Glenn English talks about Electric Coops
Al Takle - Wednesday, November 09, 2011
On 11/8/2011 I sat in on a webinar “A Legislative & Regulatory Review” with Glenn English, CEO of NRECA. It was a very informative and casual video conference. Glenn covered several issues. Below are some of the highlights.
- He talked about the triangle of issues that must be met by electricity providers. This triangle really struck a chord with me.
When I think about the value proposition for Steffes Heating Systems, or more generically grid-interactive electric thermal storage (GETS), affordability, reliability, and environmental (renewable integration) are it. GETS is the low cost way to increase renewables while maintaining and enhancing reliability.
- Smart Grid: Glenn had an interesting comment on the smart grid. “Coops have been working on the smart grid since before it was called the smart grid”. I found that interesting because I also feel that the grid has been smart for a long time. It is true that grid will need to continue to evolve and become smarter.
- Renewable Energy: He feels that Congress will be cutting tax credits for renewable resources. If states have a large renewable resource standard, their rates will need to increase more quickly.
- Wind Industry: Transmission is the single largest hurtle to developing more wind energy, according to Mr. English. Of course, affordable electric storage would relive the need for more transmission lines.
- Glenn English concluded by saying that the US really needs a nation energy policy. He doesn’t feel that one is forthcoming any time soon.
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Comments
factors of implementation will always be: 1) cost 2) time 3) quality The trouble with the "Smart Grid" is that "Smart" cannot be measured. This project can't be end-result oriented; hence, smart R&D is really not about the Grid. The only way to measure its
success currently is based on how much we can break wind while harvesting people's happy thoughts using sunbeams. It seems that we believe that our money is being best spent finding a way to extract a consistent flow of matter from a holy rock. In the meantime,
we continue to use our energy like there's no tomorrow. Once the tax credits are gone, will this stuff continue to pay for itself? We need a *real* national energy policy.