Green energy companies, eco activists cry foul following grid operator’s bid to improve energy reliability

A group of renewable energy developers and environmental activists are pushing the largest U.S. grid operator to abandon its proposal to prevent energy shortfalls, according to a letter released Tuesday.

Hundreds of millions of Americans are at risk of experiencing power shortages this winter as data centers have helped drive a surge in electricity demand, with grid unreliability causing grid operator PJM to propose a fast-tracked process for 50 additional power plants to connect to the system. Now, a group of unnamed green energy producers are pushing the grid operator to abandon the effort, issuing a letter to PJM and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that suggests there isn’t a clear “emergency and reliability imperative” for boosting reliability and that the initiative wouldn’t hold up in court.

“The proposal is a blatant attempt to perpetrate undue discrimination and preference,” the letter states. “PJM management has acted as if there is an emergency and reliability imperative, but PJM has never defined ‘the need’ it must address.”

Like New England, the PJM grid from IL to NJ is generating very little electricity from wind and has had to resort to burning oil

In both places it’s the same reason: pro-scarcity climate activists have created a scarcity of reliable energy supplies pic.twitter.com/WIZdCZWwA7

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) December 24, 2022

The initiative entitled the “Reliability Resource Initiative (RRI): Interim Accelerated Interconnection Process,” would allow up to 50 new generation projects to be connected to the grid alongside a slew of previously approved power facilities, according to the most recent version of the PJM proposal. The queue of already approved projects is made up almost entirely of green energy sources, which PJM notes are “intermittent and limited-duration resources,” and thus multiple megawatts of renewable power are needed to replace one megawatt of fossil fuel power.

In addition to the slew of renewable energy companies, environmental activist groups have also come out in opposition to the RRI, with attorneys for the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, PennFuture, and Earthjustice telling E&E News, “RRI is unjust and unreasonable as it retroactively changes the terms for projects that have been waiting years in the interconnection queue, and is unduly discriminatory against certain technologies.”

American energy demand could exceed supply before the end of the decade, with an October report from consultancy Bain finding utilities may need to increase their annual power generation by as much as 26% by 2028. A study from grid watchdog the North American Electric Reliability Corporation found the shortfall was largely driven by Democratic green energy mandates.

PJM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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