Utility Dive Reports on AEEI-Commissioned Reliability Report

Written by Utility Dive | Feb 11, 2015

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.

In order to gain insight on the issue, the Advanced Energy Economy Institute commissioned The Brattle Group, a leading consulting firm to utilities and grid operators, to conduct a critical review of the NERC study. Utility Dive covers this report in their study on how the CPP won’t hurt electric reliability:

The Brattle Group's analysis of concerns raised by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ultimately found the CPP will offer sufficient compliance alternatives to not significantly threaten reliability.

“We find that the concerns raised by NERC about potential reliability issues arising from compliance with proposed carbon emissions standards are largely overstated,” said Jurgen Weiss, senior researcher and lead author of The Brattle Group report. “In its initial reliability review, NERC raised several concerns about the feasibility of achieving emissions standards with the technologies used to set the standards, but NERC did not address several mitigating factors."

Read the full story here. Download the Brattle Group’s report here.

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