New Jersey, don’t waste time, public money attacking conventional energy companies

NJ.com – December 14, 2023
By Rich Henning

As New Jersey and our nation prepare for a clean-energy future, a critical component is missing: Ensuring that we have a properly and orderly planned transition to the future that includes exacting power standards set by the teams responsible for our nation’s electric grid.

Many New Jersey residents are unaware that America’s power grid is a highly fragmented system and consists of not one, but three main sections and many regional subgrids. Oversight of our nation’s grid is the responsibility of a patchwork of federal and state authorities.

Our nation’s grid is a vast network of power plants, transmission lines, and distribution centers. It must constantly balance the supply and demand for the energy that powers everything from industry to household appliances. Out of sight for most people, the grid usually only comes to public attention because of large-scale failures, such as the blackouts that struck Texas in early 2021 or the rolling brownouts in California during the summer.

We already know that the rise of renewable energy and the ability of individual homes and businesses to produce their own power has placed our traditional grid under increasing pressure. It is losing customers at the same time that its aging infrastructure requires a major — and expensive — overhaul. Further complicating the issue is the limited number of government standards to integrate new, clean technologies, including hydrogen, solar and wind.

As our state lawmakers work on energy legislation during this lame-duck period, designed to ensure all of New Jersey’s electricity comes from emission-free energy by 2035, any resulting laws may be inconsistent with other parts of the regional and national power grid, comprising 120,000 miles of power lines operated by 500 companies.

According to grid operators, the increased use of renewable energy sources poses significant challenges, such as the variability of the wind and sunlight that make forecasting the supply and demand of electricity more difficult. The increasing number of households installing their own energy sources also presents issues.

That is a major reason why New Jersey’s electric utilities are installing “smart grid” technologies, which refers to technologies that allow for greater responsiveness in connecting power producers and consumers. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, which has made building a smart grid a national policy goal, it comprises “digital technology that allows for two-way communication between the utility and its customers,” as well as sensing along transmission lines.

The nation’s grid operators are calling for patience and the adoption of precise and exacting standards while moving into this new world of innovative technology and power electronics. In fact, they agree on making sure that we invest in both new clean energy technologies while also investing in the resources we are using right now.

Translation: the implementation of new, clean energy policy in New Jersey and our nation will take years – further away than 2035.

It is past time that we heed energy experts who are calling for a carefully coordinated approach of universal standards by all grid operators — perhaps overseen by a nationwide gas commission much like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has primary authority over electric power generation and transmission across the United States — ensuring the viability of clean energy across the board.

And these same energy experts say we must protect our current resources, including natural gas, renewable gas, and hydrogen, as a vital power resource for today and tomorrow, to back up to whatever clean energy technologies are eventually introduced. Just as importantly, government must step up its support for the traditional energy producers whose infrastructure we rely upon.

As we focus on the future, we shouldn’t be wasting time and public dollars attacking the key source of energy in New Jersey now. Instead, government and energy producers should pursue common goals, with feasible legislation, working hand-in-hand toward a zero-carbon future.

As a statewide trade association for investor-owned utilities, the New Jersey Utilities Association knows our members touch the lives of nearly every person who lives or works in the state. We also know that time is here for providing real, tangible solutions to a carbon-free future, and welcome working with new Board of Public Utilities President Christine Guhl-Sadovy and her team on making that happen.

Instead of pursuing climate legislative mandates or lawsuits, let’s focus on partnerships to synchronize the timing of new affordable, realistic solutions that will be required to address the many, many challenges involved in reducing carbon in New Jersey. NJUA’s electric and gas companies have the critical funding, knowledge and technology necessary to contribute to that goal.