Opinion/George: Concerns over region's power supply and outages are justified
Anne C. George is ISO New England’s vice president of external affairs and corporate communications.
A recent piece from the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) propagates inaccuracies and mischaracterizations about ISO New England and the regional power system ("17 years and still waiting for fixes to New England power grid," Commentary, Sept. 25). Spreading falsehoods about the very real reliability risks facing New England does nothing to solve them.
Even after the ISO has corrected their misstatements, CLF feels compelled to further its baseless claim that because the region has not seen widespread controlled power outages, they won’t happen. This argument is as specious as it is illogical. Texas, which experienced widespread outages in 2021, hadn’t seen the type of power stress they saw until they did. As we saw there and other parts of the country, the past simply is not prologue, and we would be derelict if we did not speak up when we have concerns.
For those not familiar with ISO New England, we are the independent nonprofit entity responsible for maintaining a reliable power system for New England’s 15 million residents. We do this by operating of the region’s bulk power grid, administering the region’s wholesale markets, and by planning for the future. We do not own, operate, or develop energy infrastructure. We do not have any financial stake in the electricity markets.
We’re regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and conduct our work in accordance with federal law, which requires wholesale electricity markets to be open to all types of resources that can generate power or reduce demand, such as energy efficiency.
For the past two decades, ISO New England has raised concerns about fuel supply issues and their impact on electricity supply during periods of extreme cold weather. We have explained there are insufficient natural gas pipelines in the region to support both electricity and home heating in these times. We have explained that when these constraints materialize, many generators must turn to an increasingly volatile global supply chain for liquefied natural gas or oil to produce electricity.
The war in Ukraine has created even more competition for these fuels and raised concerns that there will not be sufficient supplies in New England to meet demand during extended cold spells.
As active industry participants, CLF understands this and yet continues to promote without evidence that there will be clean energy resources available quickly enough and in sufficient quantities to solve the immediate challenges we face. Renewables will help once built, but developing large energy projects in New England remains difficult. Dating back to Cape Wind and Northern Pass, the region has seen fully-funded projects felled by permitting and legal issues. More recently, offshore wind projects have faced delays, while the fate of a proposed transmission line in Maine remains in doubt.
Waving away these concerns, as CLF and others like to do, is reckless and dangerous. Ensuring the power system remains reliable as we decarbonize requires confronting hard truths and making tough choices.
ISO New England and utilities around the region recently issued a statement about the region’s reliance on imported LNG and the need to reduce our dependence as soon as possible, but this move must be done in a reliable manner – because when reliability suffers, the clean energy transition suffers.
To fight climate change, New England needs a steady hand focused on a reliable clean energy transition. We’re proud to play that role.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: George: Concerns over region's power supply and outages are justified
