In November 2014, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) issued an “initial reliability review” in which it identified elements of the Clean Power Plan that could lead to reliability concerns. Echoed by some grid operators and cited in comments to EPA submitted by states, utilities, and industry groups, the NERC study has made reliability a critical issue in finalizing, and then implementing, the Clean Power Plan.   

Greentech Media’s article on electric begs the question of whether the industry can support both solar and fossil fuels.  Their study quotes the Brattle Group Senior Researcher Jurgen Weiss:

But a report out from The Brattle Group on Thursday finds that the analysis by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and assertions by EEI are not necessarily founded and that reliability will not be compromised.

“We find that the concerns raised by NERC about potential reliability issues arising from compliance with proposed carbon emissions standards are largely overstated,” Jurgen Weiss, senior researcher and lead author of The Brattle Group report, said in a statement. “With the tools currently available for managing an electric power system that is already in flux, we think it unlikely that compliance with EPA carbon rules will have a significant impact on reliability.”

Download the Brattle Group’s report here: http://info.aee.net/brattle-reliability-report
Read Greentech Media’s full story here: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Can-Edison-Electric-Institute-Have-It-All