People In Power

“For Winter Storm Uri in 2021, we were part of those historic curtailments. That highlighted we can’t continue our traditional mindset that reliability is keeping wires in the air. That was the old way of thinking. It has evolved into the fuel deliverability, availability aspects of it.”

“Our challenge is the pace at which people are being forced into a clean-energy transition with resources that don’t have the capability to carry the load. We’re seeing blackouts. For us, it’s maybe slowing things down a bit.”

“To best serve our fast-growing service area and meet evolving member expectations, we have engaged in strategic acquisitions, which is a bit unique for the co-op space. We delivered broadband. We acquired a local for-profit telephone company, United Communications.”

“We’re different because we’re not like for-profit entities. We serve usually the hardest to the most expensive places in America based on lack of population density.”

Conversations with NRECA CEO Jim Matheson, Middle Tennessee Electric CEO Chris Jones, Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas CEO Buddy Hasten, and Kansas Electric Power Cooperative CEO Suzanne Lane.

“This is the moment we believe we can finally get permitting reform done. There is a bipartisan consensus to get this done. You’re not going to be able to build out these high-powered transmission lines. We need more pipelines in this country to transport product from where it is to where it needs to be.”

“The IRA includes a new production tax credit to help the existing fleet stay online for years. It encourages new nuclear with a clean electricity investment tax credit that covers 30% of investment in zero carbon facilities, including nuclear. If the company uses American manufacturing, they get an additional 10%. If you build in a community supported by a retiring fossil fuel plant, that’s another 10%.”

“Hydrogen, biofuels, these are all opportunities that we have. Our innovation is focusing on, how do we accelerate this technology innovation? So that all the promises all the corporations have made for net zero by 2050, which is twenty-seven years from now, we can meet.”

“If you look at the grid in particular, it’s a symphony of physics. While storage offers promise, the reality is we still work with the same physics problem we always have. But now we’re trying to change supply, add load, introduce new technologies. This whole harmonization is getting more complicated and probably not as well orchestrated as it needs to be.”

“December 23, 24. In nine states there were rolling blackouts. We couldn’t get gas to the plants. All the peakers were running on oil those days, and we still had blackouts. NERC said we have this, disorderly retirement of generating assets in this country putting us at greater risk. My membership is concerned. We’re trying to be a voice of reason.”