PJM Engineers Prove AEP CEO Wrong
AEP CEO Mike Morris threw a fit a few months ago about long standing EPA rules that will cause coal-fired power plant closures more quickly than AEP had been planning. Morris threw around all kinds of doomsday forecasts. (I even think he used the words “brownouts and blackouts.”) Morris’s public “trainwreck” comments about the closings’ impact on grid reliability echo the hysterical “brownouts and blackouts” claims AEP spouted to support their PATH project.
Well, Keryn over at StopPATH WV reads PJM documents so the rest of us don’t have to. Look what she found in PJM’s analysis of the situation:
Even with almost 7,000 MW less coal capacity clearing for the 2014/2015 Delivery Year, PJM estimates the RTO will carry a reserve margin of 19.6 percent for the Delivery Year, including the demand and capacity commitments of FRR entities. Even with the potential retirement of coal capacity already announced by FRR entities, there are also announced commitments to replace a portion of that capacity with new gas-fired capacity such that the RTO would still carry a reserve margin at or above of the target 15.3 percent installed reserve margin. Add into the mix the potential for new entry from Demand Resources, as has been the trend in recent years, and resource adequacy does not appear to be threatened.
All this PJM jargon probably gives you a headache, but it’s meaning still shines through. Chill out, Mike. Everything’s gonna be fine.
Hey… I didn’t read the whole thing… I just happened to be trapped at the tractor pull at the fair and had nothing but that report on my blackberry to entertain myself with. It was either PJM’s report, or going to go watch paint dry somewhere. But I will admit to being a geek about FERC filings and hideously boring financial dreck
Guess what’s coming up in two days? PATH’s 2012 PTRR filing (and discovery opens on same). I’m going to have discovery open on three different filings at the same time for the next 2 months. Whee! How times flies when you’re having fun! I will read PATH’s whole 2012 PTRR.
Oh, and I never miss an opportunity to call Mikey on his B.S.
Looks like this woman actually read the report http://cleantechnica.com/2011/08/30/no-risk-from-epa-coal-plant-shutdowns-grid-operator-says/ (or maybe she was sitting next to me at the tractor pull, dunno).