Shore up our electric grid

The federal government needs a comprehensive strategy to keep the lights on, argues the CEO of the Allegheny Conference

August 10, 2014 12:00 AM - By Dennis Yablonsky for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For 70 years, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development has worked to provide sustainable prosperity and a high quality of life in the Pittsburgh region. The people of our region pioneered and produced many of the technologies that make such prosperity possible, chief among them, a reliable electric grid.

Today, the electricity service that we take for granted is under stress. Market dynamics, inadequate transmission infrastructure, too few new power plants to ensure sufficient supply and new federal regulations are combining to call into question something all of us take for granted — that when we throw the switch, the lights will go on.

The federal government has no overall plan to ensure the stability of the grid. Instead, it has taken a series of piecemeal and ad hoc actions without a full understanding of how they interact and impact the electricity grid.

The United States needs a national grid policy and a comprehensive action plan to ensure an adequate, affordable and reliable electricity supply.

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