On Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, members of the Pennsylvania Senate and the Ohio General Assembly held a hearing on energy reliability, sustainability and affordability.
Pennsylvania Sen. Gene Yaw (R-23rd District) said the hearing consisted of two panels focusing on state and national energy impacts as well as on consumer and generational impacts. The legislators heard from power grid management organization PJM, as well as the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and other energy industry experts.
“Grid stability requires a diverse energy portfolio and actions taken by any one state can have resounding and immediate impacts on neighboring states,” Yaw said. “I’m thankful to our neighbors in Ohio for recognizing the urgency of this issue and joining with me to proactively protect our region’s families and businesses from catastrophic rolling blackouts and skyrocketing costs.”
During the hearing PJM estimated that 20 percent of its existing capacity will retire by 2030. Previously, industry officials had testified that PJM was not going to have sufficient power to meet consumer demands. Legislators agreed the lack of power would likely result in increased prices, blackout risks and energy use restrictions.
“These hearings are intended to elevate the urgency of lost generation through the early forced retirement of our existing fossil fuel fleet and the rapidly growing need for additional, affordable generation,” Ohio Rep. Dick Stein (R-54), chairman of the Ohio House Public Utilities Committee, said. “I hope that together, government at all levels will work to solve this upcoming crisis to avoid a life-threatening catastrophic failure to our grid.”
Additionally, industry representatives said Ohio and Pennsylvania, two of the largest power producers in PJM’s footprint, would play a key role in maintaining energy reliability during the energy transition.
“Pennsylvania and Ohio should be applauded for their collective work to address regional reliability issues in PJM,” Glen Thomas, president of GT Power Group, said. “Recent orders from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) show that the concerns of these two states which make up the lion’s share of the power production and consumption in PJM are being heard. It is important that Pennsylvania and Ohio maintain their vigilance and engagement on these issues so effective, market-based solutions to the looming reliability challenges can be put be in place.”