Fredericksburg's Free Lance-Star published AEE's Harrison Godfrey's correction to an editorial that asserted rolling blackouts in California are the future for Virginia as it transitions to clean energy. Read excerpts below and the entire The Free Lance-Star piece here.
As a record heat wave struck California in recent weeks, and grid operators were forced to institute rolling blackouts, Free Lance-Star editors jumped too quickly to blame clean energy resources [“A cautionary energy tale from California, Editorial, Aug. 30]... In a letter to the governor, the heads of California’s energy agencies have stated point-blank: “Renewable energy did not cause the rotating outages.” Instead, a complicated series of system and planning failures, which are detailed in the letter, led to the blackouts...
Fortunately for the citizens of the commonwealth, we have the Virginia Clean Economy Act to protect us from the types of problems the western U.S. has experienced. The VCEA allows existing nuclear generation, which comprises almost a third of Virginia’s power, to contribute to our clean energy transition...
If we double down on our energy efficiency efforts and focus on wind and solar, more affordable energy prices will be the result. The VCEA sets the commonwealth’s first-ever standard for implementing energy efficiency measures, which should support our efforts. Now it’s about ensuring the utility follows through and truly commits to energy efficiency...
In the VCEA we have a comprehensive roadmap that takes the commonwealth’s unique needs and resources into account, ensuring the decisions we make today set us on a sustainable path toward a cleaner, more affordable, and more reliable energy future for tomorrow.
Read the entire The Free-Lance Star piece here.