Electric-grid operators from across the country are warning of the potential for blackouts as companies attempt to transition to environment sources.
“I am concerned about it,” MISO Chief Executive John Bear told the Wall Street Journal in a report Sunday. “As we move forward, we need to know that when you put a solar panel or a wind turbine up, it’s not the same as a thermal resource.”
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
AS GAS PRICES SOAR, EVS OUT OF REACH
Extreme heat and wildfires over the summer could lead to a shortage of energy” target=”_blank”>energy<
Space Coast Next Generation Solar Center, in Merritt Island, Fla.
(AP)
“Every market around the world is trying to deal with the same issue,” Brad Jones, the interim chief executive of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, told WSJ. “We’re all trying to find ways to utilize as much of our renewable resources as possible…and at the same time make sure that we have enough dispatchable generation to manage reliability.”
But others have argued for slowing the pace of taking traditional plants offline.
“We need to make sure that we have sufficient new resources in place and operational before we let some of these retirements go,” Mark Rothleder, the chief operating officer of the California Independent System Operator, told WSJ. “Otherwise, we are putting ourselves potentially at risk of having insufficient capacity.”
