Last November, America’s Power highlighted a column in West Virginia’s Exponent Telegram explaining the logic behind Senator Joe Manchin’s call to “innovate, not eliminate” any individual generation source on our path towards a carbon-free energy transition. Written by former West Virginia Public Service Commissioner Jon McKinney, the column echoed Sen. Manchin’s long-held concern that a carbon-free grid by 2035 is unrealistic given the lack of both adequate technology advancements and the negative impacts of a rushed transition on electricity costs and grid reliability.
Of course, we are certainly not saying that the grid can never be carbon-free, but the transition needs to be gradual to ensure the power sector is able to maintain consumer access to affordable and reliable electricity. In this new paper, we have outlined the many comments from a variety of highly credible organizations and energy experts who have expressed concerns with the 2035 goal and the significant obstacles that make it unrealistic.
PDF link of the paper can be found here: https://americaspower.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2035-Is-An-Unrealistic-Goal_Quotes-March-17.pdf