Our electricity grid is bending
For the past two years, New England has seen its energy rates rise from
3.6 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2012 to 5.6 cents in 2013 — more than a
50 percent increase. New England ratepayers paid an additional $3
billion for the energy we consumed last winter and as a result of
capacity shortages in the most recent auction we will be doling out an
additional $1.8 billion in payments to generators just to be available.
The
regional organization that oversees our energy grid, ISO-New England,
has repeatedly warned us of our overreliance on natural gas for
electricity generation, which currently accounts for more than half of
our capacity. Add to that 8,000 megawatts of expected-to-retire
generation over the next decade and New England is looking at a real
future capacity shortfall — a gap that all of the energy efficiency,
conservation and demand response in the world won’t be able to close.
http://www.timesargus.com/article/20140903/OPINION04/709039959
Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire - Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry. Nuclear Activities
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