Thomas Pyle’s “The Price Tag For Uprooting America’s Electric Grid” (Aug. 10) addresses only the costs of power generation. Other significant costs include transmission, distribution, control, etc. Costs aside, the goal of the EPA is unattainable. The compliance plans are due in a year, carbon reductions by 2022. The rush to comply will irreparably damage the power grid.
Our electric power system took a century to develop, with very conservative and reliable design. The rapid changes demanded by the EPA include newly dispersed solar and wind generation, and closing old plants. This will severely impact the transmission system and power-grid controls, as well as power generation. We have already seen the early ill effects of EPA power regulations.
The new wind and solar plants will need an unproven “intelligent network” to manage their intermittent power flows. Most of these plants, as well as new “clean” gas plants, will need new transmission lines and equipment. Planning, approval and construction of power plants and transmission lines often takes 8-15 years. Environmental and legal challenges will further lengthen this lead time.
The EPA plan was created by politicians and unelected bureaucrats with no engineering knowledge. Power engineers know that the plan cannot succeed. Even if it was successfully implemented the plan would have a negligible effect on global CO2 emissions or temperature.
The stability of our reliable and economical power system will be put at great risk by the radical EPA plan. After the EPA and Obama administration folks are long gone, we will all suffer with much more costly, unreliable electricity. Could the real EPA goal be to exert even more federal government control over all aspects of our economy? I am shocked, shocked!
Jon Paul, MSEE
See the article here.