The Subcommittee on Energy and Power, chaired by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) on March 4 held a hearing on “The 21st Century Electricity Challenge: Ensuring a Secure, Reliable and Modern Electricity System.” A strong electricity system is critical to our economic and national security, and today’s hearing focused on efforts to modernize the nation’s electric grid to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century.
“The challenges are significant – much of our grid is outdated, coal-fired generation facilities are shutting down at an alarming rate, reserve margins are inadequate in several regions, intermittent and remote renewable capacity is coming online, and cyber threats pose a growing concern,” said Chairman Whitfield. “But there are opportunities as well. Utilities plan to invest more than $60 billion in transmission infrastructure through 2024 to modernize the nation’s electric grid, while abundant fuel resources and advanced generation, storage, and distribution management technologies can help modernize and diversify the nation’s power portfolio. Further, ‘big data’ energy analytics and new information technologies offer a diverse suite of novel products and services that can identify and mitigate inefficiencies in the electricity supply chain while helping utilities meet changing consumer expectations.”
Thomas Siebel, Chairman and CEO of C3 Energy, spoke about the potential benefits of advanced grid technologies. “Smart grid analytics enables us to provide real-time pricing signals to energy consumers, manage sophisticated energy efficiency and demand response programs, conserve energy use, reduce the fuel necessary to power the grid, reconfigure the power network around points of failure, recover instantly from power interruptions, accurately predict load and distributed generation capacity, rapidly recover from damage inflicted by weather events and system failures, prevent cyber attacks, and reduce adverse environmental impact,” said Siebel.
Dean Kamen, Founder and President DEKA Research & Development Corporation, explained the dramatic changes occurring in our electricity system and the integration challenges ahead, stating, “In recent years there has been a great deal of innovation with distributed generation and renewable, smart grid technologies, as well as energy storage systems. While these technologies offer a promising future for the U.S. electric system, our collective immediate challenge is to develop the appropriate business models and regulatory structures to effectively manage the integration of modern technologies while ensuring the continued operation and viability of our nation’s electric grid. As we evolve toward a more diverse electric future enabled by new technologies, the challenge confronting this committee and our country is to manage this transition in a way that does not endanger the availability of electricity.”
Michael Atkinson, President of Alstom Grid, Inc., urged Congress to act quickly to address regulatory barriers to grid innovation and adoption. “We are facing an unprecedented period in which we are encountering a range of driving forces that are affecting our grid, including an increasingly digital economy and a convergence of new technologies, as well as cybersecurity and other threats to our grid system,” said Atkinson. “Unless we prepare now, our system could be vulnerable and might not adequately cope with challenges that already are being experienced. Additionally, we could lose significant economic opportunities and benefits. Congress can play a leadership role in helping to set the stage for ensuring and accelerating this transformation by fostering even greater collaboration between federal, state, and local governments, the private sector, and the entire ecosystem of stakeholders.”
General Manager of Lakeland Electric Joel Ivy, testifying on behalf of the American Public Power Association, also discussed some of the challenges to deploying advanced grid technologies, including the need to address cyber threats. He explained, "The threat of cyber attack is relatively new compared to long-known physical threats, but an attack with operational consequences could occur and cause disruptions in the flow of power if malicious actors are able to hack into data overlays used in some electric generation and transmission infrastructure. While APPA believes that the industry itself, with NERC, has made great strides in addressing cyber-security threats, vulnerabilities, and potential emergencies, we recognize that any true national emergency will warrant involvement from many federal entities.”