Clean power backlog threatens Biden's climate plan

Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation

Jun 01, 2023 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell High-voltage electric transmission lines pass through a wind farm in Spearville, Kan. | Charlie Riedel/AP Photo The nation’s top energy regulator is drafting a plan to get more solar and wind power connected to the electric grid — an issue that Democrats also tried to address in Congress’ wrangling over the federal debt limit. But analysts worry that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s new plan won’t go far enough to ease an unprecedented backlog of projects. The independent agency has proposed an expedited approval process for the zero-carbon energy needed to transition the grid off fossil fuels. Critics contend, however, that it doesn’t meaningfully address the soaring cost of transmission improvements or a shortage of experienced engineers to process the increasing volume of connection requests, writes Miranda Willson. "They're making tweaks at the edges that are not going to get to the heart of this problem," Brett White, a regulatory expert with the energy company Pine Gate Renewables, told Miranda. Why this is a big deal The backlog could imperil President Joe Biden’s goal of cutting power-sector emissions 80 percent by 2030 and reaching net-zero emissions five years later. And without streamlined approvals for projects like cross-country power lines, the generous clean-energy incentives in Biden’s $396 billion climate law may only exacerbate the bottleneck. The country’s power system was designed to accommodate large, centralized power plants. But wind and solar infrastructure is dispersed and decentralized, requiring major transmission lines to reach populated areas. Citing and permitting can take years, to say nothing of the cost. Congress, meanwhile, is moving slowly on the issue. The deal the White House struck with Republicans this week to raise the debt ceiling included some provisions to speed up energy permitting, but left transmission improvements largely untouched (save for a two-year-long study on the issue). These worries are far from new FERC first raised concerns about the then-emerging grid queue in 2007, citing an already large number of zero-carbon energy projects seeking to connect to the U.S. electricity network. More than 15 years later, the agency is still grappling with the issue — except now, the problem is worse, and the stakes are higher, Miranda writes. Over 2,000 gigawatts of solar, wind and battery storage projects are waiting to connect, according to the Energy Department. That’s more power than the country’s current generating capacity, and more than six times larger than the bottleneck was in 2014.   It's Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net.   DON’T MISS POLITICO’S HEALTH CARE SUMMIT: The Covid-19 pandemic helped spur innovation in health care, from the wide adoption of telemedicine, health apps and online pharmacies to mRNA vaccines. But what will the next health care innovations look like? Join POLITICO on Wednesday June 7 for our Health Care Summit to explore how tech and innovation are transforming care and the challenges ahead for access and delivery in the United States. REGISTER NOW.     Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Catherine Morehouse breaks down why powerful officials and advocacy groups are pushing back against a New England grid operator's plan to shore up power reliability during winter. Power Centers A black plume rose over East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 6 after a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern train. | Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo EPA used flawed air monitors in East Palestine During the fiery February train wreck and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, EPA officials repeatedly assured the public that chemical concentrations in the air, water and soil were low and not dangerous, write Ellie Borst and Kevin Bogardus. But records obtained by E&E News show that the detectors EPA used to screen homes may not have been sensitive enough to give an accurate reading of the danger. Riches to rags Republican Gov. Jim Justice was once identified as the only billionaire in West Virginia, but the empire he built on coal has shrunk to a small number of companies beset by lawsuits and struggling to pay their bills, writes Scott Waldman. A flurry of court filings in cases against Justice and his family indicates that his sprawling enterprises are short on cash, with his own lawyers calling them “disorganized.” Carbon removal delays Project Bison, a closely watched Wyoming proposal intended to suck massive quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, is running behind schedule, writes Corbin Hiar. The initial phase of the project was set to come online at the end of this year, but startup CarbonCapture still hasn’t determined where to site its direct air capture plant or how to power it, according to officials involved with the project. In Other News Climate pledges: Hundreds of corporate Amazon workers are protesting the company's lack of progress on climate goals. Sick planet: New research has found that Earth is "really quite sick now" and in the danger zone in nearly all ecological ways.   GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGISTER HERE.     Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. Birds are seen as workers in protective suits clean the contaminated beach after an oil spill in Newport Beach, Calif., on Oct. 6, 2021. | AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu EPA has finalized new standards to ensure chemicals used to disperse offshore oil spills are effective and meet the environmental agency’s safety standards. Southeast Asian nations are the latest foreign trading partners bidding for access to the U.S.’s coveted new electric vehicle tax credits. More than a year since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine, Europe has more or less kicked its addiction to Moscow’s gas — and nobody’s had to eat a hamster. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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