Flawed Perry Grid Study Finally Released
WASHINGTON —The U.S. Department of Energy has released a long-awaited report conducted at the request of Secretary Rick Perry on the reliability of America’s electricity grid.
John Moore, director of the Sustainable FERC Project housed within NRDC, issued the following statement:
“DOE's grid study reads like a disjointed attempt to support outdated, uncompetitive, and highly polluting power plants. DOE Secretary Perry appears determined to mold America's transmission grid around support for fossil fuels, but the facts in his own report don't back up that approach.
“The recommendations ignore renewable energy’s contributions to a reliable electricity system. They also include misguided proposals to gut environmental rules for coal and nuclear plants, and to pay fossil resources for reliability services that DOE hasn’t demonstrated are necessary. DOE and Secretary Perry should be focusing instead on accelerating the growth of clean energy rather than creating barriers.”
Background Information
John Moore will post a blog about the report here.
The fact sheet “Powering into the Future: Renewable Energy, Reliability, and Reshaping the Grid” is here: https://www.nrdc.org/resources/powering-future-renewable-energy-reliability-and-reshaping-grid
Previous blogs about the anticipated report: Debunking Three Myths About “Baseload”: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/kevin-steinberger/debunking-three-myths-about-baseload
“Baseload” in the Rearview Mirror of Today’s Electric Grid: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/baseload-rearview-mirror-todays-electric-grid
Clean Energy, Not More Coal, Better for Health and the Grid: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/john-moore/clean-energy-not-more-coal-better-health-and-grid
Energy Dept. Grid “Study”: Politics Trump Facts: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/john-moore/energy-dept-grid-study-politics-trump-facts
The Brattle report commissioned by NRDC that found “baseload” is an outdated term can be found here. The news release accompanying the report is here.
Also, here are numerous studies that show high levels of renewables can be reliably integrated into the electricity system.
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