A closer look at the grid: Balancing supply and demand
Part 1: Introducing a new educational industry series from your CEO
By CEO Matt Berry, appearing in Ohio Cooperative Living magazine May 2022
Over the next few months, I’ll use this column to talk about some serious stuff that’s happening in our industry. Things that are making matters worse, when it comes to our goal of providing affordable and reliable electricity. Most of these things are coming at us from state or national political leaders, regulatory agencies, or environmental activists. They are complicated subjects with many different arguments, and even spreading it out over a few months won’t do it justice.
But it’s my job to try to communicate this to you. And it’s your job, as an owner of your electric cooperative, to be informed and involved.
YouTube channel Real Engineering calls the electric grid “the biggest machine in the world.” The U.S. National Academy of Engineering named it “the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century.”
With so much riding on electricity, shouldn’t we be more careful then when we’re talking about completely changing the makeup of the grid? Electricity affects quality of life, economic development, health and wealth, education, productivity, comfort, and so much more.
Electric service is instantaneous. Any electricity you’re using right now is being generated at this same exact moment. As a result, the electric system has to be built large enough to meet the biggest demand at any one time. Supply must be kept in constant balance with demand.
To maintain that balancing act, power providers must be responsive, forecasting the next day’s energy use and carefully managing energy generation every minute. If demand exceeds supply, that would lead to damaging dips in voltage, brownouts or blackouts.
As one example of how bad energy policy can have serious consequences, consider California. California relies more on wind and solar than any other state. During summer 2020, the solar panels and wind turbines that make up about 30% of California’s energy mix stopped generating electricity; supply couldn’t keep up with demand. Grid operators had to shut off power to millions of people. In a heat wave.
By the way, California – with the most wind and solar – has the highest electricity rates in the nation.
And there’s Texas, which has moved considerably to wind power in recent years, providing 20% of the state’s power. A number of coal power plants have been shut down, now coal only accounts for 17% of Texas’ power. More natural gas power plants have been built, with that fuel providing 52% of electricity.
A winter freeze hit Texas in February 2021. More than 240 people died due to power blackouts. Many factors contributed to the Texas blackouts, and all forms of power generation share in the blame. But industry experts say the significant penetration of an unreliable, intermittent electricity source (wind) was a leading cause of the blackouts. At the very least, this incident shows the seriousness of state and federal energy policy.
With coal, we can ride out the storms. But if you rely on natural gas to generate electricity, the infrastructure is not in place to simultaneously supply residential spikes and utility spikes during extreme weather events.
Ohio had 21 coal power plants in 2008. Today, only six remain, and two of those are slated for closure.
The state’s remaining coal fleet without announced closing dates is now projected to shrink to about 5,000 MW by or before the end of 2028. Meanwhile, the state has seen a flurry of applications to build large solar projects. The Ohio Power Siting Board last month had 7,783 MW of solar projects in its regulatory pipeline, almost all of which had applications pending before the effective date of a new siting law that is expected to complicate future projects.
“The end of coal is on the horizon,” said Neil Waggoner, Ohio representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. “We have passed the point of no return.”
That’s an interesting quote. But here’s another to consider:
“I love renewables. But I am also pro-arithmetic,” David J.C. Mackay, physicist, University of Cambridge.
I hope you’ll stay tuned to this column the next few months as we examine the energy industry and its impact on humanity. Please see the next issue of Ohio Cooperative Living magazine (mailed to all members every month) for a sneak peek of the column before it's posted online here on our website.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IN THE SERIES
