NRECA CEO Warns That U.S. Must Upgrade Electric Infrastructure

Bret Baier of Fox News recently interviewed NRECA CEO Jim Matheson for a report looking at growing pressure on the electric grid. Matheson called for loosening restrictions on new power plants, including solar and wind generation facilities. While there may not be a danger of widespread brownouts and blackouts in the near term, “the trend continues to move in a direction of greater risk of outages every year,” he said.

“We take it for granted in this country, compared to the rest of the world, the lights come on whenever you flip the switch … but we’re seeing that it’s starting to fray,” he said. He pointed to current policies that are affecting electric supply.

The first step, he said, is to change Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations that are forcing the power plants to close and delaying creation of new generation. “It’s really hard to build something in this country these days. We’re at a point where we’re reducing supply, and public policy, in terms of the permitting world, doesn’t allow us to build new resources,” Matheson said.

Last month, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) released its 2023 Summer Reliability Assessment. It found that most of the continental United States, including all territory west of the Mississippi River, is at an “elevated potential for insufficient operating reserves in above-normal conditions.” Those areas will be especially vulnerable to outages.

New EPA rules that went into effect earlier this year are among the factors NERC lists for energy supply shortages. The rules “limit the operation of coal-fired generators in 23 states, including Nevada, Utah, and several states in the Gulf Coast, mid-Atlantic, and Midwest,” according to the report.

“This report is an especially dire warning that America’s ability to keep the lights on has been jeopardized,” Matheson said soon after NERC released its findings.

Matheson during the Fox News report acknowledged that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 provides funding that could improve the situation through by helping utilities harden against outages during weather events. Funds from the act would go toward updating technologies and transmission lines and promote clean energy. NRTC is actively helping its members implement technologies for reliability and resilience.