focus is what the Chairman describes as:
. . . excessively long permitting processes are keeping us from bringing any new generation resources online in a timely fashion, whether fossil, renewables, nuclear – you name it.
The Chairman states recognition that the electric grid is undergoing a transition (both in generation sources and the types of demand) but believes it must be balanced against reliability and affordability of electricity.
The witnesses at the Committee Hearing included:
Mr. James B. Robb
President & Chief Executive Officer
North American Electric Reliability Corporation
Mr. Manu Asthana
President & Chief Executive Officer
PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.
Dr. Melissa C. Lott
Senior Research Scholar and Director of Research
Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy
Columbia University
School of International and Public Affairs
Mr. David J. Tudor
Chief Executive Officer & General Manager
Associated Electric Cooperative Inc.
A link to the Chairman’s remarks can be found here.
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