Climate change and its accompanying costs are the most pressing challenges confronting the electricity industry, according to the chairman of a key utility advocacy organization on Jan. 20.
However, Edison Electric Institute President and CEO Tom Kuhn, as well as executives from other industry trade organizations, emphasized the need of considering the costs and reliability implications of initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, Spglobal.com writes.
“The greatest problem for all of us is the climate crisis,” Kuhn stated at the annual State of the Energy Industry Forum hosted by the US Energy Association.
According to a recent estimate from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information, the expenses of weather and climate-related catastrophes in the United States would exceed $145 billion in 2021. Extreme weather, which may be exacerbated by climate change, has taken a toll on utility infrastructure; for example, Entergy Corp. subsidiary Entergy Louisiana LLC suffered more than $4 billion in storm and hurricane-related losses in 2020 and 2021.
“We really need to take on the climate problem in a big manner if we’re going to keep the substantial reductions in carbon emissions going in the future,” Kuhn said.
The head of the Edison Electric Institute, or EEI, emphasized the United States’ power sector’s accomplishments in decreasing carbon output, with industrial emissions down 40% from 2005 levels and 40% of the country’s energy production now coming from carbon-free sources. According to Kuhn, the effort for the electricity industry to reach net-zero emissions is the “defining problem of our time.”
However, officials from business groups said during the Jan. 20 event that the move to renewable energy must be done with caution. Despite appeals from certain legislators and climate activists to transition away from fossil-fuel-based energy sources as soon as possible, Natural gas, according to Kuhn, will continue to play a role in decreasing emissions by substituting coal-fired power and serving as a backup for intermittent renewable energy projects.
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s CEO, Jim Matheson, emphasized the need of 24-hour power sources, especially as momentum increases to electrify transportation and the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress aim to decarbonize the bulk power system.