More US power transmission critical to energy transition: trade group leader

To accelerate renewable energy deployment and fund next-generation energy solutions, the US needs a heavy focus on building more transmission and natural gas-fired power generation over the short term before phasing it out longer term, an energy trade group executive said Sept. 26.

Having adequate power transmission infrastructure is becoming a health and safety issue as much as an economic one as climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather events, Jason Grumet, CEO of US renewable energy trade group American Clean Power, said during an energy forum hosted by Foreign Policy and held at the United Nations General Assembly and remotely. The event was part of Climate Week NYC.

"First and foremost, we have to be very concerned about power being knocked out for millions of people," Grumet said.

In addition to economic harm, people have died under these circumstances in recent years while right next door, others had plenty of power, he said.

The US does not have the ability to move power around the country. Having 10 power regions or markets "is profoundly unsafe and undermines the clean energy transition," he said.

"It's as idiotic to think we can have a clean energy future without transmission as it is to think we can have electric vehicles without sufficient charging infrastructure," Grumet said.

Asked about the top priority, he said more transmission is needed. He said the great thing about wind and solar power is it lands in rural parts of the nation. But while there are lots of little transmission lines around cities, "we don't have the ability to move it long distances to where people need it," he said.

A call for faster renewable energy growth

Renewable energy is expanding in the US, but it needs to grow faster, Grumet said. Of the power moved onto the grid last year, 70% was renewable, and the country needs to triple the speed of deployment, he said, adding that it is all about speed and scale. To do that, "we have the technology and capital but not the governance," he said.

In response to a question about governance needs, Grumet pointed to the Inflation Reduction Act, the bones of which "were collaborative."

The IRA provides a wave of tax credits and incentives to a wide range of renewable energy related and other businesses.

He said 80% of the IRA's benefits are landing in Republican districts, a point other speakers have made during climate week.

The optics of the bill were partisan, but that seems to be fading because money is going to Republican districts and climate change is becoming more of a concern, Grumet said.

"We don't think the IRA will be ripped up," he said, but supply chains and dealing with China remain major challenges for the renewable energy industry.

Asked to clarify, he said it will be a challenge to bring manufacturing back to the US, though not impossible, as the country is not going to give up on improving technology. Hundreds of new US manufacturing sites are opening, he said.

Future of fossil fuel-fired power generation

Asked about how to maintain momentum behind the energy transition, Grumet said that every part of the country will have to modernize with new industries.

Two-thirds of all clean power deployed in the US last year was initiated by companies that have fossil fuel assets, he said, adding that one of the toughest challenges will be investing in incremental natural gas-fired generation for the next 20 years or so and then having to get away from it due to emissions reasons.

Power grid operators like PJM Interconnection have been raising concerns about the pace of power plant retirements, many of them coal-fired, as power demand is growing for the first time in decades, driven by data centers, AI and electrification efforts.

A recent PJM study determined that multiday dispatchable resources are needed and that gas-fired resources are the most likely resource to fill that role. If the current gas-fired power fleet remains unchanged, "or decreases due to regulatory pressures, but additional storage resources do not get built at pace, immense pressure will be placed on natural gas to supply the ramping needs for the system," PJM said.

PJM's August power generation fuel mix consisted of about 43% gas and 17% coal. The resource mix in New York and New England is about 60% gas and dual fuel resources that primarily run on gas with a backup fuel like oil.

Grumet pointed out that many utilities with fossil fuels in their portfolios are also focusing on green power.

Regarding the debate over fossil fuels versus renewable energy, "some people like the fight more than finding a solution," he said.