Renewable Energy Integration Costs: Who Pays and How Much?

Over the past decade major public policy concerns over the environment, national security, the economy, and climate change have converged, creating significant pressure to reform America’s energy system. The result has been a tremendous increase in the use of renewable energy sources with growth only expected to accelerate. This new development represents a radical shift for a nation whose electricity system was built to run on fossil fuels and hydroelectric dams. The electricity grid is a complex interconnected system requiring constant balancing of supply and demand. Using new intermittent technologies like solar and wind requires changes in grid management to maintain a constant energy balance in real-time. This comment analyzes proposed solutions for the integration of renewable resources into the electricity grid, and the legal and regulatory steps required to achieve this integration