Government Energy Policy, Business and Technology

The Big Drumroll Ends with a Thud: DOE’s Study on the US Power Grid

Renewable Energy World: The Department of Energy last week released its long-awaited grid-reliability study, after months of work at the agency to respond to Secretary Perry’s directive calling for the report. The tone and content of Perry’s April 14th memo suggested to many that the study would inevitably produce a set of findings that coal-fired power plants could take to the bank as proof that they need help from the federal government to stay in operation.

Now that the report is actually out, what’s surprising is that there are not many surprises. In keeping with other recent actions by the DOE, it provides little technical support for bailing out financially struggling coal-fired power plants. And that, in itself, is the main eye-opener.

The report examined the transitions underway in the electric industry and attempted to answer several questions: What’s driving change in the mix of technologies we use to generate power? And to what extent are these changes making the U.S. power supply less reliable?

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