Advanced Energy Perspectives

Late last week, Bloomberg reporters unearthed a draft of the grid reliability study ordered by Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and pointed out contradictions between the DOE draft and Trump Administration statements, which called coal generation key to electric system reliability, and blaming policies favoring renewable energy for “premature” retirement of “baseload” generating resources like coal and nuclear energy. In response, a spokesperson for DOE simply said the report is “constantly evolving,” and when it comes to the passages cited by Bloomberg, “those statements as written are not in the current draft.” So we’ve done our own read of the leaked draft. We see five broad findings, with specific language from DOE’s internal experts justifying those findings, that capture the reality of today’s changing, but robust, power grid, as we see it. The question is: Will they make it into the final report?

Article originally posted on Bloomberg Gov. 

The electricity industry is entering a period of fundamental change, driven by strong technology and policy forces, as well as changing consumer demands and expectations. Business-as-usual is no longer sustainable in a future with increasing distributed energy resources and a smarter, cleaner, more interactive electric grid. Why? Traditionally, utilities collected revenues to cover their costs, plus profit, through the electricity sold to consumers. However, as more rooftop solar and energy efficiency come online due to customer preference, the amount of electricity sold by the utility declines, reducing revenues and cutting their profitability.

This post was originally published in Up For Debate on Bloomberg Government. 

While much attention is focused on legal challenges to EPA’s Clean Power Plan, profound change is brewing far from D.C. Across the nation, state regulators and electric utilities are remaking the regulatory frameworks and business models that have governed our electricity system for decades. This rethinking of the regulatory compact between the public and investor-owned utilities will ultimately transform the way we generate, manage, consume and pay for electricity. At the same time, it will enable rapid grid modernization and fuel a homegrown industry that is already larger than the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

Three weeks ago, in a move that surprised even veteran court watchers, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a stay of EPA’s Clean Power Plan.

As the litigation on the merits unfolds in the coming months, it’s important to consider what the stay does and doesn’t do. The stay does prevent EPA from enforcing the CPP. So, for example, states won’t need to submit their initial compliance plans to EPA by September. But let’s be clear – the stay does not require states to halt their planning for compliance nor does it require that EPA stop helping states do that planning. The stay does not mean that the CPP will ultimately be struck down in the courts, and it most certainly does not eliminate EPA’s obligation to regulate greenhouse gases as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision in 2007.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) signaled last week that the part one of the first-ever Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) of the United States’s comprehensive energy strategy would come out by the end of April. This first installment will focus on transmission, storage and distribution issues impacting the electricity grid. While not publicly announced, it appears that the second part will focus on supply and end use of energy. The goal of these reports – and the QER writ large – is to identify trends, threats, and opportunities in the energy system and inform executive and legislative actions, including investment in research and development. It is no coincidence that both the Senate and House announced plans to introduce legislation to address the “energy infrastructure” issues associated with the first QER report.