by Kevin Killough
Organizations that manage, coordinate and monitor electric service for 156 million Americans in 30 states warn that the Biden-Harris administration’s actions power plant principle will be disastrous for the national power grid. The four regional trade organizations (RTOs), as they are recently called filed an amicus briefalso known as friend of the court brief, in support of a multi-state lawsuit v. EPA regarding this provision.
Environmental Protection Agency published the rules in April. They require coal-fired power plants operating after 2039 to start implementing carbon capture technology in just eight years. New gas power plants will also have to add up-to-date technologies, with those using 40% or more of their annual capacity adding carbon capture from 2032.
Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling, co-founders and researchers at Always on the subject of energy research, performed the analysis on behalf of the North Dakota Transmission Authority regarding the impact this legislation will have on Independent system operator in the Middle Continent (MISO), an RTO covering the central United States
Scientists say they have discovered a number of problems. The analysis found that the EPA grossly overestimated the ability of intermittent wind and solar plants to provide reliable electricity during periods of peak demand, and also concluded that the agency had not conducted any reliability analysis regarding the regulations. In some cases, the result will be power outages lasting several days.
The RTO’s amicus brief points to the same problems. He argues that the EPA’s timeline is too compact. The compliance requirements assume the feasibility of carbon capture technology has not been “adequately demonstrated,” the RTO explains, and the regulations would result in the mass retirement of coal-fired power plants while preventing investment in baseload generators such as those fired by natural gas. power plants to replace lost capacity. RTOs also noted that EPA had not conducted any operational reliability assessments. Base load generation refers to the minimum level of continuous power that a utility or power grid must produce to meet continuous and constant demand for electricity.
“It would be absolutely devastating for the network,” Rolling said Only News.
Rolling and Orr contacted several regulatory lawyersand none of them was aware of another situation in which RTOs had filed an amicus brief asking the court to return regulations to the agency. The fact that RTOs have intervened in this matter suggests that they are particularly concerned about the regulations.
Followers of the rules such as the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)argue that regulations are necessary to achieve net zero by 2050. This target is a key goal for anti-fossil fuel advocates because they believe limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level. Criticisms of EPA’s rules suggest the goal cannot be achieved without stern threats to the reliability of the nation’s power grid. Net zero means reducing carbon dioxide emissions to a miniature amount of residual emissions that can be absorbed and permanently stored by nature, and other means of removing carbon dioxide, leaving zero in the atmosphere.
Rolling said many engineers and grid planners know that eliminating thermal units – coal and gas-fired power plants – on the time scale of reaching net zero by 2050 would result in repeated and sustained power outages. However, he stated that there is a reluctance to speak too loudly on the issue. The industries that supply electricity in the U.S. are interconnected, and there is pressure to maintain harmony and cooperation rather than, so to speak, rock the boat as is the nature of many industries and organizations.
“So they don’t say it openly, and maybe they should,” Rolling said.
The California outages in 2019deadly power outages in Texas Winter Storm 2021 UriRolling said the 2022 Christmas power outages in the Southeast should send a warning signal to the country that there is a growing risk to our electricity grid. So far, this has not deterred net-zero 2050 advocates from their agenda.
Rolling said RTOs and utilities have traditionally been decision makers, not decision makers. This leaves much of the policy-making process to people who do not have sufficient knowledge or are not concerned about the impact that policy may have on the country’s electricity supply.
“At a certain point you can’t be a political decision-maker. You have to get involved in politics. These are the people who know it best. They know their regions best. They know what their system needs to maintain reliability, and EPA should listen to them,” Rolling said.
So far, the EPA doesn’t seem willing to do that. In his own response to arguments plaintiffs, EPA defended its rule and its authority to enact it. The agency defended carbon capture, pointing to projects it said were successful and insisting the technology was cost-effective. Rolling said he talked to engineers who told him the technology was still in its infancy, but the EPA was trying to force apply of it.
“We jump off a cliff and hope to create a parachute while in the air,” Rolling said.
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Kevin Killough is an investigative reporter at Just the News.
