This is an excellent revealing article by POWER magazine’s Sonal Patel covering Wednesday’s (March 5) House Energy Subcommittee hearing, titled “Scaling for Growth: Meeting Demand for Reliable, Affordable Electricity”. Lawmakers heard from witnesses—including representatives of PJM Interconnection, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Southern Company, and Duke University. Sonal reported that demand is rising faster than new generation is being added and that retirements of dispatchable power threaten grid stability. No place is this more evident than in the nation’s largest power market, PJM. The grid operator forecasts its summer peak demand to increase by nearly 70,000 MW, to 220,000 MW, by 2040. PJM’s current record summer peak occurred in 2006, at 165,563 MW. PJM currently forecasts 40,000 MW of plant retirements by 2030, 60% of which is coal, and 40% natural gas. With this level of expected growth in electricity demand it remains uncertain as to how much of the planned closures will actually shutter over the next five-years.
Lawmakers Scrutinize Power Sector's Future as Surging Demand Raises Alarms: https://lnkd.in/dprYHgNC