ELECTRICITY IN MANY WAYS is the key to the region’s climate change plans – bulk up and decarbonize the New England power grid and then use the green electricity to move cars, trucks, and heating systems off of fossil fuels.
It sounds like a solid plan, but this winter Massachusetts and the rest of New England are moving in the opposite direction. Instead of producing more and more carbon-free electricity, the region is suddenly relying on higher carbon-emitting fuels to generate its power.
In January, oil accounted for 12 percent of the region’s fuel mix for producing electricity, an astounding percentage given that oil had never risen above 1 percent for more than a year. Even coal showed up in January, producing 1.7 percent of the region’s electricity.
Gordon van Welie, the president and CEO of ISO-New England, the region’s power grid operator, sent a letter to industry officials and state energy leaders on Monday raising alarms about the adequacy of electricity supplies in New England and warning that the transition to clean energy isn’t happening fast enough.
“The clean energy transition is a long journey and we cannot escape the reality that the region will be reliant on much of the existing fleet, and the fuels they utilize, for many years to come,” he wrote.
His statement landed like a thud in the middle of a simmering policy debate between those who insist the region can and must quickly shed its reliance on fossil fuels, particularly natural gas, and those who believe natural gas is a bridge fuel to a renewable future.
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Editor, CommonWealth
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
The tension between the conflicting views – and the resulting policy stalemates – has left the region in a vulnerable position. New England doesn’t yet have enough carbon-free options – nuclear power plants, offshore wind, and hydroelectricity – to power the grid without natural gas. And it doesn’t have enough pipeline capacity to provide enough natural gas to power the grid during extended cold periods in the winter.
Van Welie said in his letter the region narrowly avoided rolling brownouts last month because the weather cooperated. He worries that the region may not be so lucky in the future.
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