Seventeen Pennsylvania State legislators urged PJM Interconnection LLC to tread carefully before embracing proposals that they say could jeopardize energy reliability and affordability across the grid operator’s region.
“Competitive energy markets have delivered reliable, affordable power to millions of PJM consumers for decades,” said PA State Sen. Gene Yaw (R-23), chairman of the State Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, who led an Oct. 14 letter sent to Manu Asthana, president and CEO of PJM Interconnection.
“State mandates and artificial price controls distort those markets, discourage investment and ultimately drive-up costs,” Yaw said. “PJM should remain focused on preserving the current structure and reject these misguided and short-sighted recommendations that undermine reliability and affordability.”
Yaw’s letter — signed by 16 of his Republican state colleagues — responds to the Sept. 29 “Supporting Resource Adequacy and Affordability in the PJM Region” sign-on letter from 107 legislators from states in PJM’s service territory who urged PJM to use all tools available to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy ahead of the phase-out of federal tax incentives.
“Our region faces a capacity and affordability crisis as demand continues to rise and new generation is slow to come online,” wrote the members from the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators in their letter. “It is essential that PJM removes barriers that encumber wind and solar energy — currently the fastest and cheapest energy sources to deploy — and do so in a timeline that enables more projects to qualify for federal tax incentives before they expire.”
However, in their Oct. 14 letter, the PA lawmakers expressed “strong reservations” about such recommendations, warning they could lead to distorted energy markets, higher costs for consumers, and reduced grid stability.
“We urge PJM to avoid overcommitting to the policies and requests laid out there without deeper analysis, stakeholder input, and safeguards,” the lawmakers wrote.
Among their chief concerns is what they described as preferential treatment for wind, solar, and other intermittent energy sources.
While the PA legislators acknowledged the role of renewables in a diversified energy portfolio, they argued those resources cannot provide the baseload power needed to ensure reliability.
“While wind, solar and other intermittent sources of energy have a place in our energy portfolio, they are not capable of baseload power generation or on-demand energy delivery,” the PA lawmakers wrote. “Pursuing the policies requested by the signatories would result in moving actual baseload energy projects — namely natural gas, coal and potentially nuclear (small modular reactors) — to the back of the line.
“It would prioritize energy sources incapable of fulfilling PJM’s core mission of reliable and resilient energy sources over those capable of fulfilling it,” they added.
The PA lawmakers also questioned claims that wind and solar are the “fastest and cheapest energy sources to deploy,” pointing to their reliance on federal subsidies.
Additionally, they called on PJM to remain “fuel agnostic” and prioritize projects based on their capacity to deliver reliable, on-demand energy.
Another major issue PA lawmakers raised was PJM’s interconnection queue, and they noted that too many intermittent projects with uncertain financial viability are tying up review time without ever reaching completion.
“PJM should prioritize projects based on their capacity factor to operate and deliver energy to the grid and should implement rigorous project feasibility standards before evaluating them in the queue,” wrote Yaw and his colleagues. “Too many intermittent projects which would add little cumulative generation capacity to the grid — and which were never on solid financial ground — consume PJM review time only to never come to fruition for reasons that have nothing to do with the PJM review process.”
In sum, they wrote, while energy deployment is a vital goal, it must proceed with prudence, accountability, and a strong commitment to reliability and affordability.
“We urge PJM not to adopt the sign-on letter’s proposals across-the-board, without deeper analysis and protective guardrails,” wrote the PA lawmakers.