A revealing op-ed from the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, New York’s Near Zombie Apocalypse, serves a stark reminder of the challenges facing America’s energy grid, with vital lessons for Kentucky.
The piece focused on a report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) that detailed the near-catastrophic failure of our nation’s power grid during Winter Storm Elliott last December. It revealed that during the storm, technical failures and fuel shortages led to power outages affecting hundreds of thousands in the southeastern U.S., and that the issue was made worse by the retirement of dependable baseload power plants.
The report by NERC and FERC is a wake-up call that a rushed transition away from time-tested power sources poses grave challenges to grid reliability, especially during extreme weather conditions. As the Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote, “Winter storms happen, but U.S. energy systems are becoming less resilient as coal and nuclear power plants shut down owing to competition from heavily subsidized green energy.”
Rather than forfeiting existing power generation in favor of new and less dependable technologies, Kentucky needs a balanced and diversified energy mix that can withstand extreme weather and technical challenges, and we must ensure that our pursuit of green energy does not compromise the reliability of our power systems. Instead, we should strive for an energy strategy that prioritizes affordability and reliability, ensuring that our communities remain safe and warm, even during the harshest of winters
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