Leaders of the nation’s complex power grid told lawmakers during a hearing Tuesday that maintaining, and even increasing, fossil fuel generation in the country is essential to ensuring that consumers’ lights stay on in the next decade and beyond.
A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee questioned representatives from all seven of the nation’s regional transmission organizations. They said the rise of renewable energy sources like wind and solar is not enough to address surging demand.
“I want to be clear, renewable generators play an important role and we want them to come onto the grid, but they are not a one-for-one substitute for the fossil fuel generators that we are replacing,” said Manu Asthana, CEO of PJM Interconnection, which manages the grid for Washington and surrounding states in the Mid-Atlantic.
The overwhelming consensus among grid leaders fits snugly with the views of Republicans, who have argued that Biden administration climate policies, combined with a surge in demand from operations such as artificial intelligence data centers, are pushing the nation into a reliability crisis.
