The U.N. climate change report says the world is on the brink of catastrophic warming. Energy transition is ‘not an option.’ The war between Russia and Ukraine has dramatically accelerated the sector’s transition away from fossil fuels and spurred investments into renewable and nuclear power generation. Global investments in the energy transition are set to triple by 2030 according to the EU Commission. "The bottom line is that we want to be leaders in the green industries of the future," said Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis. The Commission’s intentions are good but decarbonization ‘leaders’ are facing numerous challenges.
Recently, New York invested in clean energy, electric vehicles, heat pumps and new transmission lines but financing energy upgrades through rate increases has created concern. “It is not that I am personally against the need to decarbonize our system rapidly and efficiently. It’s just the way we’re paying for it,” said John Howard, a commissioner on the Public Service Commission. While change will result in rate increases, upfront costs bring long-term benefits. “This is long term (and is) going to result in people having lower utility bills, lower utility bills that are better for the environment, better for the next generation,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul. “But transitions are complicated. They’re tough. And that’s what we’re trying to work through right now.”
In Austin, city officials want to bury transmission lines to combat outages from downed limbs during extreme weather events. Austin Energy General Manager Jackie Sargent warns City Council, "Burying our distribution lines would be prohibitively expensive and very disruptive. We as a utility know this intuitively, but the community may not,” Sargent said. “And we don't have a feasibility study that illustrates the extent of what this would take.”
Ameren Missouri is looking to invest in new transmission lines. The utility supports a bill to reestablish a monopoly on transmission projects to avoid cost overruns and deliver more reliable power to customers. Opponents believe that eliminating competition will drive up the costs of new transmission lines. “This bill ensures that … we will be able to continue to make those investments and do it in a way that delivers that same safe, affordable, and reliable power that we have for over 100 years,” said Shawn Schukar, Ameren’s senior vice president of transmission business development.
Utilities are presented with a daunting task to meet climate change goal, lower emissions, and keep costs to a minimum. To reassure New York’s ratepayers, Chris Casey, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council said, “Energy prices should become significantly more predictable and stable in the future under the clean energy transition, which will make managing costs a whole lot easier for New Yorkers and businesses alike.”
How is your utility addressing rising costs, new investments and finding its stride in the race to reduce emissions?