The first Quadrennial Energy Review cover
Editor’s note: The Department of Energy released its Quadrennial Energy Review (QER), which explores options for modernizing the nation’s energy grid in a secure and cost-competitive manner. It also identifies vulnerabilities in the system and proposes policy recommendations and investments to replace and expand infrastructure where appropriate. Links to the review’s summary and full report can be found here.
The American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) CEO Tom Kiernan has offered the following statement in regards to the QER…
“The administration’s Quadrennial Energy Review highlights the importance of electricity transmission, to bringing our power grid into the 21st century, and saving consumers money by making renewable energy more widely available. Wind energy is ready to scale-up now, with another recent Department of Energy report showing we can double wind-generated electricity in the next five years. After all, in the last five years the cost of wind energy has dropped by 58%. By adding more transmission, as today’s report recommends, we can tap more of this made-in-the-USA supply of energy. Such grid upgrades more than pay for themselves by reducing electricity costs and improving electric reliability for consumers.
“The report also highlights how operating reforms would let us use the existing grid more efficiently, again benefiting consumers and enabling the integration of more renewable energy. Congress can do its part by reasonably extending the renewable energy Production Tax Credit this year for as long as possible. With stable policy, we can keep improving our technology, lowering costs, adding jobs, and helping keep the U.S. on track to a cleaner, more diverse energy portfolio.”
For more on the QER from the wind industry’s perspective, including resources and excerpts, please see Senior Director of Research Michael Goggin’s article on the AWEA blog.
AWEA
www.awea.org
Filed Under: Policy
