Any one of these issues is enough to seriously affect the reliability of electric service. But all of these scenarios are playing out simultaneously across the nation, and a perfect storm may be on the horizon.Dispatchable sources of generating electricity such as coal and nuclear power are being retired far too early. Their generation capacity is being replaced by intermittent sources of generation like wind and solar.
Iowa’s electric cooperatives use dispatchable sources of power such as coal and natural gas because they can control the output and ramp up generation when needed to match sudden increases in demand. But our ability to provide reliable electricity is in jeopardy. We believe this proposal will further strain our country’s electric grid and undermine decades of work to reliably keep the lights on across the nation.
It’s imperative that policymakers work to prioritize reliability in every energy policy discussion. Federal policies must recognize the compromised reliability reality facing the nation before it’s too late.