<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/we-need-renewables-and-storage-now-to-cut-costs-and-grow-economy-says-us-energy-giant/>
"The head of one of the biggest energy companies in the United States says more
renewables and storage are desperately needed to meet the country’s growing
energy demand and cut energy prices, and warns the US will face a power crisis
if their rollout is stopped.
“Our scale and experience tells us that all forms of power generation and
capacity will be needed as the U.S. tries to keep up with demand,” said John
Ketchum, the chief executive of NextEra Energy.
“And that same scale and experience also tells us that renewables and storage
should continue to be a critical source of new energy and capacity across the
country because they are lowest cost and can be deployed now.”
The assessment is in direct contrast to the policy position of the new Trump
administration, which has vowed to “drill, drill, drill”, slow down and even
stop the rollout of new wind and solar projects, and has withdrawn from the
Paris climate treaty.
Trump has justified those actions by dismissing climate science as a “scam” and
arguing – against all evidence – that fossil fuels are cheaper. Ketchum says
that is not so.
“We need low cost reliable energy that can also deliver the capacity needed to
support grid, and we need it now. Cost, capacity and speed are the 3 big issues
that need to be addressed in meeting power demand. And as we have demonstrated
in Florida, a mix of new renewables, storage and gas generation is the
solution.”
NextEra is in a good place to make such a judgement. It owns Florida Power and
Light, the largest electric utility in the US., and its Energy Resources
division is a world leader in renewables and storage.
It operates the largest gas-fired generation fleet in the US and it is also one
of the largest nuclear operators in the country, and it has a big investment in
transmission.
It has invested more than $US150 billion in the last decade in wind, solar,
battery storage, transmission, gas and nuclear upgrades, and plans to invest
another $US120 billion over the next four years, taking its total capacity to
more than 120 gigawatts, about twice the size of Australia’s main grid."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
