Well, that was… er… interesting.
David Hallquist, CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative, recently announced his all-out opposition to new ridgeline wind projects, due to the grid’s difficulties in handling intermittent power sources like wind and solar. And on Tuesday, he brought his case before the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee, which is considering new legislation on wind energy.
He spoke forcefully and briskly, the words coming so fast that the note-takers in the room had trouble keeping up. “They can’t solve the problem,” he said, referring to grid operators like ISO New England. “It’s such a complex problem, and we are MANY years away from solving it.”
He asserted that the grid is built to handle consistent, one-way power flows — the old-fashioned system, with continuously operating power plants sending electricity to customers. “Wind turbines,” he said, “are being curtailed by ISOs across the country, not just in New England.”
Well, that sounds awfully grim.
Funny, though: the committee just heard from a top VELCO official last week, and he said nothing about critical grid problems interfering with expansion of renewable power. Or, as committee chair Tony Klein put it: “I’m trying to connect the dots: why every other utility has not said the same thing. Why the Department of Public Service, the Public Service Board, VELCO, ISO New England has not said something. The buildout of renewables is continuing. You’re saying there’s no answer.”
“I’m the biggest advocate of renewables around,” replied Hallquist. “But there’s a fundamental physical problem. I don’t know why other utilities aren’t talking about it.”
And then he began talking about rates and customer resistance to higher electricity costs, and said “You can solve the problems, but you have to make investments.”
Whoops. Hold on there, pardner. Is there “a fundamental physical problem” or isn’t there?
“Making investments will get us to a certain level, but not beyond,” he said. “You can’t get to 90% renewables [Vermont’s goal for the year 2050] with today’s physics. You can go higher than we are now, but there will be a cost.”
Ah, it’s becoming clear now. Hallquist’s clarion call about the grid’s absolute limitations won’t become critical until a few more decades have passed. Given the present pace of technological change, that’s a long, long time. And his shorter-term concern is simply about cost.
Which ignores the far greater costs of continued dependence on fossil fuels. Indeed, when asked, Hallquist endorsed a carbon emissions tax as the best way to correct the imbalances of the energy market, and bring the cost of fossil fuels in line with the cost of renewables.
By the end of the hearing, which only took about half an hour, Hallquist was agreeing with Klein on the way forward: “These problems need to be solved in order to get to our goal. You should keep the pressure on to solve them.”
The best way to “keep the pressure on”? Continue to build renewables. Force the system to adapt and make the necessary investments to facilitate a clean-energy future.
Simple. Not sure what the fuss was all about, though.
And thank you.
A new study from the mid-Atlantic grid found that nearly all coal and fossil fuel powered plants can be replaced with renewables in that region, with almost no backup storage needed:
Perhaps our friends at ISO should climb out of their cozy fossil-fuel financed bed, and make a visit to the Mid Atlantic grid to talk with the study’s creators. It seems they might learn a thing or two.
To say that VEC has an “all out opposition to wind projects” is false. If you click on the link in the article above it will show that we are opposed to additional projects in the Northeast Kingdom, due to transmission constraints.
To say that VELCO has not said anything about critical grid problems interfering with renewables is also a mis-characterization. VELCO has been very clear (including in their presentation to the committee) that, while additional projects may be able to connect to the grid in the Northeast Kingdom, it does not mean that they will be able to produce power. Additional projects in the Northeast Kingdom will negatively impact existing projects.
VEC has been a leader in the state implementing SPEED qualified resources (they technically cannot be called renewable). While VEC is stating that the ability to add additional wind and solar in the Northeast Kingdom is limited, we are agressively looking at up to 5 Megawatts of solar in Grand Isle, as that system does have additional capability.
VEC’s job is to make sure we inform legislators as to what we believe are the issues and costs related to their decisions, while representing our members. To characterize my agreement with Tony at the end of the presentation as a retreat is also a mischaracterization. VEC members number one concern is the cost of their power (rates). VEC is also a good citizen in that VEC will respect any regulatory or legislative requirements. My acknowledgement that pressure is required to make change recognizes that I respect the difficult job that of our elected representatives have.
The grid is an unstable system and is very complicated. It is dificult to discuss the electrical issues in short forums. For those interested, I have created a link to what I handed out at the committee hearing – http://www.evernote.com/shard/…
I also encourage you to come to the VEC annual meeting to be held at Smugglers Notch Resort on May 18. I will be presenting more details about what it will take to move to a greener portfolio and answer questions. I promise it will be an interesting discussion.