Report: Cleaner Power Doesn't Threaten NV Power Grid
Monday, February 23, 2015
CARSON CITY, Nev. – The reliability of electricity in Nevada and across the nation is not threatened as states move to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, according to a report from the Analysis Group.
Despite some initial concern about system reliability, Susan Tierney, a senior adviser with the consulting firm, says the energy grid is responding well to enormous changes occurring within the electric industry.
"There's a lot of wind on the system that changes the way the power system operates,” she states. “When people put solar panels on their roof, or they put energy efficiency on their windows, that actually changes the power system."
The report addresses implementation of the EPA's Clean Power Plan, which calls for a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions from power plants by 2030, compared to 2005 levels.
The EPA says power plants are the largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S., accounting for about one-third of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently met to consider the impacts of the Clean Power Plan on electric grid reliability.
Former FERC Commissioner Marc Spitzer says the commission's biggest challenge may be cutting through the politics that surround the issue.
"It's the nature of politics these days to move towards the extreme,” he says. “And so, what the chairman and what the other commissioners said at FERC is, they're trying to get away from the politics and get into having people tell them exactly what are the challenges, and what they would propose as solutions."
The EPA projects that the Clean Power Plan will lead to climate and health benefits worth upwards of $100 billion in 2030, including avoiding more than 6,000 premature deaths and 150,000 asthma attacks in children.
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