A new report by the Brattle Group prepared for the Advanced Energy Economy Institute (AEEI) says the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan (CPP) to cut carbon emissions from power plants should pose no problems for maintaining the reliability of the electric grid.
The report seeks to address reliability concerns expressed last year in a report by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC). In a nutshell, the NERC report says some regions in U.S. areas may require significant infrastructure enhancements and industry may require additional time to ensure reliability in order to conform to the CPP.
‘The NERC report far overstated the reliability issues of using more clean energy in the electric grid,’ says John Moore, an attorney with the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). ‘Rigorous analysis shows that the CPP's measured shift toward renewable energy, its long lead time, and its flexibility will enable utilities and grid operators to cut carbon pollution without risks of blackouts or outages.’
Moore, who analyzes Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, grid and energy market issues for the NRDC, has written that the NERC report raises sensible concerns while overlooking certain dynamics that could mitigate them, such as grid operator, government and other studies showing that the grid can reliably integrate significantly more wind and solar power than current levels.
Advanced Energy Economy, the AEEI's parent organization, is holding a webinar on the topic on March 10. For more information and to register, click here.
