Washington, D.C. – The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), one of the nation’s largest electric grid operators, is tasked with overseeing the reliability of its 15-state electricity grid. Earlier this week, MISO released its 2024 Regional Resource Assessment (RRA). The RRA projects how the mix of electric generating resources in the MISO region will need to change over the next two decades in order to meet state green energy goals. In response, America’s Power issued the following statement by Michelle Bloodworth, President and CEO:
“This new report shows how unrealistic and impractical state green energy goals are because the MISO region would need to add 180,000 megawatts of new electricity sources over the next 20 years to meet these goals and satisfy new electricity demand. To put this into perspective, this means that every year for 20 years, MISO states would have to build the equivalent of 17 new nuclear reactors or site and build more than 5,000 new wind turbines. Not only are these state goals unrealistic, they are also dangerous because they will make it increasingly impossible to maintain a reliable and affordable supply of electricity, especially in light of the large number of coal plants that are expected to retire over the next few years.
“There are two things we must do going forward. The first is for states to abandon or drastically scale back their unrealistic green energy goals. The second is for utility commissions and utilities to stop retiring coal plants and other dispatchable resources. Both steps are necessary and reasonable if we want to provide enough dependable electricity to power new data centers, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and electric vehicles.”